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I'm looking to replace my Panasonic TZ60 with its 30x optical zoom for something with a lot more zoom range. Is digiscoping a viable (cheaper) alternative to a dslr and a huge (expensive) lens? I see you can get good scopes with powerful zooms and adapters for cameras and was curious as to how they performed against dslr cameras and equivalent lenses. Does anyone on here use the digiscoping method?
I don't know if I do but my bridge type camera has 50x optical and up to 200x with digital. There is a noticeable drop in quality when you go on to digital but it is quick and easy to use in th field with a range of useful features to help capture movement etc. Point and click can be good. A tripod is a must have though.
Bubs - Do you have an image sample I could have a look at? My panny is really a superzoom pocket camera and while the image quality is very good in optical, it all falls apart in digital.
I have tried digiscoping with a lumix compact with Swarovski scope. I made my own adaptor but have had very little success. The main problem is at high mag. The scope shake is almost uncontrollable when firing the camera manually. A remote release would probably be better as the rig isn't touched. I tried self timer release but the moment is usually lost. I think if you fire enough pictures off the you may be successful but probably a bit hit and miss. A good adaptor allows you to align the camera with the scope exit pupil accurately which is essential to avoid vignetteing. Bear in mind most DSLR setups have some form of image stabilisation. I have a TZ70 and the images at full zoom are really quite good, almost as good as my Nikon with 300 mm zoom.
I'll post something up this evening. I tend to only use a timer or remote (from the live stream to my phone) when using the digi zoom as stability is real problem. The live stream with remote is great for difficult subjects....see playing with it all though at the moment.
I think mine just reduces resolution the more digi zoom you go. 16mb up to 50x, 8mb at 100x and 4mb at 200x. 16mb allows rapid firing and processing and does produce some nice, sharp pictures. 8mb and 4mb is good for capturing behaviour but as you say, the quality just falls apart. 100x zoom example below, 200x on the bird thread (very low light though) and my OMG thread.
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