Sony A6000 and digiscoping with Razor Vortex HD 20x60 - 85?

[dmcginnis]

Greetings - I have a Sony A600 with the two kit lenses and want to use it for digiscoping with a Razor Vortex HD 20-60-85 spotting scope ( The scope by itself is marvelous!  I also bought the camera adapter with it (http://www.vortexoptics.com/product/vortex-razor-hd-spotting-scope-digital-camera-adapter) and tried working with it last weekend taking photos of wolf pups in Yellowstone.  It worked OK part of the time...but ended up being pretty frustrating because the camera did not always recognize the attached lens and when it did, the camera lens kept searching for a focus point.  It worked some of the time...and then would change modes and search for a focus point.  The lenses needed to be zoomed in quite far to avoid the vignetting in the image, so everything was very magnified.

 

I tried the settings on P most of the time and kept raising the ISO so I could use a faster shutter speed; regardless, the photos were not sharp.  I ended up moving to Scene mode and going to manual focus and that seemed to work better, but the images were still not well focused.  BTW, I was using a good tripod that is capable of holding 20 pounds, so it was pretty steady, and I was using the 2-second delay to avoid camera shake due to my finger on the shutter release.

 

I am wondering if I need a different lens to make this work.  Do I need a macro lens?  Perhaps, a fixed focal length lens?  If I need a different lens to make this work, what suggestions do you have?

 

Is there ia better camera setting to use, I would appreciate hearing about it.

 

Any and all suggestions will be appreciated.

 

Thanks!

 

Dave

[Golem]

`

 

If "digiscoping", which I have never heard of, is

the old routine of combining a camera-with-lens

and a telescope-with-eyepiece, then problems

and questionable result should be the norm.

 

Once upon a time there were flat field eyepieces

for such rigs. If you're not using such an eyepiece

then perhaps stop beating yourself up. Also when

a flat field eyepiece IS deployed, it is also a very

good idea to use a flat field macro lens [iOW an

actual macro lens] on the camera.

 

Your post mentions zooming, AF, etc. All bad but

at best such rigs are not for producing exhibition

quality images. For forensic, documental proof,

etc they can work well enuf.

 

BTW, I followed the Razor link. Found this info

[hint, hint]:

Digital SLR Cameras (DSLR)

 

Connect the Razor HD spotting scope to a DSLR camera

body with a fixed 50 mm lens. The 50 mm lens of most

digital cameras has a 52 mm thread, but you will need

to choose the specific adapter ring that fits the threads of

your DSLR camera lens.

I also notice from the picture of the Razor scope

that it has prisms in the optical path. Also bad.

 

You mention that your tripod is capable of holding

20 lbs. A rickety folding lawn chair is capable of

holding at least 100 lbs [hint, hint].

 

You mention using P-mode. IIRC when a camera

lens is aimed into a scope eyepiece, the camera

lens is to be kept wide open. So [iIRC] P-mode

could be a problem, aperture-wise.

 

`

[dmcginnis]

I heard back from the Vortex customer support that they recommend a 50mm f1.8 lens to go with their camera adapter and scope.  They did not say anything about needing a macro...so I hope that the regular Sony 50mm 1.8 will work ok.

[nitro27]

Hey there, i was searching the net and came across this old thread and was wondering how you got on with the lens? I am looking at getting the razor scope and the new version of the a6000 which is the a6300. Yer i guess just wondering which lens you went with and how it all works. Any info would be greatly appreciated

Cheers

 

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

[dmcginnis]

Hi nitro27 - I do use the Sony 50 mm 1.8 lens and it works just fine on the Razor scope.  I use the Razor mounting brackets and all works well.  I have been pleased with the setup.  I am heading into Yellowstone next weekend to see what I can find with the setup.

 

Cheers,

Dave

[Jady]

Newbie, I am reading this old post with interest because I hope to pair my Sony a7 with a Vortex scope. I clicked on the words Razor mounting brackets in your post because I don't know what I need to attach my camera to the scope but what came up looked like something you would attach to a wall to hold a security camera or something. Can you help to clarify? What is between your camera with the 50 mm lens and the scope? How does it attach?

Thanks for your help!