Sony SLT33 and Leica APO Televid Digiscope Set-up

Leica APO Televid 77 connected to a Sony SLT33+50mm/1.8 via 49mm to 52mm step-up ring. Supported by a Kowa Angled Bracket/Adapter. Polar axis better aligned now, minimum vignetting with 50mm lens for stills. For video with the SLT33 built-in crop, traces of vignette completely eliminated.

With this kind of magnification, shakes are sometime unavoidable, you'll just have to manage it as best as you can ie. sturdy tripod, remote release, better clamps and judicious weight distribution. A remote for video operation would be great ... can't find any for the Slt33 yet!

Total weight=Heavy! With tripod, scope, camera and bracket, you'd be hard-pressed to add another DSLR to your load. The heaviest is the tripod, followed by the video head and bracket, the scope and last but not least the SLT33.

They say the Nikon-V1 could be the next digiscope camera (in fact some people are already using it to great effect ie. Neil Fifer). For the "just in case", I've ordered a 40.5mm to 52mm step-up ring from Shashinki.

2005 Gen-2 For Sale

Please sms 016-8542212 for a call back to view.

A date with Christy

Poise, elegance and speed in one truly leggy package.

It's February ... Valentines Day was just over; smells of dried bubok and fresh belacan now fills the air. I've got a date with Christy, every February at Lutong Beach.

Digiscoped via afocal coupling. This image was cropped to get rid of the vignettes at the corners.

600mm, uncropped.

600mm, uncropped.

Took the liberty of ordering a couple of odds and ends from Shashinki.com to match the Sony SLT33+50mm with the Leica APO Televid 77 on 20-60x eyepiece for digiscoping. So far the "afocal coupling" is rather fiddly and cumbersome, alignment is mostly via eyeballing which is less than perfect and sometimes resulting in most dismal output. Presently hoping that a JJC 52mm lenshood (paired to the eyepiece) and 49-52mm step-up ring (paired to the 50mm) will see better results ... perfect polar alignment is expected.

The subject, Chinese Egret frequents our shores regularly. Largest numbers were recorded in Bako-Buntal in recent years. In lesser numbers are locations such as Kuala Balingian and Brunei Bay. Lutong Beach is fortunate to have at least a single visitor every year. On several occasions sightings of single Chinese Egret have been made in Bungai, Luak Bay, and Kuala Baram.

It is regularly seen with it's more common comrade the Little Egret, sometimes seen hunting together on the beach, at other times chasing one another trying to protect a particularly choice patch.

These two are indeed a pleasure to watch. Skittish at first, they soon grow accustomed to photogs and digiscopers and will normally tolerate our presence to sometimes what maybe termed "close proximity". If the hunting is particularly good, they would be completely oblivious to human presence altogether.

Awareness to their presence and conservation value is sadly limited in these parts. Most commonly lumped together as the "white egrets" with many not realising that there are actually: Cattle Egret, Little Egret, Pacific Reef Egret (white phase), Intermediate Egret and Great Egret. It's good that they receive scant attention from unwanted elements, however this also means very little is done for their continued protection, habitat preservation and conservation.

Efforts to get the local children interested in Lutong Beach Chinese Egret has not made much progress. A local school adopted for a birdwatching program via sponsorship of a corporate body is making little progress in getting children out and about learning about these beautiful creatures. Getting progressive educators to inculcate outdoor learning additional than that required by our Natioal Curriculum is a losing uphill battle.

For now here in Lutong and perhaps all of Northern Division, only a handful of birders are aware of the visits by Chinese Egret to our shores. With suitable habitats disappearing, beaches reclaimed and developed, most would not notice if one day they fail to return.

I for one would not want to miss this February date, afterall Christy and I have been seeing each other since 1996.

Walkabout Kpg Masjid Beach

The path taken on the beach this morning, 2kms to end of trek about half-way to intended destination. The actual location of the Grey-headed Fish Eagle's nest has to be along this part of the beach as one individual was sighted nearby. The nest tree can no longer be seen from the Kpg Masjid road, cause unknown for now. It could've been destroyed by natural causes or felled.

Went to checkout Kpg Masjid Beach this morning to see how much walking was required to get to a suitable site close enough to the edge of the SY Prawn Farm for a campout.

Originally intended to drive from one of the access road but discovered the ground to be too soft with woodchips mixed up with sand. Decided to walk instead. Distance walked was almost 2kms along the beach ... mostly swampy on the beach side with pandanus, casuarinas and nipah palms. According to locals there used to be an old sandy path which was used as the main thoroughfare in the older days before tarmac was the norm. From Google this could be the now barely visible trace of tree less path , but appeared covered with tall grass. Definitely would be an efford to trudge through those.

On the way back to the car, saw a Grey-headed Fish Eagle enjoying it's meal on one of the branches of a very tall and old casuarina. Also sighted a couple of Collared Kingfishers, Yellow-bellied Prinia, and several Common Sandpiper foraging on the beach ay separate locations. Several swifts were hawking for insects on the open tall grass section.

We saw a bunch of Wandering Whistling Duck and quite a number of egrets (mixed flock) during the recent AWC at SY Prawn Farm, it'd be great to get closer to the actual site to photograph this area and perhaps locate a few other waterbirds that might not have been recorded here before.

A juvenile White-breasted Waterhen spotted along the tall grasses towards Kpg Masjid on the way back from the beachwalk.

View in the opposite direction (East).

The view towards the Kuala Baram lighthouse (West).

From the recce and map, it can be concluded that the walk to a suitable site to spy on the ducks (and other possible waterbirds) would be about 4-5kms (45mins leisurely walk one way) with one very small stream crossing. The stream might not even be there during the dryer months. The distance from the beach to the tarmac is approximately 500-600m covered with tall grass, some sections could be wet and interestingly enough several patches of forests. So far there isn't any flat open space suitable for camping other than the beach itself, so for a campout a low tide day would be the best option.

It would be interesting to see what else could be lurking in a swampy site like these which does not actually see much human presence especially after recent development of the peatswamp between Sg Baram and the tarmac (cleared and already planted with palm oil).