F31fd through Inpro Optigra 80mm scope. (1 Viewer)

[Paul Corfield]

As usual I like doing things on a budget and I picked up this 80mm Inpro Optigra scope on ebay for £51. They sell new for around £280. I'm pretty sure it comes under many names and a couple I've seen it branded as are Illusion and Konus Konuspot 80. It's nitrogen filled and waterproof so it was worth a punt at £51. It came with a non-standard eyepiece that the previous ower had put on so I whipped that off and put on my William Optics DCL-28 and took a few test shots in the back garden. I used some old plumbing plastic pipe parts to make up a holder for the eyepiece as can be seen in the first photo and it works pretty good. I've marked the approximate ranges on all the photos. Shall get out in the field over the weekend and test it some more.

Paul.

 

[Paul Corfield]

Another pic I just took of a Dragonfly at a range of 10m.

Paul.

 

[JGobeil]

Very nice Paul ! At that price is is a steal...

 

[Matt_RTH]

I'mpressive, especially with the budget. Where did you get the bracket to hold the cam? Or is it homebrew?

 

[Paul Corfield]

I'mpressive, especially with the budget. Where did you get the bracket to hold the cam? Or is it homebrew?

The bracket is from FoxFoto via their seller on ebay. http://www.fox-foto.com/index.php?strona=en15.php

The scope works well but I'm a firm believer that most scopes can be used as long as a good quality eyepiece is used to replace the poor ones found on budget scopes.

Paul.

 

[Paul Corfield]

Saturday was a washout with rain all day so didn't get to photograph any birds. Took this one of a Blackbird this morning at a range of approx 20m. Took it in a hurry and had to hand hold the scope. A little adjustment of the levels in Photoshop as the camera was set to -1 exposure compensation from when I last used it and a very small amount of unsharp mask. Taken on manual mode, ISO-200, F5.6, 1/550, multi metering, centre focus and auto white balance.

Paul.

 

[Paul Corfield]

I finally had some time to do some more with the F31fd along with the Inpro Optigra scope and the William Optics DCL-28 eyepiece. For a budget scope I find it gives lovely colour rich images with the Fuji set on it's normal colour setting. The 80mm objective lens has a green coating which I guess has something to do with it but it's just a basic coating, not an ED or anything like that. For that reason the 80mm lens is not the best at gathering light but I was taking these photos right up until just before the sun had gone below the horizon. The camera was set to ISO 100 for all of them with range varying between 20m to 50m.

Paul.

 

[NoSpringChicken]

Great photos Paul. I especially like the two of the gull floating on the water. The colours in the ripples are something else. That scope certainly gives a very sharp image and the little Fuji seems to be doing a fine job.

Ron

 

[erniehatt]

I have come to the same conclusion, the eyepiece is the all important part of the setup. In the shot of the dragonfly, you say it was from 10m but how much cropping did you have to do to fill the frame like that. Ernie

 

[Neil]

Paul,
Very encouraging results. Neil.

 

[Paul Corfield]

I have come to the same conclusion, the eyepiece is the all important part of the setup. In the shot of the dragonfly, you say it was from 10m but how much cropping did you have to do to fill the frame like that. Ernie

Not sure how much I cropped on that Dragonfly photo as I took so many photos on various amounts of zoom. At 3X zoom on the camera it would have filled the frame with no cropping required but I'm pretty sure I did crop that photo I posted so I'd guess at maybe 50%.

Really gutted today as this was my first go at a photo of a Kingfisher and I accidentally set the camera to ISO 1600. It was early evening in fading light but I could have got away with a much lower ISO. Never mind, at least it shows what the little Fuji F31 can do as far as noise levels are concerned.

Paul.

 

[JGobeil]

Paul, Could you comment on that FoxFoto adapter please. How sturdy is it once set ? What have you used to keep the light from entering between the lens and the eyepiece ? Generally, what do you think of it ?

 

[Jason Bugay Reyes]

very good result paul for the kingfisher !

 

[Paul Corfield]

Paul, Could you comment on that FoxFoto adapter please. How sturdy is it once set ? What have you used to keep the light from entering between the lens and the eyepiece ? Generally, what do you think of it ?

I like the foxfoto adapter having used it for a while now. It took an hour or so to set up until I was sure I had the camera perfectly aligned to the eyepiece. Once I got it set I wanted to make sure it wouldn't move again so I used some resin to weld up the moving parts as shown in the photo. If I didn't do that then there's a very good chance it would move without too much of a knock. With it welded up though it is rock solid. It's an ideal adapter if you do your focusing on the camera screen like I prefer. It's all metal construction so it's strong enough for the job. It needs to be used on an eyepiece that is threaded and the foxfoto adapter has a 37mm thread. I used a 28mm to 37mm step ring to screw it to my William Optics DCL-28.

