Digiscoping and other shots

[telemarker]

Have taken my telescope for several walks recently with the following results.

[leon]

Wow they have come out a treat, can I ask what scope and camera you use, well done indeed.

leon

[telemarker]

Thanks Leon.
The scope is a f6 Long Perng 80mm achromat and using a 20D at prime focus with a WO VR-1 filter, sometimes with a Kenko 2X TC. I have been looking a throwing a 2X barlow into the mix but the image quality isn't there. This pic should give you an idea on the image quality degradation but..... still experimenting.

[leon]

Gee Mate they are still pretty awesome shots though, I have been considering doing something similar with my Tak.

So tell me this, do you just pick your subject and rack in and out until it looks the best quality, or is there some thing automatic happening, I'm very impressed with your results, and expect the Tak would produce some great shots as well.

Leon

[telemarker]

Generally, I find a spot with some bird action around and wait with the 2x TC on the camera and scope. I like the closeup shots (none of the images posted were cropped at all) and an advantage of using this setup is you're less likely to upset the birds (hence the red browed finches) and mirror slap is less of a problem as you're further away. I'll lose the TC if they get too close. One of the kookaburras landed a metre from me to consume his grubs so I had to shoo him away to get a shot! Unfortunately you're restricted to manual focus, so you'll miss a few shots.

The other part of this that I like is observing behavioural traits specific to the particular birds. The male red browed finch advertised his presence in several bushes with the grass stalk in his beak and eventually attracted the female (could make a joke about men and building materials) and hence that shot was not entirely unexpected.

As for using a Tak. I am green with envy. I assume its an apo so should be much better for colour management than my achro. I started shooting in manual mode but find that with shadows etc... its much easier to shoot in aperture priority and let the camera set the shutter and do the metering. Oh, and use the iso to maintain a higher shutter speed (important, or you'll get motion blur).

[leon]

Great stuff, :thumbsup: well I'm going to give this a try, maybe I wont have to spend $$$$ on a 500mm Canon lens after all. ;)

Many Thanks.

Leon :thumbsup: