[obol] digiscoping equipment

[Bruce]

We have had the S3-IS for about eight months. Excellent camera, but
unacceptable digital noise at 800 ISO and higher, and, like most
point and shoot, built in flash won't give much range for telephoto.

Bruce.

Owen Schmidt wrote:
> 
> 
> A new all-in-one point-and-shoot was announced yesterday by Olympus, 
> their model SP-550 UZ.  It has an amazing 18x zoom lens with image 
> stabilization, which is the equivalent of 504-mm in terms of a 35-mm 
> camera.  Once upon a time, carrying a 500-mm lens was about all one 
> needed for bird photos.  This is closing in on "digiscoping" but without 
> the "scope."  The Olympus should be on the market in a month or so and 
> cost around $500.  
> http://www.dpreview.com/
> 
> The closest competitor in this regard is Canon, with their model 
> PowerShot S3-IS.  That has a 12x zoom lens that reaches to an equivalent 
> of 432-mm.  It is currently available and costs less than $400.  
> http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Canon/canon_s3is.asp
> 
> Both these cameras would likely be perfectly suitable for digiscoping, 
> as well, making them very flexible with or without a scope.  Both will 
> take (low resolution) videos, for added flexibility.  Both use AA 
> batteries, another plus in the field.  
> 
> In a slightly different vein, Zeiss has announced the DC4, a digital 
> camera built into a 40x eyepiece.  They say you can literally shoot what 
> you are seeing through the scope, while you are seeing it.  Before you 
> rush out to the local Shutterbug to pick this up ......... you might 
> want to know that you will need a new model Zeiss scope (around $1500) 
> and then the super-duper DC4 will set you back another $2000.  This is 
> the world's most expensive digiscoping solution, it looks like, but -- 
> hey -- if you have your scope you have your camera built in.  Should be 
> available in a month or 2, and from what I can find on the Web it takes 
> really nice photos ...........
> http://www.birddigiscoping.com/2007/01/dc4-review.html
> 
> oschmidt at att.net <mailto:oschmidt at att.net>
> Thursday, January 25, 2007
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Jan 25, 2007, at 1:26 PM, Steve Berliner wrote:
> 
>>
>>     To Margaret who asked and anyone else who wants to "digiscope,"
>> There are a number of ways to go about finding the right equipment to 
>> digiscope with.  I'm not going to write a tutorial on eqpt. here.  If 
>> you're seriously interested, then go to www.birdforum.net 
>> <http://www.birdforum.net> , do the quick free registration, and then 
>> go to the Forums menu and scroll down to "Andy Bright's Digiscoping 
>> Forum."  Within this section you will find threads on all the newest 
>> suitable cameras and a great deal on camera mounts.  Any scope can be 
>> digiscoped with!  I just helped my cousin with a mount and lessons on 
>> his B&L Discoverer, and to my amazement, his shots in the first 15 
>> min. of waterfowl looked very nice.
>>     The best scopes for birding are the best scopes for photos (this 
>> means best glass and all that.)  In general, when I buy a new camera, 
>> I look at those forums first for discussion of its results.  This has 
>> saved me from bad choices more than once.  A camera's specs may sound 
>> perfect for digiscoping, but in reality the internal optics make it 
>> problematic.  Whenever possible take your scope to the camera store 
>> and try the cameras (both Circuit City and Camera World were fine with 
>> that for me.)
>>      We sell a mount I designed at www.simplicitytool.com 
>> <http://www.simplicitytool.com>, Swarovski makes their own, as do 
>> Zeiss, and Nikon.  Additionally you can purchase a Kowa TD-1 
>> integrated scope with camera.  I do not recommend it.  My latest 
>> camera the Fuji F30 is good, but so are many others.  My galleries at: 
>> http://home.earthlink.net/~s.berliner/ show photos (the latest, 
>> Allen's Hummingbird from so.cal.)  Greg Gillson's site at: 
>> www.thebirdguide.com <http://www.thebirdguide.com> has a nice 
>> digiscoping and links section as well.  Hopes this helps all readers 
>> interested.
>>  
>>  
>> Steve Berliner
>> forcreeks at earthlink.net <mailto:forcreeks at earthlink.net>
>>  
>>  
>>
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