Digiscoping advice if possible??? (1 Viewer)

[The sniper]

Hi there,just recently i have been getting interested in taking photos for my records,something I have not really been interested in,I suppose it's a bit of a natural progression.
I don't want to go in to it full guns blazing,I just want half decent shots of any birds I find for my records at the moment.I have a swarovski ATS 80 with a 20-60 zoom lense and I know I will need to get an adaptor bracket to fit the camera to but the ones I have seen advertised are around £250 and it's a bit out of my price range at the moment,was just wondering if there was any cheaper alternatives apart from e bay as I have had a couple of bad experiences of late on there.
With regards to camera,would any digital camera surfice to start with,any help greatly appreciated

 

[Sandpiper]

You could try the Swarovski DCA tube adapter which slots over the scope eyepiece. This requires a camera lens with a filter thread of either 28, 37, 43 or 52mm. To fit any other size would require a stepping ring. With this adapter you could attach either a compact camera, preferably with a zoom no more than 3-4x, or a DSLR and standard (50mm) lens.

I have a ATS 80 HD scope with the same eyepiece and attach my Canon 7D and standard lens by this method for shooting stills and video. With this combination I find videoscoping gives excellent results providing that you do not use more than 40x zoom on the scope.

Have a browse through the other threads in this section for more advice on alternative camera choices. I am a little out of touch with the current range of suitable compact cameras.

Mike

 

[The sniper]

cheers sandpiper,thanks for the advice,will look into all this.Regards

 

[lmans66]

Or just make one if you want...it isn't as refined but if you are just looking for ID photos....go for it. First, if you have a camera, just hold it to the eyepiece (about a cm from) and snap away. See if you are happy with that image, ...stick with it. If not, do as many have done and begin to experiment.

I know at first I made an adapter from several sections of various pfc pipes I cut to fit the camera lens as it extended out. I eventually moved to a Swaro adapter but it was fun to experiment at first....have fun, jim

 

[joespy]

Swarovsky Digi Adaptor

Hi there,just recently i have been getting interested in taking photos for my records,something I have not really been interested in,I suppose it's a bit of a natural progression.
I don't want to go in to it full guns blazing,I just want half decent shots of any birds I find for my records at the moment.I have a swarovski ATS 80 with a 20-60 zoom lense and I know I will need to get an adaptor bracket to fit the camera to but the ones I have seen advertised are around £250 and it's a bit out of my price range at the moment,was just wondering if there was any cheaper alternatives apart from e bay as I have had a couple of bad experiences of late on there.
With regards to camera,would any digital camera surfice to start with,any help greatly appreciated

http://birdforum.net/showpost.php?p=1870912&postcount=1
Hia there try this link for a look you may be interested, I can recommend the seller as tops...... Joe

 

[DMKSlater]

I use a swaro 80 sts with DCA adapter and Panasonic Lumix g1 camera.

Dave

 

[oggbad]

You could try the Swarovski DCA tube adapter which slots over the scope eyepiece. This requires a camera lens with a filter thread of either 28, 37, 43 or 52mm. To fit any other size would require a stepping ring. With this adapter you could attach either a compact camera, preferably with a zoom no more than 3-4x, or a DSLR and standard (50mm) lens.

I have a ATS 80 HD scope with the same eyepiece and attach my Canon 7D and standard lens by this method for shooting stills and video. With this combination I find videoscoping gives excellent results providing that you do not use more than 40x zoom on the scope.

Have a browse through the other threads in this section for more advice on alternative camera choices. I am a little out of touch with the current range of suitable compact cameras.

Mike

Mike - standard lens on your 7D? is it a 50mm? (I have a f1.4)

My upgrade to a 7D will be later this month when I get a decent price offered for my 50D (and grip and batteries etc etc) and I could go for a DCA (I already have a TLS 800 and a UCA) if I thought the results would be worth it. :t:

 

[dafi]

Im with Imans66, if your just out for record shots then practice hand held. Use your thumb between the lens and eye piece to form a rest and your away. You could check out the forum for advice on home made sleeve adaptors, these just pop on, work well when sused out and are often more stable than universal fold out adaptors. The plus is you will have spent pennies rather than a couple of hundred quid on a very expensive swaro adaptor. I think thats a more sensible starting point. I supose its all down to what you want to invest.

 

[Sandpiper]

oggbad,

I use a Russian Helios 58mm f/2 lens (35 years old!) with my DCA. It works very well for both digiscoping and videoscoping providing that you are able to manually focus.

Mike

 

[Roger Boswell]

I have been trying out digiscoping with various cameras and my Opticron HR80GA and 54-72SDL eyepiece.

Wanting to use the scope as a scope means that you do not want to remove the eyepiece - so this must remain attached. I have bought various bits from SRB-GRITURN that fit onto scope eyepieces, together with reducing rings etc allowing you to attach a DSR via its lens filter thread. It can be made to work (up to a point!), but
1 takes time to fit
2 completely unbalances a scope mounted on a tripod
3 if you have a 45deg scope you have to be 7ft tall to look through the viewfinder!

Finding a lens that will give a reasonably complete image is a problem. You then have to lock the zoom (if a zoom lens) and even stop the lens from changing focus. After quite a lot of experimentation I decided not to go down the DSR route.

I have tried several Canon cameras - from an early G2, S710 and SX3, but none of these were successful. However, I have just borrowed a SX210 that I bought for my wife - and after some very basic trials I am more hopeful that this camera can be pressed into use.

As others have suggested I just pressed the camera against the rubber eye-cup (retracted) after focussing the scope. The SX210 has a very wide surround to the lens which makes it very easy to hold it over the eye-cup. It was miserably dull outside with the scope pointing at a fence and tree about 70m away, looking through double glazing. To get a complete image the zoom was set at 14mm (range is 5-70). The camera was allowed to set its own ISO and exposure.

Tree Image was ISO 150 1/60 at f4.5 not cropped but contrast increased
Blackbird was ISO 80 1/60 at f4.5 again the full image shown
cropped and sharpened

The Blackbird was at about the same distance but the scope was now angled to the window.

If the Blackbird had been a Roller I would have been very pleased to have taken this image as a record. I will definitely be carrying out further trials.

When out walking it would be too much to take my scope, so I rely on a Canon SX20 with its 560mm zoom to take my record shots - and I can also take ultra close-ups with the subject touching the lens!

If you look at my Birdforum gallery you will find some images taken with my SX20 (or SX3 + 1.7TX, which works out the same).

 

[lmans66]

I think you are taking your images at too far of a distance. If you have a fairly large bird like the blackbird and you still have that much of a crop or that small of an image, I think you are too far away to get much of a shot quality, any scope...any situation....