Small Scopes

Adventures in cheap digiscoping

You have a camera that takes nice nature photos, but only if the birds are good enough to land directly in front of you.

You have a spotting scope that brings distant birds up close, but the only way to share the image later is to describe it.

I've recently been playing with a way to bring the two together — a bracket that turns my scope into a telephoto lens for a digital point-and-shoot camera.

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I have a Swift Searcher 60 mm scope with 20X and 40X eyepieces. It gives me a nice, close up view of distant animals. A local retailer told me the camera adapter for my Swift was not available, so I went to where those two words are never spoken — the Internet.

There I found the 841-PA Telemaster Telephoto Adapter. It was listed as fitting the Searcher, so with a credit card and a click of the mouse, it was mine.

Now here's the lesson about the value of dealing with a local retailer. The accommodating Web site neglected to tell me that a piece is needed to connect the 841-PA to the Searcher. Swift no longer makes that piece. It's not available.

Undeterred, I continued my quest. While attending the massive paddle sports sale Canoecopia in Madison, I happened upon the Eagle Optics booth and the Radian UNIVERSAL Digital Camera Adapter. For about $50, I entered the world of digiscoping.

The adapter clamps onto the eyepiece of my scope. The camera screws on by the hole normally used for a tripod. Fine-tuning adjustments move the camera up or down, left or right and in or out so it matches up perfectly with the eyehole.

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My digiscope setup did capture nice closeups of a downy woodpecker, northern oriole and indigo bunting.

Next, I spent an early morning in a farm field where sandhill cranes shake off their slumber with a leisurely walk and a light breakfast of grubs and corn stubble. The limitations of digiscoping quickly became even more apparent.

To get a clear shot, you need to focus through the scope, which has a very narrow depth of field, and then clamp on the camera. Sandhill cranes standing nearby become sandhill cranes in the distance by the time you accomplish this.

I did get better at focusing through the blurry, little camera viewing screen, but this setup definitely works best on subjects that don't move around much or for focusing on a spot and waiting for the wildlife to come to it.

My own story isn't much different (I'll do a separate post when I have the time). I bought a cheap 40mm Plossl for my Pentax scope to produce the lowest magnification (it improves the exit pupil and brightness of image). It works. I also got a $35 Orion camera bracket...but can produce better pictures by handholding the camera!

posted by Tako John @ 7:08 PM