8.06.2020 A completely new start.

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Monday 8th June. Sunny periods. The postman brought me a new telescope. A "straight through" Kowa TSN-884. The Vortex Razor 85mm had gone back and I have accepted a refund. Swarovski was simply far too expensive for my tastes.

As soon as I had unpacked the new telescope I could confirm a considerable improvement in quality. Which is as it should be given the huge hike in price over the Razor.

Everything about the Kowa oozed quality and finish commensurate with the very high retail price. Though I had a nice discount on the TSN-884 + 25-60x zoom eyepiece and their high quality, stay-on case from Ace Optics in Bath. Excellent and quick service despite the present difficulties.

I asked for the astro eyepiece adapters while I was at it. I quite fancy seeing how well the Kowa performs with my T-S binoviewer. Though I expect I shall need a GPC to reach focus. Which means much higher magnifications. More on this later.

The Kowa image quality was easily the best I have ever seen, bar none! Perfect colour correction with zero false violet fringing or any false colour wash. I set up my printed test target and was easily able to read the fine text at 50 yards. That must be the fluorite element in the objective lens. This is very serious optical territory!

The zoom power went from 25-60x while the image simply became larger and smaller. Without any obvious deterioration. It remained just as incredibly sharp and just as bright and just as colourful and it stayed in focus!

Everything seen through the telescope looked incredibly natural. There was no struggle to define the detail on the nearside of dark twigs against a bright sky. It was just a perfectly clear twig in all its detail set against a bright sky. 

Even my 8x42 Nikon Monarch 5s can struggle with that simple test at very much lower powers. This is the sort of image quality you need to see the detail in a bird's plumage when it is above you and set against the sky. 

I turned the '884 onto my 480 yard, pencil-sized, test twig on top of a distant tree. Not only could I now see the twig was bent and knobbly but a fly was clearly visible as it passed close by. That is the kind of resolution I get from my 180mm f/12 astronomical refractor! Except that the view in that would be bathed in violet. It was certainly, completely beyond my 90mm f/11 Vixen the last time I checked it against the Razor. 

In the afternoon I packed everything into the tripod carry case and my cycle saddle bag. Then I headed for the mature lake not far away. There were Shelducks and their young. Now bigger and even faster than the last time I was there. The young were behaving completely independently now. Though the parents were cruising up and down keeping an eye on them.

A Great crested grebe was dozing under overhanging branches while its two, much larger, juvenile young alternated between dozing and preening. Despite having its head on its chest I could easily see the red eye of the Grebe blinking open and shut as its young drifted up and down nearby. Then the large, resident heron landed and froze to the spot. Before flying off to another perch.

All this was happening at 130 or more yards away form my chosen spot under overhanging trees. I found myself using maximum zoom of 60x all the time. Because the image on the little Canon camera screen looked so sharp.

The problem then was avoiding camera shake on still images. So I was using the 2 second timer but many of my still images were less than  sharp. The fact that all the birds were in constant motion didn't help. If they did not paddle then the slight breeze would soon carry them right across the small lake.

I readily accept that I was trying much too hard and should have backed off the power. If nothing else it would ensure my subjects were perfectly in focus. The higher the power [magnification] the shallower the depth of sharp focus. It forces longer exposures too. Because the light level is reduced.

The shot of the Grebe is typical of today's poorer efforts. This is still new territory for me despite my very long experience with optics and photography. Though I am quite pleased with the Heron above.I suppose if it were so easy, then everybody would be expert digiscoping photographers. My expectations were obviously raised too far.

I still haven't set up a better viewer for the camera screen than my strongest reading glasses. I can easily see the pixels on the tiny Ixus 177 screen. So I really don't think a magnifying glass will help me achieve any sharper focus. 

My videos were much sharper and better focused and some were even quite watchable. Provided I didn't try to pan and tilt at such high power! My best still image is of the heron at 135 yards further up the page. I haven't uploaded any of my videos yet. They need to be assessed for sound as well as picture quality. I detest wind noise and the Ixus offers no protection for its inbuilt microphone!

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