more with the Leica V-Lux 20

handheld digiscoped imagetaken with new Leica V-Lux 20 at 75 mm equivalent

Following up on the comments from the last blog post discussing the performance of the NEW Leica V-Lux 20 compact superzoom digital point & shoot camera. Clearly as a stand alone camera it functions swimmingly. but above and below I will show some more performance proofs from the V-Lux 20 as a digiscoping camera. In the last post I showed a number of images with the camera zoom near minimum, hand held behind the Leica 20-50x wide-angle zoom eyepiece and APO Televid spotting scope. The question was asked at what point of zoom and to what degree do the images degrade. At minimal zoom (as shown in the image in my past post of the Purple Martin pair), you get a solid defined vignetted edge on each corner with camera zoom at a 35 mm lens equivalent.

With camera zoom near 75 mm equivalent (above in this Great Crested Flycatcher image) the field begins to collapse. It presumably continues to collapse as more zoom is added, but unfortunately I only had the camera to test for one full day and was trying to get nice wildlife shots rather than doing standardized tests.

Eastern Wood-Pewee digiscoped w/ Leica V-Lux 20 through APO Televid scope

The Eastern Wood-Pewee above was again taken with the new V-Lux 20 handheld behind the Leica APO Televid 82 mm spotting scope. The camera was zoomed to a 44 mm lens equivalent and the scope zoom was at lowest power (25x wide angle). This image is completely unaltered and shown as uploaded from the camera. You can see that with this combination of camera & eyepiece zoom there is no visible vignetting at all! While I've always been a huge fan of using adapters to stabilize a digiscoped image it is nice that this camera is a pocket-sized (compact) superzoom with 12x optical zoom (300 mm equivalent) that can be easily handheld on this scope / eyepiece combination with incredible results. It is just another tool in the arsenal for those who want something that is more versatile as a stand alone and still able to be coupled with the scope to reach magnifications well over 1,000 mm equivalents.

Eastern Wood-Pewee digiscoped Magee Marsh, OH 5/14/10

Again with 14.5 megapixel resolution at my disposal, I was able to easily crop the image to a portrait mode with the bird and snag filling most of the frame with negligible loss of quality.

male Cape May Warbler digiscoped through Leica APO Televid 82 w/ V-Lux 20

Yet another example of a high-quality handheld digiscoped image is shown above. This adult male Cape May Warbler image was once again taken simply holding the new Leica V-Lux 20 behind the APO Televid eyepiece.

- Program mode, ISO 200, 1/250th sec, f/3.7, +1 step EV, auto image stabilization, 42 mm lens equivalent & 25x on scope zoom eyepiece

As a final example of the camera's prowess as a digiscoping tool, here is a digiscoped video (videscoped) taken by holding the V-Lux 20 camera behind the scope eyepiece once again. This video shows an adult male Baltimore Oriole feeding. In this instance the wind reduction feature was activated and the video was recorded at the highest level of quality at 1280x720 pixels @ 60 fps (frames per second)!

Needless to say I'm VERY impressed after being able to "play" with this little gem of a camera for only one full day. Unfortunately, I had to send it back though, so will have to wait before showing more tests & results. Never fear though, there will certainly be some!

NEW Leica V-Lux 20 Breaks all the rules!!!

brand NEW Leica V-Lux 20 compact superzoom point & shoot camera

I was working the "Biggest Week in American Birding" in Ohio last week and the local sales rep loaned me his sample of the new Leica V-Lux 20 to test. I fully expected that I would be able to use the 12x zoom (300 mm equivalent) effectively to capture images of closer birds seen along the boardwalk at Magee Marsh in Oak Harbor, OH. This was a certainty and the camera performed "spot on" in this regard. At 14.5 megapixels with high def movie mode and built in GPS, I was looking forward to playing with this and as you can see from the image of below I was not disappointed!

male Northern Parula image taken with the new Leica V-Lux 20 camera 5/14/10

The colorful male Northern Parula shown above was taken by simply holding this tiny pocket-sized camera up, zooming and snapping the image! Obviously the bird cooperated by being close and at eye-level, but that is why so many birders visit this gem of a site during spring migration; for "in-your-face" views of these vibrant migrant birds. (taken at max zoom - 300 mm, program mode, ISO 200, 1/250th sec, f/4.9, +1 ev, with optical image stabilization and built in flash activated for fill).

