Setting up on a budget (1 Viewer)

I'm not very knowledgeable with photography OR birds, but recently retired and moved into an excellent place for birdwatching. It's become such a big part of my day that my friend is buying a scope for me, for Christmas. My son loves Zoology and casually watches birds. This gives us a shared activity, which is kind of neat.

It's an inexpensive Spotting Scope, the BARSKA Benchmark 25-125x88. I will buy their telescoping adapter, because their fixed adapter proscribes scope adjustment when in place. It's also referred to as an SLR adapter, but I'm told they can also be used with a compact digital.

I just can't see how it can work without a threaded adapter, to fix the distance between the camera lens and scope eye piece, and to exclude interfering light. I was looking for a digital tutorial but all I found was a diagram from their website.

I was looking for a simple, older model, compact digital camera, that permits manual shutter speed, focusing, and internal zoom features. Apparently, such a beast doesn't exist, and I will have to find a cheap DSLR type, in a Pawn Shop or on Craigslist. I can step up in quality at a later date when finances allow.

I'm on a Pension, and really have to do this on a shoe string, if it means coke cans and duct tape... but I WILL do it. In fact, I'm very excited about it.

My apartment has a big deck three floors up from the river. I get Eagles, Osprey, Gulls, Hummingbirds, Woodpeckers, Hawks, Northern Pintails, Common Mergansers, Yellow Billed Loons, Common Goldeneye, Northern Flickers.... the list goes on. I could watch this river all the time.

Well, if anyone has any suggestions that don't entail digging out my wallet much more, fire away.

Thanks for reading all this, and I hope you are all, having a decent Holiday Season.

Dan

Welcome to BF! Unfortunately, digiscoping or any type of supertelephoto wildlife photography is not really something that can be done from scratch on the cheap. You will need a compatible scope/camera adapter/camera/ combo and a adequate mount/tripod, PLUS PC/software to process your images. I think the minimum investment needed is ~$500 for used gear and ~2x more for new. Some of us here have several thousands $$$ invested! Trying to do it for less will only lead to frustation and generally poor results.

Generally minimum photo gear are an 80mm ED glass astro-type scope, an entry level dslr, compatible T-ring, sturdy aluminium tripod w/video head capable of supporting 8kg minimum.

Thanks?

The scope sited has a manufacturer's adapter for digiscoping and per numerous sources, as long as the camera's lens is physically smaller in diameter than the scope's eyepiece, it's "compatible." A compact digital camera is adequate to begin, however, shutter speed control is important, so I'll probably get a low end DSLR.

As long as the lens and eyepiece are accurately aligned, and interfering light is blocked, either by the recess in the eyepiece or some other means, then high end; and might I say, overpriced, proprietary adapters are unnecessary; convenient, but unnecessary.

I asked about a camera. Encouraging me to leave because I'm not prepared to spend 2 or 3 grand is simply mean spirited.

I hope you don't run this place. I'm an old guy, wanting to photograph the wealth of wild life outside his window, to share with his children, grand-children and loved ones.

Upgrades are for later. Right now, I'm busy learning. If you feel like being helpful, get back with me.

Dan, sorry you took offence. I was not being mean-spirited with my advice. I have many years of digiscoping experience across all kinds of gear/configurations. In fact, I am saving you from what may be for you a costly mistake. The scope/adapter combo you want to use is not adequate. In fact, I am confident it will not work at all with any camera due to the type of eyepiece it uses. Certainly the included tripod will need an upgrade too.

SeattleDan said:

A compact digital camera is adequate to begin, however, shutter speed control is important, so I'll probably get a low end DSLR.

Click to expand...

Manual shutter speed control shouldn't be all that important and it's not something that usually needs to be taken into account. A dslr wouldn't be a good choice for a scope like that, really needs to be a small digicam. I think if you enjoy the hobby then investing in an ED scope will be the first thing you would want to do. Something like the Celestron Regal 80ED spotting scope is a good budget model that takes good photos, plus it takes a vast amount of different eyepieces which is also a bonus. The scope you are getting is a basic acromat which will produce blue fringing around objects in the photos, especially objects with high contrast. A scope with low dispersion ED glass will eliminate virtually all of this. Even quite a poor small digicam can take a half decent photo through a scope with ED glass. What you don't want to do is waste money on cameras in the hope that it will improve photos through the Barksa scope because it wont. Keep the Barksa for visual use as it will likely be fine for that.

Paul.

Also, Dan, don't underestimate compact cameras. There are a lot of very good digiscopers who much prefer them to DSLRs for that purpose (and not just because they're easier to use).

David

Take the advice of RJM dan , he's talking a lot of sense!
It was he who was honest with me , and told me my camera was not compatible with my scope , and to not carry on spending money on a set up that just wouldn't work.
For me , as I'm on a budget too , i bought an opticron scope from the sales section on bird forum , and the Opticron digiscoping kit. The kits was a little overpriced if I'm honest , but has so far given very good results.(uploads of these images soon when I'm confident enough to post) Take his advice , he's very Knowledgable.

Dear Dan,

I suggest hunting around for a used Nikon ED50 scope and getting a new or used Nikon Coolpix P300 camera to go with it. This setup is light and relatively easy to manage as for as digiscoping rigs go. Try to get a 20x DS eyepiece to go with the scope for its large pupil objective that makes both viewing and digiscoping easier. Your grandchildren would love it as this small scope is a breeze for even small hands to use. This will also help keep the costs down.

The FSB-8 adapter may be a bit pricey but I understand that some birders have fashioned their own brackets that may even surpass the FSB-8's performance. You'll need a light-to-medium tripod for this setup.

For more info check out the several threads discussing the performance of the P300 camera in the digiscoping section of this forum.

Hope this helps :t:

You may find someone with a Coolpix4500 lurking in their cupboard,one of the original digiscoping cams.

Hi Dan,

Digiscoping can be an excercise in frustration, as much as it can be fun. One thing is for sure, if your images aren't sharp to begin with, or full of purple fringes around the birds, you will most likely loose interest in digiscoping rather soon after you start. So getting in "cheap" is certainly not as easy as it might look at first. I am with Hor Kee especially. The Nikon 50 ED is a really good spotting scope, ED glass and all and it is rather smallish, compared to the 80+mm versions. Starting with a camera like the Nikon P300, a dedicated adapter and a digiscoping eyepiece make it quite easy to set up a sturdy rig, which can be used with ease. That is also an important factor to look at. Especially with kids around, you would hate for the thing to fall apart in mid-shooting. Have a look for things on sites like eBay and you might save a bit of money over buying it all new, I got my ED 50 for less than 500 bucks, sightly used, but looking like new. I also got the 20x digiscoping eyepiece for around $50. So with a bit of patience you might be able to get into the game at around a thousand or less for it all, while still maintaining a quality for your setup that will be sufficient to obtain very good images once you learn how to digiscope successfully. And that part is definitely more difficult to master than most other topics in photography. But if you try and experiment, this kind of setup would carry you a long way without going into the 2-3 k range (or more).

Christoph