scoping or dslr

[fulhamphil]

:Hi every one i would like some advice please, i'm in two minds wether to go down the digiscope route or to buy a super telephoto lens for my olympus E-3 ( i was looking at the sigma 50-500 ) to do my wildlife photography. I'm a bit put off by the quality of print i could get with digiscoping and equally concerned about the difficulty i would have at getting close to my subject using a dslr, then theres always the possibilitie of digiscoping using the dslr ( but i've been "advised" not to go down that route). Any sound advice and your experiences would be greatly appreciated, many thanks Phil. By the way i have about £700 to spend.

[eeyore]

the limiting factor on digiscoping isnt the print quality (modern compacts can easily do 8MP plus) but the fact that is pants for things that are moving - great for distant stationary birds but not worth attempting on fast moving subjects. also you need a scope with a big object like 82mm or so.

I'd be inclined to go with the long lens - i think i'm right in saying that your oly has a x2 crop factor on the sensor (not 100% sure as i'm a canon user) therefore even a 300mm will behave roughly like a 600mm would on a fullframe sensor

So i'd tend to suggest that the 50-500 would be an excellent lens for you (you may also want to look at the 170-500 or 150-500 OS) - however you will still need to work on field craft etc on getting close to the subject as even long glass doesnt get frame filling shots at a huge distance (well not unless your subject is large anyway)

fieldcraft isnt difficult to learn tho - it just takes paitence.

[fulhamphil]

Much appreciated eeyore, thanks for putting me right on the moving subject, i hadn't considered that. You are right about the 2x on the oly, will checkout them lenses, regards Phil.

[BruceP]

Off the top of my head, only the 50 -500mm is available in the four thirds mount, but you get the advantage of it being image stabilised on the Olympus.