Swarovski Scope which video (1 Viewer)

Hi There

I have a Swarovski ATS 80 scope with a 20-60 eyepiece. I have a DCB adapter which I use with an Olympus digi camera. My question now is, is there a commercially made adapter that will fit a video camera to the scope and which is the best video camera to use. If anyone out there has a system up and running at what distances can you still get good results


Cheers Andy Grubb

Andy42 said:

Hi There
My question now is, is there a commercially made adapter that will fit a video camera to the scope and which is the best video camera to use. If anyone out there has a system up and running at what distances can you still get good results
Cheers Andy Grubb

Click to expand...

You want a video camera with a moderate zoom range (about 10x , not a superzoom of 25 to 30x ideally) and it should have a small lens of say about 27mm dia. Both of these will reduce the likelihood of vignetting.
The videocam should be MiniDV or Digital8 (if you can still get such a thing) not a DVD cam. You will need to post-process your captures and edit them, both of which processes are compromised severely by DVD cams.

You may be able to use the same adapter you have now if it's the sort that supports the tripod thread - you need to find the specs and make sure your videocam matches, in the distance of the tripod socket from the lens and the height of the lens above the socket. I am able to use the Zeiss equivalent with a videocam. There is not substitute for trying this out in practice but that isn't always easy to do.

Unlike digicams, you will find that vignetting may only go away at the extreme tele end of the videocam. Which is why it is better that is 10x and not 30x if you are going to stick a 20-60x scope in front of it.

As for distance, videocams seems a little more sensitive to light that still cams, and the resolution of the video image is a lot lower. You'll get away with about twice the range you'll be able to digiscope with, at a push.

You can see the results of that sort of thing at

http://www.suffolkbirds.co.uk/article/56/videoscoping