Digiscoping Samples from 200 to 400 meters (1 Viewer)

Hello All,

I'm looking to see what kind of results people have had digiscoping birds from 200 to 400 meters (or farther) distance.

I feel like I can use Canon 7D and 500 F4 with extender to ID many birds up to 200 meters distance. I would like to see I digiscoping is a realistic way to get ID pictures from farther.

Please post anything you think is pertinent.

Thanks
Doug

I have never done digiscoping Doug but am just about to have a crack at DSLR/astroscoping - Astro Scope should be with me tomorrow so will report back. I have seen some quite impressive stuff from the ranges you quote so may be of interest to you.

Doug,

If your reason to digiscope is to aid ID, I would say that if the subject is identifiable in the telescope you're using then you should be able to get a record image at the same distance.

It would also depend on the species in question - some will needless to say be easier to ID at 400m that others. One factor which the eye copes better with than a camera in my experiance is heat haze. Digiscoping birds at this sort of range where you haven't got the benefit of crisp conditions, will hamper your results. I've taken record shots at silly range in these conditions and to be honest, the results could show anything so end up deleted.

When I'm out birding I have the option of 400mm + 1.4x on my DSLR or, attaching my Fuji point-and-shoot to my telescope using 20-60x zoom. For record shots at distance, there is not a lot in it to be honest, the DSLR giving me greater crop and image quality but the digiscope set up, greater reach but lower quality image. I sometime try both and end up deleting both sets of images too! There are much better digi cameras I could get but I prefer to take DSLR images these days and not for IDing.

It's possible to do it but only where air quality is perfect. At that range you are limited by heat haze, those shimmering air currents will rob you of any details. It doesn't have to be long distance either, shimmering air can ruin a photo even at a few feet. Be careful when photographing over surfaces with contrasting air temperatures. A good example is over water where often water is at a different temperature to the air just above it, or over land where the ground has been heated by the sun and there is a big difference to the air just above it. The time of day you photograph at can help, early morning is good before the sun has had much time to have an affect.

I don't have any photos of birds but I do have some photos of long range tests with my set up. The set up isn't so importrant as the rules that govern long range photography. These two images are of random things on the far side of my local lake. Using maps I've worked out the size of the lake and from that I could gauge the distance of the photos, info is written on the images but they are both over 400m range.

As long as air quality is good, as it was in my images then I'd say try not to be too greedy on magnification as there's a point at which magnification will not result in more detail and it will likely have a negative impact. Instead go for less magnification and rely on some cropping of the photo. My images are only taken at 1200mm equivalent and then cropped. If there was a bird in these photos then it's a fair bet you could have identified it.

Paul.

Thanks for the response Paul. Looks like you got some really nice focus on these.

I just realized my Gull shots in my Vortex Razor thread were from 200 meters. So if I can learn to get a sharper focus (and avoid air quality issues) I should be able to get IDs from 400 meters plus.

I'm also thinking that shots with a 600 f4 + 2x extender and 1 1DIV is going to get close to about what a person could digiscope with clarity on one of the top quality 80mm scopes.