Probably been asked lots but? Sony A100 Scope

[Side Salad]

Hi All

Sorry if this has been asked before - I have a Sony A100 and I am looking to get a good scope with adaptor to use with my camera, I am an experienced semi pro photographer but have never gone into this sort of set up before, I know loads about studio/product/landscape work with prime lens systems but not much about scopes. I really want to get into wildlife photography as I have a great passion for the outdoors and a great hate of the idea of one more studio session with a moody toddler who trashes everything whilst parents say "isnt he sweet".

Could anyone advise me on a scope to use with the Sony A100?

Many thanks in advance

Side Salad

[eeyore]

franlky if you want to get into wildlife photography in a big way i would forget the scope and get a decent long lens like the sigma 50-500 ( I think that is available in alpha fit)

digi scoping will get you some great shots - check out johns pics in the Gallery or on his website , but it is also limited to long ranger still shots - for action or flight you can pretty much forget it.

also while it is possible to put a dslr on the back of a scope most digiscopers use compacts with swivelling screens

[Side Salad]

Thanks, despite the assurances of my local camera shop, thats kind of what I thought, I don't cut corners with studio work in terms of lens systems because of the loss of quality, I'm fairly sure the salesman had pound signs in mind rather than great wildlife images

[eeyore]

yep ,there is nothing wrong with digiscoping per se - some people get some very good images , particularly of little birds , and those that are too shy to get near any other way - however it is not the set up that pros would choose for mainstream wildlife photography.

As I said before I would recomend some long glass - which depends on your budget

If you are on a shoe string the little bigma (sigma 170-500) f5.6 goes for about 400 notes - the bigma (sigma 50-500) f5.6 goes for arround 600 ( this has better quality glass and HSM foccusing) - If money is not a problem go for an F2.8 lens 400mm lens or a f4 600mm lens as these can be used with a Teleconcverter to get even greater length - I'm noy up on what is available for the alpha mount as I'm a canon user , but Sigma have just annouced a 200-500mm f2.8 zoom - which is said to be available in all major fits - Price is tbc but is thought to be likely to be in the region of £3k

[glsammy]

Larger digital camera tend not to be the best choice for digiscoping, there's some technical reason which escapes me!
That's why many digiscopers still prefer the likes of the Coolpix 4500.
I agree with Pete, get a decent telephoto lens, either the Bigma, or if funds permit, something like the Sigma 120-300 F2.8, which with a 2X converter turns into a decent F5.6 600mm. (This would be my ideal set up, if I could manage the weight!)

[richardkm]

With the larger digital cameras, vignetting is a big problem. The Coolpix 4500 is going out of favour now, as the screen is so small compared to more modern compacts. The smaller and lighter the camera, the better the balance when the camera is fitted to the scope.

I agree with what has been said before, a true telephoto lens will be much simpler to use - atufocus etc, but for long shots of birds that are not moving too much, the results from digiscoping - up to A4 size say, will be very close in quality to prime lenses, especially when a scope such as the Swarovski ATS80HD is used, but for the price of that scope, you can get a good long lens. One benefit of digiscoping is the magnification available, if a fixed eyepiece of 30x is used and the camera has a 3x zoom range, then it is possible to get around 60-75x mag. Use a 20-60x zoom and you can see the sort of mag possible. Have a look here : Birdnet Ltd. for scopes and advice on digiscoping.