OpticsBlog – Thoughts and reviews of binoculars, telescopes, scopes, sights, and much more - birdwatching, astronomy, target shooting - pretty much anything related to optics, nature, and life!

April for me, back on the prairie of my youth, was always shore bird month, so that meant time to grab the spotting scope and tripod, maybe a camp chair if you wanted to go deluxe, a thermos of coffee and sandwich and then head to a favorite prairie marsh. As a passionate birder, that has always been my favorite way to spend a day birding. Don't get me wrong, I love all types of birding, but a prairie marsh is such a special place. It means as much to me as a trout stream when I am fly-fishing or a packed and rowdy blues bar when I am playing my blues harp on stage. In other words, there are some places that take you so far beyond the equipment and the results. For me, when I am birding and packing my spotting scope, there is no finer place on this planet than a prairie marsh.

Despite the weekend's rough weather, complete with gale force winds and snow, did see my first Great Egret in the Leica 10x25BL compact binocular. The Great Egret is much more common in this area than back on my Nebraska prairie, but always a magnificent bird and a treat to see. Egrets and herons are also the perfect subjects for digiscoping due to their behavior. Egrets and herons typically stand motionless in the water as they watch for prey. This greatly improves the chances of a sharp pic while digiscoping with spotting scope and digital camera. The fact that egrets and herons wade, rather than float on the water like waterfowl, also makes these wading birds better photographic subjects since they are unaffected by wave action when the wind kicks up. All in all, these birds are great subjects for a beginning digiscoper. That's why I tell my customers to head to the lake with that new spotting scope and digital camera and have some fun.

I have been accused of being an old-fashioned photographer, but I like to think of myself as being more retro than old-fashioned. When it comes to cameras, true, I have an aversion to cameras that do the thinking for me. I want to do the work, myself, as far as focusing, metering and so on. For me, that is part of the fun and challenge of photography. I am, of course, a minority in this day and age of digital point and shoot cameras and ever more advanced DSLRs and this generation of photographers born with a computer in their hands. I don't begrudge anyone all this digital technology - to each their own and no one can deny the usefulness of this new technology - but old school photographers like me, as well as the manual SLR cameras and manual lenses we love, I fear, will soon be extinct. There aren't enough of us left to draw the attention of the manufacturers or the mainstream photography media. Yet I think it is a bit sad to visit with photographers who carry a ton of expensive equipment, who spend many hours behind the camera, who claim to be passionate about photography, but who, amazingly, can't explain basic relationship between f-stops, aperture, shutter speed, depth of field and so on - all things we assumed every serious photographer new prior to the day someone put computer chips in cameras. I am forever indebted to my brother-in-law, a professional studio photographer, for handing me my first SLR camera, many years ago, in a well-used, all manual Pentax SP with a broken light meter and then telling me that I could claim to be a photographer only when I could take good pictures with it.

Scanning my local ponds and lakes this last week with a spotting scope has paid some dividends in new birds for the year and, as always, some great views of colorful spring waterfowl. This spring I've seen more Red-breasted Mergansers than in years past and the view these ducks provide in a good birding spotting scope like my Kowa 663 spotting scope is something you have to experience, firsthand, to appreciate. So good, in fact, that I am going a bit crazy trying to do some digiscoping for these challenging subjects. Recent high winds and choppy water combined with this species penchant for constantly diving and moving would try the patience of any wildlife photographer. If I could get the wind to calm a bit and get these little ducks to stop and pose for my digital camera, I would have something to show off, but when it comes to wildlife photography in general, and digiscoping in particular, patience is as important as equipment. That's a tall order for an active birding gal like me, this time of the year. So many new birds arriving that it's hard to keep my spotting scope on one bird long enough for a pic.

