digiscoping camera for record shots

[dunlin]

Got a week off work this week so went birding on monday at marshside southport
birds of note
4 white fronted geese
4 short eared owls
8 barnacle geese
a few thousand pink feet
I bumped into a chap i havent spoke to for ages hes a well known birder in the area and he took me for a trip south of marshside to try and get to grips with the gyr falcon thats been seen in the area.
I didnt catch the gyr but did see a distant red kite
I went back yesterday and was rewarded with a really close view of a short eared owl and got to see the red kite again, only this time it was much closer. I watched it for about 30 mins arguing with a buzzard over some carrion, it was a great spectacle
My fellow birder had a small point and shoot panasonic fs16 and a little plastic device for marrying it up to his scope
A number of years back i tried digiscoping with hit and miss results and it got me wondering which is the best camera for digiscoping at the moment
Things must have moved on since the camera i used to use, a 3 mega pixel nikon
Can anyone advise on the camera choice of the moment?

[RoyW]

Pretty much any modern compact digital camera will do for record shots, but it may require some practise. In have even managed some pretty good results by 'phone-scoping, with the camera on my mobile phone hand held to the telescope eyepiece. (I'll post some images when I get a chance).

[Shrike]

Got quite excited myself when i heard about the Gyrfalcon at Altcarr , not heard anything since. Reckon it was probably a lanner x Gyr hybrid escape , shame.

[dunlin]

Heard some falconer from not to far away recently lost a gyr/sakar cross. The lost bird was untrained and although it doesnt have jesses on, the bird should have a ring
Some who have seen it say its good for a wild one but didnt get good enough views to say either way
check out john dempseys blog here
Gyr enigma. (BirdBlog)
Id still like to see it though. Spent four and a half hours there the other day but no joy except for the red kite of course

[Shrike]

Thanks for that dunlin , it would be amazing if it does ever get re-found and confirmed as a genuine pale greenland Gyr. Be round that area myself this weekend so goes without saying i'll be on the look out.

[dunlin]

Originally Posted by RoyW

Pretty much any modern compact digital camera will do for record shots, but it may require some practise. In have even managed some pretty good results by 'phone-scoping, with the camera on my mobile phone hand held to the telescope eyepiece. (I'll post some images when I get a chance).

Im waiting in anticipation roy. Ive tried digiscoping with my phone but frankly the results where rubbish
Heres one i took a few years ago not with a phone but a cheap 3 mp nikon camera

I was pleased with the picture but thought there must be a better camera on the market today as things in electronics move on so quickly

[dunlin]

Originally Posted by Shrike

Thanks for that dunlin , it would be amazing if it does ever get re-found and confirmed as a genuine pale greenland Gyr. Be round that area myself this weekend so goes without saying i'll be on the look out.

Good luck shrike, even if you dont get in touch with the bird you should have a good day.
Im going up tomorrow if i get time so fingers crossed

[Jonathan]

I had a Panasonic FS18 (I think that was the model!) until I managed to throw it off the sea wall (Marine Drive) at Marshside - unsurprisingly, it didn't survive the fall! I married it up to my scope by supergluing a spare rubber eyecup I had to the actual camera, then slipping a tight-fitting plastic tube over the eyepiece. The camera's eyecup then aligned with the one on my scope's eyepiece when I pushed it into the end of the tube . . . if that makes sense! Anyway, it worked okay until I destroyed the camera. I now use a Nikon I bought 2nd hand off someone at work for £20, works okay for me as all I want are record shots for my own diary. I simply hold the camera up to my scope's eyepiece, take lots of pics and hope one comes out looking vaguely like a bird! I have a Canon DSLR and a 400mm lens if I want to get better pics but I'm not really that into photography to be honest and rarely use it these days.

The possible Gyr is interesting. I saw it on John's blog last week but haven't had chance to go and have a look for it myself. If the bird had anklets it probably indicates it was/had been wearing Aylmeri jesses. The anklets for Aylmeri's are substantial and are meant to be worn semi-permenantly, I struggle to understand how a falcon would have lost both of them in eight weeks? I see pics of the falcon have been sent to Dick Forsman for his opinion. I saw an email several years ago sent to my uncle that had attached to it a few pics of a similar Gyr, seen somewhere in northern Scotland if I remember rightly. It was a round-robin type email with comments on the bird from some of the top ID specialists (including Forsman if I remember correctly), they'd sent it to my uncle as, not only is he a decent birder, but he also breeds pure Gyrs. Several of those involved (including my uncle) said they wouldn't like to say whether it was a wild Gyr or falconer's hybrid as they'd had their fingers burnt on previous occasions. The photographs were better than those obtained of the Altcar falcon.

Cheers
Jonathan

[Tringa]

Don't know if this place is any use, Dunlin. They seem to make a large range of digiscope accessories.

Dave

Digi-scoping

[dunlin]

Originally Posted by Jonathan

I had a Panasonic FS18 (I think that was the model!) until I managed to throw it off the sea wall (Marine Drive) at Marshside - unsurprisingly, it didn't survive the fall! I married it up to my scope by supergluing a spare rubber eyecup I had to the actual camera, then slipping a tight-fitting plastic tube over the eyepiece. The camera's eyecup then aligned with the one on my scope's eyepiece when I pushed it into the end of the tube . . . if that makes sense! Anyway, it worked okay until I destroyed the camera. I now use a Nikon I bought 2nd hand off someone at work for £20, works okay for me as all I want are record shots for my own diary. I simply hold the camera up to my scope's eyepiece, take lots of pics and hope one comes out looking vaguely like a bird! I have a Canon DSLR and a 400mm lens if I want to get better pics but I'm not really that into photography to be honest and rarely use it these days.

The possible Gyr is interesting. I saw it on John's blog last week but haven't had chance to go and have a look for it myself. If the bird had anklets it probably indicates it was/had been wearing Aylmeri jesses. The anklets for Aylmeri's are substantial and are meant to be worn semi-permenantly, I struggle to understand how a falcon would have lost both of them in eight weeks? I see pics of the falcon have been sent to Dick Forsman for his opinion. I saw an email several years ago sent to my uncle that had attached to it a few pics of a similar Gyr, seen somewhere in northern Scotland if I remember rightly. It was a round-robin type email with comments on the bird from some of the top ID specialists (including Forsman if I remember correctly), they'd sent it to my uncle as, not only is he a decent birder, but he also breeds pure Gyrs. Several of those involved (including my uncle) said they wouldn't like to say whether it was a wild Gyr or falconer's hybrid as they'd had their fingers burnt on previous occasions. The photographs were better than those obtained of the Altcar falcon.

Cheers
Jonathan

Interesting stuff jonathan, i was going to go today but having called at marshside first and nearly getting blown off my feet i thought id give altcar a miss.
As far as im aware no one has seen rings on the gyr so until its confirmed one way or the other the debate still runs
If you do manage to get in touch with it i'd appreciate a pm if thats possible, that way it goes straight to my phone
good luck
cheers mark