Canon A95/ Leica APO 62 Televid+32X (1 Viewer)

[Reay_Bonxie]

Hi,

I am struggling to get high enough shutter speeds with my camera in the C mode and the birds are moving too fast. Does anyone know where I am going wrong?
My settings in current use are,

exp -/+ -1/3
AWB Auto
Iso 100
Effect Vivid
Focus Evaluative

AF AiAF
MF-point zoom ON
AF-assist beam on

The best shutter speed I seem to get is ~ 1/5 and F3.2 aperture value.

If I put it onto the forced shutter speed setting @400X then I just get black photos. Is it something that I can improve on?

Any help will be appreciated.

 

[Robert L Jarvis]

If you do a search on the forum for A95 I think you will find any number of posts with recommendations for settings. In particular look up John-Henry in the forum and his post. A couple of things quickly, no vivid actually no effect, focus - spot metering, no af assist beam, but do check out other posts.

You may find just going through this forum page by page will produce the threads for settings.

 

[iporali]

I am struggling to get high enough shutter speeds with my camera in the C mode and the birds are moving too fast. Does anyone know where I am going wrong?

Reay_Bonxie,

I think your biggest problems are the dark season and <2mm exit pupil of your scope (62mm/32). If you could live with 16x power (20xWW on the 77mm scope), you should be able to get reasonably fast shutter speeds. A 62mm scope just has limited "reach" compared to the larger ones - especially in digiscoping.

I don't think you are doing anything wrong, but one thing worth checking is the distance between the camera lens and the eyepiece. If you bring the camera too close, the light meter and focusing may behave strangely. I think the camera body should be kept at the distance where the lens at its widest setting almost touches the eyepiece (1-2mm distance?). When the lens retracts at the mid-zoom don't bring the camera any closer.

Hope this helps,

Ilkka :t:

 

[Robert L Jarvis]

Which essentially means what adapter are you using or is the camera hand held.

 

[Reay_Bonxie]

Thanks for the advice. I am using a Universal Digiscoping adaptor 28-45mm which is a pain because I had to file it out a bit and have to take the rubber ring off the 32x to get it fitted each time. Any suggestions on a better make?

 

[Sc0tty]

I have a similar setup: Leica APO62 with the 26x eyepiece and a Canon A95. I've bought the Canon filter adapter which has a 52mm thread. Attached to this is the SRB digiscoping sleeve + step down ring. This only costs £39 and works like a dream.

Rich.

 

[digitalbirdy]

I set my Fuji F10 to ISO400, as it still has great photo quality with no noise at all at that setting, and of course it means it automatically quadruples the shutter speed.

Also if your camera is mounted to close you wil not be capturing all the light that is entering the scope. This is a common mistake, made frequently as folks don't want to much vignetting at lower zooms.

So:
1. Try setting your ISO much higher.
2. Mount camera as far back as possible from eyepiece without excessive vignetting.

This should/could improve things a lot.

Best of luck.

Adrian

 

[erniehatt]

I set my Fuji F10 to ISO400, as it still has great photo quality with no noise at all at that setting, and of course it means it automatically quadruples the shutter speed.

Also if your camera is mounted to close you wil not be capturing all the light that is entering the scope. This is a common mistake, made frequently as folks don't want to much vignetting at lower zooms.

So:
1. Try setting your ISO much higher.
2. Mount camera as far back as possible from eyepiece without excessive vignetting.

This should/could improve things a lot.

Best of luck.

Adrian

Sorry Adrian,
but I can't for the love of me see the logic in the No2 statement, surely if you have a gap of any description between Camera and Scope, you will be getting light in from the side, how does this help in capturing all the light from the Scope. Perhaps you or someone can explain. Some people do not use barrel type adapters. Ernie

 

[scampo]

Sorry Adrian,
but I can't for the love of me see the logic in the No2 statement, surely if you have a gap of any description between Camera and Scope, you will be getting light in from the side, how does this help in capturing all the light from the Scope. Perhaps you or someone can explain. Some people do not use barrel type adapters. Ernie

I might be wrong, bu light can't get in from the side, can it? The lens is focusing only on the light coming from the eyepiece. But... the eye relief will not be sufficient to allow the camera lens to be far from the eyepiece, I should think.