To shield the light entering the eyepiece I just used a length of black plastic pipe which I glued to the adapter with super glue.

Paul.

 

[JGobeil]

I like the foxfoto adapter having used it for a while now. It took an hour or so to set up until I was sure I had the camera perfectly aligned to the eyepiece. Once I got it set I wanted to make sure it wouldn't move again so I used some resin to weld up the moving parts as shown in the photo. If I didn't do that then there's a very good chance it would move without too much of a knock. With it welded up though it is rock solid. It's an ideal adapter if you do your focusing on the camera screen like I prefer. It's all metal construction so it's strong enough for the job. It needs to be used on an eyepiece that is threaded and the foxfoto adapter has a 37mm thread. I used a 28mm to 37mm step ring to screw it to my William Optics DCL-28.

To shield the light entering the eyepiece I just used a length of black plastic pipe which I glued to the adapter with super glue.

Paul.

Thanks Paul. A concise and very helpful review. It indeed looks like a good useable product.

I have bought a used A95 that I will want to replace with a more up to date P&S. Since many are not threaded, this is probably the best adapter there is in this case.

I have an universal adapter and I hate it ! It is big, doesn't hold the camera tight enough and requires adjustments each time it is used to position the camera properly in order to get a clean circle.

I have a Pentax PF-80ED and I presently use the zoom eyepiece that came with it. As soon as I receive the step-down ring I have on order, I will try the Pentax WX-20mm and WX-14mm EPs at a local dealer. I also look at the Spectronics Maxview-PX, a 26mm with 29mm ER made for Pentax scopes - the company is back in business. There is also the Williams DCL-28 that you use but I believe it only has 16mm ER, which makes me hesitate. Which one would you choose ? (Neil, if you read this, what's your opinion ?)

Thanks for your help
Jules

 

[Paul Corfield]

I can't really help much with regards to eyepieces as the DCL-28 is easily the most expensive one I own or have had the opportunity to try. If you have the Pentax scope then I should imagine the Pentax eyepieces would be the first choice and they seem very good products although expensive. My next purchase for my scope will be a Baader Hyperion, probably 17mm but that will most likely not be till Chistmas Day according to my wife.

With the foxfoto adapter and DCL-28 I have to have the camera as far back as it will go on the travel to get a sharp vignette ring. I don't know if this would be a problem with an eyepiece that had longer eye relief?

Paul.

 

[JGobeil]

Thanks for the info Paul and good luck with your purchase. Xmas is not that far away, today is Sept. already.

I don't know if you have seen this thread on the Yahoo DigiscopingBirds forum:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/digiscopingbirds/message/18051
However, you may have to be a member to have acces, I'm not sure.

It is about using the Hyperion and other astro EPs with spotting scopes. Very technical and quite interesting.

Regards
Jules

 

[Paul Corfield]

Thanks for the link. I didn't know about the forum but I just joined via your link.

Yeah, I'd read a bit before about the Hyperion having trouble reaching focus in the Pentax scopes. I've only ever used astro eyepieces and because I tend to get my scopes cheap on ebay I don't mind modifying them to suit as I've done with this Inpro scope I use now. It took a bit of messing around to get the DCL-28 to work from near fous right through to infinity but I managed it thanks to some parts I had laying around. It's a little harder with an expensive scope because you wouldn't want to do the mods that I do.

Paul.

 

[Paul Corfield]

Look what turned up in the mail today, Christmas came early. ||

I went for the Baader Hyperion 17mm eyepiece. I took off the eyepiece holder from the Inpro scope and replaced it with a threaded metal ring I had laying around in my box of bits. The ring has two threads and luckily one of them threads into the chrome barrel of astro type eyepieces and the thread on the other end was a good enough match for the one on the scope. I can reach focus through the whole range plus I can use my William Optics DCL-28 as it has the same threaded type of barrel that's on all astro eyepieces.

Here's a photo of the eyepiece on the scope and one of a Robin I took handheld at 15m range without zooming the camera. There's no vignetting at all with the hyperion on the fuji. Just waiting for a step up ring to mate the foxfoto adapter/fuji to the hyperion.

Paul.

 

[JGobeil]

Good for you Paul. That Robin is very sharp, which means that your setup is working well. I wish you success with it.

I also ordered a Hyperion EP, 21mm. I should get it early next week. Let's hope it will work as well for me.