If you are an avid wildflower photographer, now is the time to get ready for the upcoming wildflower season. For years, I have been telling myself that this will be the year to grab my digital camera and start a photo journal of all the wildflower species I see as they bloom through the spring, summer and fall out on the bike trails. I have yet to get this done from start to finish, spring through the fall, despite the fact that I almost always have a digital point and shoot camera in my purse or pack as I ride my bike. Buying a good DSLR camera may motivate me to follow through a bit more, but I'm also afraid the extra weight of a digital SLR compared to a digital P&S camera would tempt me to leave the DSLR behind. Then, too, there is also a matter of all my other projects I plan for the warm weather months such as birding, astronomy, bicycling, to mention just a few. Not sure the world could handle two of me, but sometimes I wish I had a twin to get it all done.

Seeing a lot of tripods being marketed as digi tripods. What is a digi-tripod? It's actually a pretty generic term for a lightweight tripod for small digital point and shoot cameras. The word digi-tripod should not be taken to mean a tripod for any digital camera, however. Camera size is the key. Full size DSLR cameras or SLR sized point and shoots, such as the Leica V-LUX 1 or Canon SX10-IS still need the support of a stout tripod, especially when we start to zoom up in magnification or, in the case of the DSLR camera, add long telephoto lenses. Go digi-tripod for the little guys. My dream digi tripod and camera setup? I think the Leica C-Lux 3 in white would look great on a Gitzo Carbon 6x Traveler.

You cannot deny the practicality of digital cameras in this hurry-up, instant gratification world of ours, but I still miss the unhurried pace of a manual focus, manual metering 35mm film SLR. To be sure, you can always focus and meter manually with any good DSLR, like the Canon EOS 40D, but seems like these functions are more of an afterthought on a digital. Get an old Contax S2 or Leica R6.2 in your hands and you'll understand the difference. I used to use a Contax S2 for all my macro work with wildflowers, many years ago. Oh the pain of losing that jewel of a camera! These days, since I rarely print pics and because I am always traveling light on a bicycle, a compact point and shoot digital, like the CanonSD880 IS is all I need for my wildflower work. Pics are good, but never quite as good as those slides with the old Contax. Must be enough folks out there who agree with me because a used Contax S2 in good shape is bringing more money than an average DSLR.

What is the difference between Canon Powershot SD point and shoot cameras and their less expensive siblings, the Canon Powershot A series? Fair question and one I get, now and then, from a customer. Biggest difference (or maybe I should say the small difference) is the size. Canon SD models are the slimmer, more compact Canon Powershots. The SD Powershots also tend to be more heavily loaded with advanced software and will be overall a better built point and shoot digital camera. The only way to get a more advanced Canon Powershot is to step up to the Canon Powershot G series. Still, if simplicity and great value are what you want in a digital point and shoot camera, you cannot go wrong with a Powershot A.

If you've never owned or used a premium grade spotting scope such as a Swarovski, Leica, Zeiss, Kowa and so on, you probably wonder why they are so darn expensive. Of course, you get superb build quality and high grade objective lenses - that's a given at these prices - but what a lot of people don't understand and appreciate is that you also get superb, state of the art eyepieces with these spotting scopes. I am a firm believer that a spotting scope eyepiece is at least half of the scope in terms of performance, so take a look at those premium spotting scope eyepieces if you want to understand those premium prices. Really good zoom eyepieces with long eye relief and great optics start at about $300 and go up from there. That's right, $300 just for the eyepiece and often much more, depending on the spotting scope eyepiece. Or, to look at it from the other end of the spotting scope world, the biggest reason for poor performance on a cheap spotting scope is a cheap spotting scope eyepiece..

I have a long history of totting spotting scopes that were really superb, optically, but somewhat of a mismatch for me in terms of weight, especially when I put the spotting scope on a tripod heavy enough to do the job. My first great spotting scope, well ahead of its time, was the old Swarovski AT80. What a great scope, but not exactly a lightweight. Not to be outdone, I then moved on to a Televeue Pronto, which was even heavier. Next came the superb Leica Televid 77APO and, oh, how I miss that scope at times. Still too heavy, though;my arms felt like sphagetti after a full day of birding and I still have a dent in my shoulder from that old Bogen tripod. Finally, enter the Kowa 663. Great spotting scope, in its own right, and a much better match in terms of size and weight for this aging birder. Relief, at last.