The Fuji F30 now allows a very useable 1600ASA and prodcues very little noise; it will go to 3200ASA at a pinch if using noise reduction software in post processing. Btw - 100ASA to 400ASA is only two stops extra, not four, still worthwhile though.

 

[erniehatt]

I might be wrong, bu light can't get in from the side, can it? The lens is focusing only on the light coming from the eyepiece. But... the eye relief will not be sufficient to allow the camera lens to be far from the eyepiece, I should think.

The Fuji F30 now allows a very useable 1600ASA and prodcues very little noise; it will go to 3200ASA at a pinch if using noise reduction software in post processing. Btw - 100ASA to 400ASA is only two stops extra, not four, still worthwhile though.[/QUOTe

Steve you could well be correct, the statement just didn't sit right for me. My set up allows me to slide the Camera up to the Scope eyepiece, no physical joining of the two. I would have thought that any light from the side could have an effect on the exposure. Ernie

 

[iporali]

I would have thought that any light from the side could have an effect on the exposure. Ernie

The 3x zoom of the Fuji means that you have to leave a gap (depending on the ER) between the lens and the eyepiece - even when the zoom is maximally extended - or otherwise you again get vignetting/blackouts. The gap can be "open" and yet the light can't enter into the field-of-view of the camera (camera lenses are never THAT wide-angled). However, many long-ER, wide-angled eyepieces have a large concave eye lens, which can cast reflection spots to the image - so, a covering tube is never a bad idea.

In your case the Canon A610's zoom requires so much eye-relief that you can easily bring the camera lens in contact with most eyepieces.

Ilkka

 

[scampo]

I might be wrong, but light can't get in from the side, can it? The lens is focusing only on the light coming from the eyepiece. But... the eye relief will not be sufficient to allow the camera lens to be far from the eyepiece, I should think.

The Fuji F30 now allows a very useable 1600ASA and prodcues very little noise; it will go to 3200ASA at a pinch if using noise reduction software in post processing. Btw - 100ASA to 400ASA is only two stops extra, not four, still worthwhile though.

Steve you could well be correct, the statement just didn't sit right for me. My set up allows me to slide the Camera up to the Scope eyepiece, no physical joining of the two. I would have thought that any light from the side could have an effect on the exposure. Ernie

It seems it might but when you think about light rays entering the lens, the ones that can enter are entirely limited to those coming from the framed area at which the lens is aimed, otherwise photography would be impossibly affected by stray light.

 

[erniehatt]

Ilkka, thanks for that explanation, and Steve it has always been my understanding that stray light or reflections can effect exposure, hence the use of lens hoods. But I will accept your reasoning as I have not enough Digiscoping experience to argue the point. Ernie

 

[scampo]

Ilkka, thanks for that explanation, and Steve it has always been my understanding that stray light or reflections can effect exposure, hence the use of lens hoods. But I will accept your reasoning as I have not enough Digiscoping experience to argue the point. Ernie

You are right in a way - but the stray light has to be very bright (usually the sun) and be in front of the lens, either in or just outside of the scene being photographed. A lens hood (and high quality lens coatings) can help to prevent this flare which is caused by the bright light reflecting through the lens elements and forming a repeating image the lens iris, thus also reducing overall contrast. I would say it would have to be highly unusual and extreme circumstances for daylight around the camera lens and scope eyepiece to in any way affect the exposure or image.

 

[erniehatt]

You are right in a way - but the stray light has to be very bright (usually the sun) and be in front of the lens, either in or just outside of the scene being photographed. A lens hood (and high quality lens coatings) can help to prevent this flare which is caused by the bright light reflecting through the lens elements and forming a repeating image the lens iris, thus also reducing overall contrast. I would say it would have to be highly unusual and extreme circumstances for daylight around the camera lens and scope eyepiece to in any way affect the exposure or image.

Ok I will buy that one Steve, its not something that will effect my setup anyway, leaving a gap just doesn't work with it. Thanks for the time. Ernie