Digital compact camera - low light, low weight, and threaded lens

James Harris wrote:

Hi James

It's far too quiet so here are some random thoughts:

Unfortunately not many compact digital cameras seem to have a lens
thread.

The weight of cameras also seems to follow a maker trend.

Weight suggest quality to the ignorant and impressionable. Think Nikon
SLRs and Olympic weight lifters! I thought the Olympus SLRs more than
heavy enough!

My £200 Canon Ixus 860IS feels like half a brick at 155g. My £70
Vivitar 7388S feels much lighter at 135g. I'd prefer half that for a
pocket camera. My Olde Sony P71 weighed 274g and now feels like two
whole bricks taped together with a postage stamp for a screen.

The Vivitar goes everywhere with me. Even on cycle rides. The Canon
only goes out in the car or around the house and garden.

I have been delighted with the results from both cameras. The Vivitar
is a little jewel for the asking price with a huge screen. A spare
battery is always handy. The Canon battery lasts literally for months.
The Vivitar for a couple of weeks. Both get lots of exercise so I
needed a larger hard drive. Thanks to these three digital cameras I
now have 12,000 image files worth 10GB. Not all astronomy, I hasten to
add.

If you go into the menus you can set the lens not to retract. The lens
housing could then be used in a simple tubular, eyepiece adaptor.
Though I'd want a short lanyard to catch the camera if it slipped.

Somebody ought to do a plastic eyepiece adaptor with a proper clamping
ring for various compact camera lenses. Rather like they do for
webcams but without the tiny thread.

I made a simple adaptor for my Sony tripod screw hole using a piece of
alloy plate and a Tufnol block bored in the lathe to fit the outside
of my 2" focussing mount. I used it for eyepiece projection on the Sun
during a transit with the Sony lens set to stay out and a full
aperture solar foil filter on my 6" refractor.

Regards
Chris

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On 19 Sep, 00:03, "Chris.B" <[Registered users can see links. ]> wrote:

It is. Thanks for adding comments.


That's only 20g of difference. Does it really change the perceived
weight so much?


You mean to clamp to the lens barrel? That could work. I still prefer
the idea of mounting on a thread but your suggestion sounds far better
than the tripod mount.



OK. Here's another mounting method using the tripod mount that sounds
similar (but not such good value!)

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--
James