Some digiscoping experiments with a dslr (1 Viewer)

[wings]

Holy Toledo Paul! That eye closeup is fit for scientific reference study.:t:

 

[Ultra Lite]

There is more than one way to "magnify" other than just optically.

If you got a good enough file you can just crop...

 

[Paul Corfield]

There is more than one way to "magnify" other than just optically.

If you got a good enough file you can just crop...

Not sure what you are implying, my photo of the eye was a crop, not magnified, the actual photo I took shows the whole bird plus the background.

If an object is at long range you still need to magnify before you can crop because there is a limit to the detail you can capture. You couldn't photograph a small bird at 20 or 30m with a camera lens and hope to crop it down and resolve a load of detail, it just wouldn't happen.

Paul.

 

[Derry]

Ultrar lite, nice enlargement from the K20D,,

hang it on the back of a scope and give a try at some distant bird photos,, should offer some very good photos as the camera is very capable,,

Derry

 

[Paul Corfield]

Finally got hold of a Kenko Pro 300 1.4X teleconverter today. Ordered it last week after selling off a load of my old gear to pay for it.

Here are some photos taken today with the Kenko converter through the Skywatcher telescope and the Canon 450D. I got the converter mainly for close range stuff but as these photos show it's ok at other ranges too. The bank note photo shows the whole photo taken in bright sunlight and the other one is a 100% crop.

Paul.

 

[Neil]

Paul,
Have you decided what your dream kit would be if money was no object?
Neil.

 

[Paul Corfield]

Paul,
Have you decided what your dream kit would be if money was no object?
Neil.

I quite like what I have now but if money was no object I guess it would just be a small percentage increase and for those sorts of increases money would need to be no object. The best scope probably doesn't exist, something with a similar focal length to what I have now (600mm), a big objective, say 120mm, a scope body and focuser made out of lightweight composite materials.

At the moment I'm very happy with the camera I have now. The 12 million pixels allow for a lot of cropping, it's small and lightweight enough. For extra magnification I'd have to try everything that was available. I'm interested in trying the Televue Powermate but it may turn out that what I already have is good enough, the GSO barlow is very sharp but there's probably slightly sharper more expensive ones on the market. I'd like a nice fibreglass tripod as well. That's about it. I'd still go the dslr/astro scope route rather than a spotter though. I just don't think they can be beat for image quality.

I'll probably build my next scope. All I need to get hold of is an apochromatic lens cell which is fairly easy to do and a lot cheaper than buying a whole scope.

Paul.

 

[gleeman]

here's the Powermate 2.5x
about 25~30m away from the bird.


Setup:
Canon Eos 40D@Pentax 75 SDHF w/Tele Vue Powermate 2.5x
FL=2000



Attach Files:
IMG_1776-800.jpg -> only resized
IMG_1776-100%Crop_800.jpg->100% cropped

 

[RJM]

Nice rig and website gleeman. I had a similar setup using a Pentax 75SDHF and the 100SDUFII but have since sold both scopes though. They make for an excellent telephoto lens, but their lack of focus travel makes them difficult for visual spotters.

How does the Kenko KDS work for you?

cheers,
Rick

 

[gleeman]

Nice rig and website gleeman. I had a similar setup using a Pentax 75SDHF and the 100SDUFII but have since sold both scopes though. They make for an excellent telephoto lens, but their lack of focus travel makes them difficult for visual spotters.

How does the Kenko KDS work for you?

cheers,
Rick

hello rick,

The altered KDS work well with my DC setup,
but a little hard to adjust the balance with the 40D setup because
the scope's focuser will interfere with the KDS mount when I move the dovetail plate forward.
i will try to resolve it later.


talking about the focus travel ,i've tried three prisms for visual:
1.the 45° Prism - to me,this setup was not comfortable to work with the Pentax big eyepiece.
2.MIZAR Image Inverter Prism -The scope turned out to be a super macro and i can't focus to infinity without adding focus extender .:-C
3.the last and the best--PENTAX Prism(altered for 31.7mm) - works well with my XW and XL ZOOM eyepieces.

you're right,it's not suited for "sporting" use,but
with this Pentax beauty,
sometimes i would love to waste my time at one place beneath the tree,enjoying the blue sky and breeze .
just like a bird:t:

cheers,
gleeman

 

[MrFlibble]

Finally got around to trying out my D70 + Opticron ES 80 GA ED, coupled together using an Opticron TELEPHOTOADAPTER HDF 41110 (picked up for £35 on here). I made a cable release for the D70 using a £5 ebay IR remote and a bit of wire (15mins to build).

