Hi Derek,
I just read your email abut your Olympus C-700 camera and Leica scope.
Exactly what I have. Did you try to find any kind of adapter that would
fit the 55 camera and the 41 opening for the scope? Or have you heard
of anything that would hold the camera to the scope?
Your pictures are great and the new camera gave you a fantastic
shot.
When you reply please email me at
Thanks I'm looking forward to your suggestions.
Gina
"Derek C. Richardson" wrote:
> Until I bought a Canon Rebel which can mount directly to my
> Leica 'scope, I used an Olympus C-700 Ultra Zoom digital
> camera and simply held it to the telescope eyepiece. At some
> point a helpful individual gave me some tips, so I'll pass
> them on below...
>
> On Wed, 28 Jan 2004, Ben Poscover wrote:
>
> > Again I must come to you for advice. I am interested
> > in getting a digital camera in which to do
> > digiscoping. Those pictures of birds taken using this
> > technique are amazing. The scopes that I would be
> > using are a Swarovski Habicht ST80 with zoom 20x -
> > 60x.eyepiece. When I fly to locations, I take a
> > smaller Bausch & Lomb scope with a 15 to 45 zoom
> > eyepiece. I have a Digital Mavica camera now but have
> > been unsuccessful in trying the technique with it.
> > The reasons are:
> >
> > a.. Trying to see any image on the LED screen in the
> > back of the camera in bright light..
>
> Not much you can do here unless you have someone else around
> who can shade you from the light. When I couldn't use the
> viewscreen I simply contorted myself so I could look through
> the camera viewfinder.
>
> > b.. Trying to orient the camera so that an image will
> > appear on the screen.
>
> The trick here is to start with both the telescope and the
> camera at their lowest zoom settings, so it's much easier to
> find your subject. If your camera can zoom, slowly increase
> its magnification while keeping your target as centered as
> possible. Use the telescope for focusing (it helps to have
> an extra pair of hands...). The focus will change as you
> zoom, so you need to constantly make adjustments.
>
> > c.. Trying to get a sharp image. when I do
>
> See the part about focusing above. :) You face two problems:
> 1) it's hard to tell if you've got good focus, so blur the
> image back and forth and take the average; 2) you're losing
> a lot of light through the optic train, so your camera will
> try to take a longer exposure -- any jitter will make the
> image blurry. It's essential that the telescope be mounted
> as firmly as possible; other than that you just need a
> steady hand. Ultimately there's no substitute for a camera
> mount to the telescope, which generally requires homemade
> rigging or an SLR camera.
>
> > d.. My skill
>
> Practice practice practice. :)
>
> > What I would like to ask is what characteristics
> > should I look for in a digital camera?
>
> If a digital SLR is too much right now, look for a digital
> camera with a maneuverable LCD viewscreen (so you don't
> strain your neck and back so much), fast CCD read time (so
> you can take pictures in rapid succession -- you'll be lucky
> if 10% of your shots are worth keeping), high resolution (so
> you don't have to zoom so much and thereby be overly
> sensitive to telescope/camera shake), and overall good auto
> exposure (so you don't have to worry about it yourself, but
> beware that the shutter will tend to want to stay open
> longer). Unfortunately each of these features makes the
> camera more expensive...
>
> For an idea of what you can achieve, here are some of my
> better shots using the Leica with handheld Olympus:
>
> http://www.astro.umd.edu/~dcr/Archives/Photos/Birds/Goose,Chinese2.jpg
> http://www.astro.umd.edu/~dcr/Archives/Photos/Birds/Hawk,Red-tailed3.jpg
> http://www.astro.umd.edu/~dcr/Archives/Photos/Birds/Kestrel,American2.jpg
> http://www.astro.umd.edu/~dcr/Archives/Photos/Birds/Meadowlark,Eastern.jpg
> http://www.astro.umd.edu/~dcr/Archives/Photos/Birds/Night-Heron,Black-crowned2.jpg
> http://www.astro.umd.edu/~dcr/Archives/Photos/Birds/Phoebe,Eastern2.jpg
> http://www.astro.umd.edu/~dcr/Archives/Photos/Birds/Tern,Common3.jpg
> http://www.astro.umd.edu/~dcr/Archives/Photos/Birds/Woodpecker,Red-headed.jpg
>
> (you can see that these all suffer from a big of fuzziness;
> and of course there's the vignetting, which actually adds a
> bit of artistic flare IMHO).
>
> And here's my best shot so far with my Canon mounted to the
> telescope:
>
> http://www.astro.umd.edu/~dcr/Archives/Photos/Birds/Sparrow,Ipswich.jpg
>
> (less fuzzy, no vignetting :) ).
>
> Good luck!
>
> D
>
> > Thank you for your help. You can address your replies to:
> >
> > Ben Poscover
> > Towson MD
> >
> >
> >
> > I
> >
> >
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> >
>
> --
> Derek C. Richardson, Ph.D. (CANTAB) ________
> Astronomy, U Maryland, College Park MD 20742
> Tel: Office 301-405-8786 Fax 301-314-9067 __
> Home page: http://www.astro.umd.edu/~dcr/ __
>
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