Canon Photography
35mm/'Scope Photography
I'd like to ask advice of our illustrious experts!
I've been having a tentative look for a second hand 'scope – as this is the only way I think I will be able upgrade my optics.
I noticed one BF member had an Opticron ED available, and as I am still at my "research" stage, I had a quick look on the Opticron Website to see what this actually was.
Whilst I was there, I noticed that it is possible to buy couple of bits of kit (T-mount and adaptor?) which would enable me to use the 'scope for photography with my Minolta 35mm SLR camera.
In all the talk of Digital, this option has completely bypassed me.
Is there anyone out there with this kind of setup?
Is it an avenue worth pursuing?
Anything I need to be careful to avoid?!
Any advice would be gratefully received. 
My previous scope was an Optolyth 80mmHD (straight) and I bought the adaptor to enable me to use my 35mm SLR 'film' camera with it.
I got some very good results, but the disadvantages were :-
1 - Small aperture approx f10.7, which basically meant I had to use a fast film i.e. 800 asa so there was a noticeable amount of grain. On bright days I could get away with 400 asa, but if I had that loaded and only took a couple of shots, when I came to use it again and the light was poor, then my shutter speeds were too slow and I'd end up with 30+ blurred shots then I could load an 800 asa again.
2 - The Optolyth had a screw thread for the eyepiece / adaptor and because I was taking a lot of photo's in between using my scope for viewing the thread started to wear away and slivers of metal were coming off the thread, so I decided to buy a prime 600mm lens and keep the scope just for viewing.
As I said above the results I got were very good. I took the set-up with me to America back in 2000 and was able to get a lot of good 'record' shots of the birds that I saw. I did take about 15 rolls of film though and got over 170 'keepers'
I now use a Coolpix 4500 with my Swaro AT80HD and absolutely love it. The fact that I can get nearly 500 shots on my cards and then just print off the best ones is fantastic.
I still have my 35mm SLR kit hoping one day to get a digital SLR because for moving birds it's a lot easier with a lens than with a scope.
Hope this helps.
Tufty.
I used to use an slr with a Kowa tsn4 (77mm), I encountered pretty much the same as Paul.... though I found it difficult to focus the scope on the subject due to a very dark viewfinder (Nikon f70 & f90). Even so, I managed at asa400 in reasonable light.
Remember that it isn't digiscoping and most 80mm scopes turn into 800mm @ f10+ (10++++ is more accurate!). Frame-filling birds won't be the norm, but you do have more scope to crop/enlarge with film (though asa800 is pretty limited)
Taking off your conventional eyepiece for the slr adapter is a real pain in the field.
Andy