It hurts a bit to tell customers who want great pics of moving subjects or pics in low light situations that they are moving into a more sophisticated camera and, especially lens, to do the job right and that it all translates very quickly into more money. I would love to say you could get by cheap when you want a razor sharp pic of a horse moving at 35 miles per hour by going with a digital binocular or even a good digital point and shoot camera, but I can't. I would love to say that you can take a magazine cover quality pic of a deer just before dark with a little camera, but I can't. I know you can't because I have done both types of photography for many years and I know that it not only requires the right equipment, meaning a DSLR camera, and a fast camera lens, but also the right technique and plenty of experience. Camera technology gets better all the time, but it has its limits. Even with all the new technology, though, taking good pics is still a matter of the basics. I recommend taking a course on basic photography at a community college for anyone who wants to get serious about photography. In the long run, it is cheaper than buying the wrong camera for the job.

Late March is the traditional time to hold a Messier marathon - staying out late and trying to catch all of these famous telescope/binocular objects in a single night. It takes a telescope to see them all, but even a small telescope under a dark sky can get the job done if you have some experience as an observer. I've seen all the M objects with a small, 70mm refractor under a truly dark sky, but you typically need the help of a larger telescope if you live under a light polluted sky. A great strategy I have used is to add an astronomy binocular to catch the easy ones, since I can get my binocular on any object much quicker than any telescope, even a computerized telescope. Unfortunately, I don't have a dark sky, not even close, so I doubt even a large telescope will work for me, but, if I can get a clear sky at the end of the month, I might give my binocular and telescope a workout, though my marathon may be closer to a short walk around the block. Still, March wouldn't be the same without some kind of Messier marathon.

Spring for most amateur astronomers is about hunting galaxies, especially in the region of Virgo known as the "realm of the galaxies". Under a really dark sky, a large telescope can show you so many galaxies that it becomes a challenge to tell which one is which, but it really is a game best pursued with large telescopes, due to the low image brightness of these galaxies. Of course, that sounds like a challenge and that makes it all the more irresistible for me with a small telescope or even my astronomy binoculars. When you consider that spring is usually the worst season around this area to get a clear sky and that I have the added burden of severe light pollution, it becomes even more of a challenge. Will that stop me? Never. I will report back after the next clear night.

When my old Pentax digital camera died on me, after I dropped it on the pavement while pedaling my bike, I had every intention of replacing it, right away. Of course, we all know about good intentions … Not sure why I have hesitated this long, but I suspect I am still a bit reluctant to go back to a digital point and shoot camera after all my years of working with an SLR camera. On the other hand, I know how serious I get when I have a full featured DSLR in my hands. I'm half afraid that I wouldn't have the time to do it justice, not to mention what it would do to my finances once I started looking at premium camera lenses. On the other hand, maybe I'm afraid that I will make room for some serious photography by cutting into some of the other pursuits I so love. At times like this I wish I had a double. One of us could spend all day, out in the field, getting great pics and one of us could do all the other things in my life. Two of me? Now that's a scary thought.

Okay, I admit it; I look at the moon with a telescope and a binocular quite a bit, these days. Now, back in the days when I lived and observed where the sky was truly dark at night, we regarded the moon as little more than a nuisance. In fact, in the crowd I frequented, it was almost embarrassing to admit that you looked at the moon. Strictly beginners stuff. Why bother? It took a move to the "big city" and the loss of my truly dark sky to answer that question. Light pollution is why I bother, now. Light pollution has seriously curtailed my deep-sky observing, though I still faithfully pursue these dim objects with binocular and telescope. On the other hand, I have learned that light pollution has little effect on the moon and planets. Even better, I have discovered that the ever changing face of the moon creates enough of a challenge to keep things interesting, even for an old pro like me and, unlike observing deep-sky objects, any telescope or binocular can be used for observing the moon. When we get older, we actually do get smarter, sometimes.