The scope and adaptor give the following specs
ES 80 - 1150mm / f.14.4
and obviously I lose FOV due to crop factor. Heres the first attempt, have cropped it a bit and fiddled with curves. Will have another go at it with PS when I get a chance.

 

[Paul Corfield]

Gleeman, what's your verdict on the Powermate compared to other multipliers?

Nice website by the way.

Paul.

 

[wings]

Paul, looks like a nice setup with the smaller, lighter 450D with 12.1 MP. Do you use any special (rail or otherwise) support for the DSLR because it is heavier than smaller P&S cameras like the Coolpix 5100 or the Canon 590IS?

Dennis

 

[gleeman]

Gleeman, what's your verdict on the Powermate compared to other multipliers?

Nice website by the way.

Paul.

hello paul,

i have not tried to test all options side by side.

i expect that there's not much difference if you use the apo telescope with
top smc eyepiece or focal extender(or photo adapter except extend tube) and take shots at a close distance( less than 15m) .

but so far ,it's the comfortable way(w/powermate) for me to get 2000mm focal length and take shots at a distance of more than 20m with excellent optical performance .(at a cheaper price)

is the powermate 2.5x worth its price?i think so.
light weight , easy to setup with its T-ring adapter
and it actually "add dramatic power (and NOTHING ELSE)"


cheers,
gleeman

 

[Paul Corfield]

Paul, looks like a nice setup with the smaller, lighter 450D with 12.1 MP. Do you use any special (rail or otherwise) support for the DSLR because it is heavier than smaller P&S cameras like the Coolpix 5100 or the Canon 590IS?

Dennis

I don't use a rail or any other form of support. I have a pretty old tripod that's not all that strong and it holds it ok but I will be upgrading when funds permit.

I also tried it on my dads 3 way Manfrotto head and it was very solid, you could lock it onto a bird and it would stay there without moving under the weight.

Gleeman - thanks for the info. The GSO 2X ED barlow I have currently gets me to 2000mm so the Powermate will be one of those luxuries I may invest in once I get a new tripod etc. Looking at your photos as a comparison I think if I was to gain any improvement then it would be a very small percentage over what I have now but I'll only know for sure once I get one.

Cheers,

Paul.

 

[gleeman]

Dennis,

I also don't like P&S cameras for digiscoping. Focusing on the LCD is slow, like you pointed out. It is also difficult under strong light and far from efficient when you are wearing glasses.
Jules

just for reference ,
i carry this lcd cover for both my DSLR and P&S .
in case the sunlight gets too strong.

 

[wings]

Paul I love your paintings! It's all about light. I might be infringing on someone else's website name but your paintings do carry that "luminous landscape."

 

[Paul Corfield]

A little bit of time to test some combinations this morning. This one worked very well and compared to a photo taken at 600mm the ones I posted here are 400% bigger. This works out at 2400mm before crop factor or 3840mm after crop factor.

Excellent level of detail and a fairly compact set up to reach that magnification. The bank note photo was taken at ISO1600 as it is so dull here today.

The set up for these was with the Skywatcher scope and the mounting order was as follows -

Canon 450D - 60mm Macro Ext Tube - Kenko Pro 300 1.4X teleconverter - T-Ring with 2" scope adapter and then the 2" GSO 2X ED barlow lens cell screwed into the scope adapter.

Paul.

Thanks wings for the comments regarding the paintings.

 

[JGobeil]

Canon 450D - 60mm Macro Ext Tube - Kenko Pro 300 1.4X teleconverter - T-Ring with 2" scope adapter and then the 2" GSO 2X ED barlow lens cell screwed into the scope adapter.

I hope to receive a GSO barlow today. Paul, do you consider this arrangement as optimum ?

I'll be away for a few days and should be able to do some work on our target during the weekend.

Regards
Jules

 

[Paul Corfield]

I hope to receive a GSO barlow today. Paul, do you consider this arrangement as optimum ?

I'll be away for a few days and should be able to do some work on our target during the weekend.

Regards
Jules

It's easily the best combination of optics I've tried so far. Here's another pic from around 30m range this time, taken this evening so I had to resort to ISO1600 to get the speed up as it was also cloudy and windy. Same set up as before (60mm Ext + Kenko 1.4X + 2X barlow) to get to 2400mm (3840mm with 1.6X crop factor).

Photo is uncropped, just resized for posting.

EDIT - Just been looking through all the photos I took today and thought I'd post this one as well. No birds about because of the weather so just photographed other subjects that were far away and quite small like these berries. Range was 30m approx with same set up as above.

Paul.