Notes on Camera Equipment
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This page describes and compares the equipment that was used to take the photos on this website.
This was my original setup. With up to 3x magnification, it works great for subjects you can get close to.
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This gives effectively 6x magnification with a built-in image stabilizer that does a good job at reducing camera shake. I use this for hand-held shots, though the IS technology is less effective with the doubler on it.
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This configuration uses a spotting scope as a lens. It gave me very good magnification on very sunny, windless days, and with pretty immobile subjects.
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In October of 2002, I finally switched to a completely digital configuration. The main drawback I have noticed so far is that more distant subjects have less precision in the image than on print or slide film. It also eats batteries for lunch, requiring a recharge after only a day or so in the field. However, there are great advantages to being able to preview and delete shots on the spot, and not having to deal with processing, storage, cleaning, scanning, etc. of negatives and slides.
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In January of 2005, I got a digiscoping setup using an instamatic Canon camera. This has worked out better than I hoped: you can scope anywhere from a few feet to hundreds of yards away, and the camera auto-focuses through the lens (which helps my weak vision a bit). The photo quality is fairly good even in overcast conditions, though it's necessary to crop the dark halo. A close target makes that difficult.
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