Purple Martin pair @ Oak Harbor, OH 5/13/10

Those who know me, know that I am a digiscoping freak so despite the fact that "superzoom" cameras don't lend themselves to digiscoping, I'm sure you know I had to try this new "compact superzoom" behind our new wide-angle scope eyepiece to see how it worked for myself! The above is the exact image completely unaltered that I took through the scope when I first tried this on the evening of 5/13/10.

Amazingly, the Leica V-Lux 20 broke all the digiscoping rules and actually worked f0r digiscoping on its first test above. I was completely stoked! This was handheld behind the Leica APO Televid spotting scope with the wide-angle zoom eyepiece set a bit over 25x and the camera zoom set at a 35 mm equivalent.

Purple Martin pair digiscoped with NEW Leica V-Lux 20 camera

With 14.5 megapixel at my disposal, I was easily able to crop up and eliminate the dark circular frame to capture both the male & female birds (above) and then cropping further even the female alone as below!

female Purple Martin cropped from digiscoped image above

On the way back to the car (near 7 PM), I found my next photo opportunity and tested my luck again. A male Baltimore Oriole was singing unabashedly in an oak tree at the edge of the parking lot. I quickly set up my scope, pulled the V-Lux out of my shirt pocket and held it behind the scope eyepiece. This time I had the scope zoom at minimum 25x, and there was no vignetting around the frame! The image below is again completely unaltered. This is as it turned out by simply holding the new V-Lux 20 to the wide-angle eyepiece and shooting the image! Note there is just the tiniest hint of black vignetting at the lower right corner but otherwise nothing.

adult male Baltimore Oriole digiscoped with Leica V-Lux 20 evening 5/13/10

Image properties:

ISO 200

shutter speed: 1/80th sec

f/3.5

+0.7 step EV

35 mm equivalent

Baltimore Oriole digiscoped image slightly altered.

In the above image I've taken the liberty to add ~10 seconds of photoshop magic, cropping slightly to eliminate the dark corner and some of the "blown out" sky , and adding a bit of "shadow/highlights", but nothing more for the finished look above. At any rate, it is clear I need to get a V-Lux 20 of my own and begin experimenting some more both behind the spotting scope and as a stand alone unit! On 5/14 & 15 I took some more and better images and videos using the same camera scope combination which I will highlight next!

Carribbean visitors

dark morph Red-footed Booby digiscoped with Leica APO Televid scope & D-Lux 4

Made a trek with my son to the Miami area to enjoy the two celebrity birds visiting from the Carribbean! Above is the Red-footed Booby that has been in the area for the past couple of months.

La Sagra's Flycatcher at Bill Baggs Park in Key Biscayne, FL

Just as popular, has been the La Sagra's Flycatcher that has thrilled many observers at Bill Bagg's State Park in Key Biscayne, Florida. We enjoyed fantastic views this AM as the bird fed very actively and called repeatedly. Another birder photographing complained that digiscoping was too ineffective compared to his DSLR setup, but I rattled off nearly 20 frames in less than 1/2 hour and enjoyed 5 to 10x the magnification. I was not unhappy with these images obviously! All were shot with the Leica D-Lux 4 point & shoot camera, through a Leica APO Televid 82 mm spotting scope.

rare La Sagra's Flycatcher, digiscoped on Key Biscayne, FL 3/14/10

Both the La Sagra's Flycatcher and the Red-footed Booby are species commonly found throughout the Carribbean and rarely seen in the US only in Florida. There has been one of each of these species, hanging in the greater Miami area for a couple months now!

