Technical


	TECHNIQUES AND EQUIPMENT My interest has mostly been in documenting birds rather than striving for photographic excellence and this emphasis is reflected in my choice of equipment and the techniques I use (and also in the quality of many of my photographs!). DIGISCOPING From January 2003 onwards, many of the images on this site have been obtained using this method. I use a Carl Zeiss Diascope 85 T* FL scope fitted with a 20-60x zoom eyepiece and a Nikon Coolpix 4500 4-megapixel digital point-and-shoot camera. It's possible to obtain good images with this set-up under ideal conditions, and to get passable record shots of rarities when conditions are against you. The fantastic optical performance of the Diascope 85 T* FL makes it an ideal birding tool and the extra light-gathering ability of the huge 85 mm objective comes in very handy for digiscoping. I prefer the angled version of the Diascope for several reasons. First, less stress is applied to the scope eyepiece by the camera when it's attached. Second, you don't need to extend the tripod so far to elevate the eyepiece and camera to eye level - this helps minimize vibration, especially when it's windy. Here the scope is fitted with a Zeiss cordura stay-on case, which offers some protection from the elements but is otherwise an awful case and definitely not worth the $180 (US) it costs. The case is too loose-fitting so it always seems to be getting in the way, and the zippers catch in the adjacent material and are difficult to operate. I guess you can't have everything.
	To attach the Coolpix to the scope, I use a very well-designed adapter I purchased from Cursorius.com. After trying several such adapters, this is easily the best one I've come across. The camera end has a 28 mm thread that screws into the front of the Coolpix. The rest of the adapter is simply a cylinder that slides over the scope's eyepiece. Two openings in the cylinder (one visible in the image to the left) allow you to turn the zoom control on the eyepiece while the adapter is in place, although I rarely shoot at anything other than the lowest magnification.
	The real advantage of this adapter is the speed with which the camera can be fitted to the scope. This allows you to switch between digiscoping and normal viewing in a matter of seconds. This is a achieved through use of a base ring that is permanently fitted to the scope, sitting around the base of the eyepiece (left). A small screw holds the base ring in place and stops it from rotating.
	The adapter has two notches cut out of the rim that fit precisely over the screw on the base ring.
	When the adapter is placed over the eyepiece, the notch in the adapter engages the screw on the base ring, ensuring that the camera's objective is brought rapidly into alignment with the exit pupil of the eyepiece. This works very well and makes fitting the camera to the scope both fast and convenient.
	Another accessory I find very useful is the Nikon MC-EU1 remote control for the Coolpix cameras. This allows you to operate the camera without touching it, minimizing the introduction of vibrations into the system as you release the shutter.
	VIDEO Camcorders are excellent tools for documenting birds, birding trips, etc. A camcorder can be used like a Dictaphone to record spoken field notes, with the added advantage of having the video component too. I use a Sony DCR-PC330 MiniDV Handycam, seen here fitted with a NP-QM71D Infolithium M battery. All the videos on this site were captured with this camcorder. It has a useful 10x optical zoom and image stabilization. The video it produces is excellent, and this can be used to generate 640 x 480 pixel videograbs, such as these. The camera is also able to produce 3-megapixel still images, but these are not as great as you might think because the resolution is only 72 dpi. In still mode, this camera also seems to struggle to get the white balance right, particularly in low light, and there is no way to select for fast shutter speeds when operating in still mode.
	This camcorder can also be fitted with a teleconverter that screws into the screw thread around the objective. Here a Sony 2.0x teleconversion lens is attached. This boosts the magnification but also magnifies camera shake, so it's harder to get steady video, even with image stabilization.
	DIGITAL SLR Most of the more recent photos on this site (since September 2006) were made with a Nikon D80 digital single lens reflex camera. This is a 10.2-megapixel camera. This is now my preferred method for taking photos of birds. I've mostly used this camera with a 80-400 mm f/4.5-5.6D ED AF VR Zoom-Nikkor lens and a cheap 70-300 mm f/4-5.6G AF Zoom-Nikkor lens (pictured here).
	OTHER CAMERAS Most of the older images on this site (pre-2003) were obtained with a Sony Mavica MVC-FD91 digital camera. This was a 0.8-megapixel camera that saved images to 3.5-inch floppy disks!!! How times have changed! Each disk would hold about a dozen images, so it was necessary to walk around with pockets stuffed full of disks! Despite its limitations, I was able to capture many interesting images with it. Someone finally had the good sense to steal it.