The annual Sheffield Mills eagle festival 2 weekends ago allowed plenty of photo-ops, and as I do occasional digiscoping, it offered a good opportunity to practice this technique on large relatively stationary birds, as well as the more conventional dSLR photography. I didn't think this one one was too bad, although I probably should have extended the canvas at the top and perhaps on the left a bit.
Panasonic ZS-7 P&S hand-held to a Kowa 773 spotting scope with 30X wa eyepiece, tripod with Jobu jr. gimbal head, 1/500, f/6.3, moderate crop.
I agree about the need for more headroom. The image has a bit of "crinkle" to it, especially evident at the eagles collar feathers, did you apply sharpening to the file? If so, I think backing off till you don't see the crinkle would be good.
Pretty impressive Richard considering the difficulty with the technique. More room at the top and a better head angle would have been optimal but at least the HA must be difficult to time just right with the setup you have. What Chris calls "crinkle" I call "scratchiness" and it is there I think from sharpening. If you back off a bit I think the image would benefit.
I have a 80mm doublet refractor and tried it for photographing birds but found it very difficult to get some decent results, so I'm impressed with what you achieved here, Richard.
I agree with the others...more room top and right and definitely back down on the sharpening. Even the snow feels a little to crispy so back down and see what you think.
Digiscoped Bald eagle