Canopy Critters from Panama

male Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth resting in a tree near Canopy Tower

In an earlier post I'd mentioned how Canopy Tower was an ideal location for digiscoping, but I didn't explain fully why that is. I will try to explain this more thoroughly and share some of the many pictures I was able to capture from the tower as well! Let me backtrack and review a bit for those that are perhaps just joining us. Digiscoping (at least as I practice it) is coupling a digital point & shoot camera like the Leica C-Lux 2 that I used behind the Leica APO Televid spotting scope for these pictures. Again my primary aim here (pun intended) is to capture wildlife images with the spotting scope that I carry most of the time in my pursuit of birds and wildlife anyway. As such, by simply adding a tiny camera and digital adapter to a hip pouch or shoulder strap, I'm ready to take stunning images at a moment's notice!

Hoffman's Two-toed Sloth in trees at the Canopy Tower

The Canopy Tower offers an ideal situation for digiscoping not only because you are in the tree tops in a safe, stable structure with the creatures that utilize the canopy, but because many of these creatures are anywhere from 50 to 150 feet away. With patience most will come close enough for standard SLR and telephoto lenses, but I tend to be impatient and love the fact that this digiscoping set up allows me to achieve the equivalent of a 6,000 mm lens (120x magnification)!

Geoffrey's Tamarin digiscoped from Canopy Tower, July 2007

This allows me to get up close and personal with the wildlife even when it is farther away. The Geoffrey's Tamarin above was actually much closer but I still shot this at a 35 mm equivalent of a 1720 mm lens because I wanted to see it's whiskers! ;)

EXIF data:
35 mm equivalent on camera = 86 mm
scope zoom eyepice at 20 power
or 86 mm x 20x = 1720 mm equivalent lens.

Sloth hangs out at Canopy Tower

To put that into perspective, the longest telephoto lens readily available on the commercial market is an 800 mm lens. So even at nominal camera zoom I'm far exceeding the capabilities of most telephoto systems. Plus, an 800 mm lens can reach over 2 foot in length, weigh over 20 pounds, and force you to have to re-mortgage your house. ;p The Sloth above was actually scratching but I've entitled this shot "the Thinker!"

Mantled Howler Monkey (male) hangs down to get to Cecropia fruit

There's always a good assortment of mammals "hanging out" in the trees surrounding the Canopy Tower. Both of the aforementioned sloth species, preferred the loner approach but the troops of Monkeys always seemed to come through en masse. The small Tamarins were less numerous and came and went quickly during our stay, but the Howlers were regular and numerous throughout our stay. One guest told me that the large wound on the side of the male above was a Bot Fly larvae, but don't know this for certain. Seems plausible. He explained that Vampire Bats can often make the initial wound and allow the Bot Fly to get under the flesh. Makes for a good story but I can't say for certain if this is the case.

Does anyone reading know more about this relationship or hypothesis?... would love some feedback.

male Howler Monkey stares intently at some distant subject

The ever vociferous and social Howlers were a treat to watch. Even though they are a common species throughout much of the Neotropics, I don't see these in the wild here in Florida so it was a great treat.

female Howlers with tail at the ready feeds on tree top fruit

The female Howlers were notably slimmer and smaller than the mature males lacking the distinct "mane" shown by the latter. The animal above was taking full advantage of fruiting Cecropia that surrounds the Tower. It is also worthy of note that this is not a tower in the typical sense (a narrow spire sticking up) but more of a very wide 4 story building with large observation deck ringing the top. This allows easy panoramic viewing options in any direction which is also advantageous for viewing the birds and wildlife moving through the tree-tops. It's a very unique and beautiful perspective for observing the "Canopy Express".

Mantled Howler Monkey digiscoped July 2007, Canopy Tower

These are merely a few of the many species that could be viewed by the tower and to see and digiscope them all will undoubtedly take more trips! I will share more from our 8 day trip, never fear, but for now I'll wrap it up by saying the trip was more fun than a Barrel full of Monkeys (or better yet a wild troop in their natural habitat), and we are already planning on offering this workshop again next year.

I can't wait!

Digiscoping basics 2 - Lining up the camera

"American Green-winged Teal" digiscoped Arcata, CA 4/2009

When coupling a small digital point & shoot (p&s) camera behind a scope with a zoom eyepiece you will always see some sort of vignetted dark circle around the subject. As I've stated previously this is not a big issue and it typically disappears when you increase your camera zoom. Fixed wide-angle eyepieces will often not show this vignetting, but like most scope users I prefer the versatility of the zoom.

