cwchan

Neil,

Extremely sharp and with good detail . Did  you take it in RAW?

cwchan

Neil,

I am considering if it is justified to buy a new 8400 (year 2004 DC?) for my Swarovske 30X. This is the only dc can provide raw input and no other choice in the market. What is your comment? I see a brand new 8400 in a shop.

Wing

cwchan

Neil,

I just got my ordered DCA from the photo shop. However, the DCA could not fit very well to my 30X eye piece. I found the box for the DCA marked with " DCA Zoom ", is this one only fits the Zoom eyepiece?  Your advice , please.

Wing

cwchan

Neil,

Thank you for your information that there is another one for fixed eye piece . Since this is the new one ordered from the shop and I think they don't have this knowledge as well, because I don't have the zoom eye piece, I think it is more appropriate for me to return this one to the shop and ask the dealer to give me the appropriate one for my 30X eye piece.  Thanks again.

Wing

cwchan

Bob,

Thanks. That is why the eyepiece obstructed the adapter . I will contact Eric Hau tomorrow.

Best regards

Wing

cwchan

Bob,

Very informative. I  take your advice certainly. A little disappointed that I can not try it in the coming Saturday and Sunday. :cry:

Thanks.

Wing

cwchan

Bob, Neil,

Eric gave me a DCA ( a demo one kept by him) for my fixed 30X eye piece. Yes, it is longer than the one for Zoom eye piece.  As advised by Bob, I wind the eyepiece with tennis handle grip, the setup is very sercure in place. Thanks.

This afternoon, I went to Tsim Bei Tsui if I am lucky to see   the crested grebe.Unfortunatly, no sign of it was seen.
The following is just a test of my new Fuji F31 on Swarovski 30X eyepiece. It was taken near sunset at Tsim Bei Tsui today,  very beatuiful side lighting.

Wing

cwchan

Bob,

I made it myself by doing some handicraft. I need an adapter ring with one end fit the rim of dc lens and the other end with M52 mm screw--a third party made for Canon G6 to M52 ($100) , a short piece of aluminium plat for linking up the adater and the Fuji dc, some metal cement and bolts and nuts for fixing the adapter to the aluminium plate. The following photos show the setup.  A funny job, the product works fine.  For sharing.

I have no idea if the face detection worked on bird. I have not tried it.

Wing

cwchan

Bob,
Neil

With this setup, I can only get full frame image without vinetting at the last 40% which is most likely due to the length of the adopter that the lens canot get close the the eyepiece. Today I find another one, it is a bit shorter in length. Most importantly, this one is more easy for me to achieve accurate optical alignment ( a very important factor to obtain a sharp image) the Dc and the scope.

Neil,

Wait for my good news, if the adoption is successful, I can make one for you if you don't care my rough handicraft.

Wing

cwchan

[quote:a0db9dd0ad="fneil"]Wing,
        Thanks. I got a quote of $2800 today for the F31fd.  I'll  try and get an F30 at a cheaper price.
        This adaptor should fit other cameras of a similar size , like the Sony W100.  All you would have to do is move the hole for the screw. As Bob says , a small business opportunity here.
Neil.[/quote]

Neil,

It may not be possible unless the lens is the same vertical distance away from the base.  Small business? I think I will leave this for those talent technician. I enoy it as a hobby instead. I got my f31 at DCfever  ($2780).
It is a very good DC--fast focus and brilliant color.

Wing

cwchan

[quote:a6aed526e7="tbob"]Wing,

On the F31 with the lens fully extended, what is the distance from camera body to front of zoom?

The Casio Z1000 the distance is 27mm aprox.

This distance is the crucial thing in buying an adaptor tube.

Bob[/quote]

Bob,

The distance is about 30mm when the lens fully extended.

Wing

cwchan

Neil,

Fantastic shot. I think it is almost impossible to have this kind of shot with the use of DSLC unless a tremendous lens is used.  Fuji F31 is a very good dc when using under dim light. The rendition is some different compared with Nikon, the photo has a feeling of oil painting on muslin when it is used at ISO800 and above, I think it is a charterstic of Fuji's ccd. It is a good choice really.

Regarding my hand-made adaptor, basically, the work is completed. It can focus nealy 80-90% of the zoom range, it is light weight and a good companion of my DCA, however, I have no time to test it out in these few days. I have ordered a tube from Wanchai 298 (Digi City) for making another one for you. The shopkeeper ( a potential bird watcher) said he has to check it out at their Monkok branch if this tube is still in stock. I will let you know the development later.

Cheers

Wing

cwchan

[quote:ddad33fb8a="fneil"]Mandy,
          For quality the 8400 is better ( the Olympus 7070wz is better too ). Both these cameras have a high quality lens ( the 8400 has Nikon's ED glass ).  They also have RAW which gives a level of quality which can't be achieved by little digicams. If I was going to rate them out of 10 -
Nikon 8400 - 9 ( let down be being a bit slow in handling RAW and only single frame with remote control )
Olympus 7070wz - 8.5 ( Auto focus not as good as 8400's  Green Macro     zone,but faster at handling RAW and Continuous remote control )
Fuji F30/31 -  8 (faster, low noise sensor up to iso 1600, no RAW,non-ED glass )
The Fuji E900 has RAW and filter thread for adapter and is still available so should be a good option for people who want more functions for digiscoping.[/quote]

Yes, Nikon 8400 is very sharp and its 8 million pixels resolution gives better photo quality after cropping. However, it is very difficult to find a new one in the market.  

The first photo is full frame and the the other is after cropping. Thanks Bob and Neil's advice.