I actually like to use this circle to tell if my camera is centered properly over the eyepiece. When centered, the blackened sections of the image will appear uniform on either side of the screen and look the same at top & bottom.

If not centered properly, the vignette will disappear from one edge but not the opposite (as above) or perhaps from all but one corner of the image as you increase scope zoom. This is a clear indicator that your camera is off center. In the example shown above, the camera is a bit too far to the right and needs to be adjusted slightly to the left for best results. Remember, that the circle we are working with is less than 4 mm wide so adjustments will be slight. These seemingly small differences will become even more problematic as you increase the scope zoom because the small circle of light leaving the eyepiece (exit pupil) may be reduced from 1/2 to 1/3 its original size when you increase the scope zoom.

With our 2 dimensional adjustments made on the flat plane from side to side, up & down, and on the diagonals, we now need to turn our attention to getting the proper distance between the camera lens and the scope eyepiece.

old style, generic universal digiscoping adapter

This last adjustment seems to be the one most commonly ignored or missed in many digiscoping set ups resulting in ruined photos and great frustration. In many older, well established digiscoping websites, you may find this is largely ignored, not mentioned, or may seem unnecessary or not understood by many long time digiscopers due to inherent biases of certain types of formerly popular adapters.

The sample universal adapter above is fairly typical of most early adapters that utilized filter-thread (accessory) rings on the front of the p&s cameras as a means of attachment between the camera and adapter. Unfortunately, there are almost no current p&s models that still offer accessory threads because these units are replaced so frequently that accessories really don't seem to sell. It seems each year there maybe 2 in a field of hundreds of new digital p&s cameras that both lend themselves to digiscoping and offer filter thread rings at the front of the lens. These adapters are extremely limited as a result.

Another issue with these adapters is that due to the metal rings and adapter rings present between the two lenses these adapters almost invariably meant you could never get the two lenses too close together. As a result, many sites erringly suggest you always need to get the lenses as close as possible together for best results.

blackened, semicircular arcs appear when lenses are too close together

If you get your eye too close to a binocular lens you will get "black out" sections in your view that appear as shadowed arcs near one side of the image as seen in the image above. You don't have to take my word for it, try it for yourself. twist or roll down the eyecups on your binoculars and remove your glasses if you wear them and get the binocular eyepieces as close as possible to your eyes. You should note an effect similar to what is shown above.

Well not surprisingly, the effect is the same when coupling two lenses afocally (that is mounting a camera with a lens behind an eyepiece in this case). If the two lenses are too close together, you need to draw these apart until you see a more uniform colored background. This is particularly noticeable on light backgrounds like the sky.

when lenses are too far apart you'll note darkened corners

In the image above I've purposely pulled the lenses too far apart. If you experiment with your eye and a binocular or scope you can actually predict what happens in digiscoping as the systems really aren't too terribly different. When you move your eye away from the lens, your field of view collapses leaving just a small circle of light visible. You can see this happening in the image above as well. As the lenses are drawn apart the field begins to collapse and you begin to see shadowing at each corner of your image.

Note the difference in the terms "shadowing/shadowed edge" versus "vignetting/vignetted edge", I differentiate between these two as they indicate a different problem. As I define these terms "shadowed edges" have a bit of opacity to them - that is you can see through them a bit. A "vignetted edge" is sharply defined and completely black with no opacity.

A sharply defined blackened edge or vignette indicates you are off center or simply need to run your zoom out more. Shadowed edges generally indicate the two lenses are too far apart and need to be moved closer together. Shadowed arcs that are in the interior of the frame will have a lighter section between the shadow and the edge. When seen you should move the two lenses a bit further apart.

Not the most interesting subject I realize but to save time, I just zipped out the back door and took some sample shots of my storage shed. The light doors provided a good background to show shadowing. When the lenses are adjusted properly the field should look uniform and be devoid of shadowing & vignetting.

As I travel the country and beyond teaching digiscoping classes, I find that coupling errors are responsible for a majority of common digiscoping image problems/failures. Hopefully some will find this information helpful. As always, if there are ever any questions feel free to ask in the comments section. I'll happily address all to the best of my ability.

J