Nikon Prime Lens (1 Viewer)

Hello,

I am looking for a little help for my daughter. We are both new to digiscoping and need a little help picking a decent prime lens for her to get use to using.

She will be starting with the Nikon D3500 DSLR.
Her scope:
Vortex Razor HD 20-60x85
Eyepiece: Vortex 30x Wide Angle and the 20-60x

She has the Vortex Digital Camera Adapter for the mounting of camera to scope.

What would be a good prime lens to use with her setup to cut down on the vignetting. All she has now for lenses is the auto focus zoom lenses that came in her camera kit.

Thank You
Tim

I can't recommend an exact Nikon lens for digiscoping as I use Canon and Panasonic cameras through a Swarovski scope, but a Nikon Camera and lens are pictured here. Might be worth exploring if you can work out from the picture which lens is being used.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=863283643691966&set=gm.10152728574515677&type=3&eid=ARDTMpo9aDeOjwMDUwbG7dEW1JmOmb6PHV2qMdfJhWTKnYJ_q_uXDzkmaIb4m-qkYjLMIla9BcPEgGdX&__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARBiY-TnBaZpxuWRE0l0iF9-lEGfNsbBPR5YQxPGwaPvhw2CVx1y5YJtc7bfdq4JIiH4extq63Sm-DkJzfQQIxlD5uiB05H1i_mNoAPYROhyFq7XSCxVUHjpYgR5_kTcfAx67EQ4lll7RcDa2N-sMgeoGLuELgWSTn9UU4qrGf0LfKG-jQbLo7JA1EiNdFiqTTqYmk9VT90UfIvGKOJ5T0YTnSR9rZ23zB10aj3_T-dkdPCuKnJgeyc1TAfiLl8UgmIJ-I5skP3SH2fSfwnM89xpbO2jD7PLeLB3qOJ2z957fY1jtD6ckEPcZdQDnyop5DC9q_mPRCPSXdBhASTqfpg&__tn__=EHH-R

Could it be this one? https://www.adorama.com/nk5018afdu.html

My best advice is whichever lens you use, if it has plastic filter threads by which to connect to the adapter (most modern lenses do) take care not to have too much weight (the camera body) hanging off it, and use the lens with any protruding inner 'barrel' in the shortest position (i.e. retracted as far as it will go). Switch the lens to manual focus and use only the scope's focusser. Leaving the lens in AF mode if connected in this way is likely to put too much strain on the AF motor as it attempts to focus.

Something else to consider is that there are a number of Chinese made lenses appearing on the market that might also be worth exploring. These are completely manual, with no electronic coupling to the camera, which doesn't matter for digiscoping. Most seem to have decent optical qualities and are quite cheap. You just set them to widest aperture, focus to infinity and then focus with the scope's focusser. Most of them have all metal construction including the front filter threads, which of course provides a more secure connection to hang your camera off.

I can't recommend a particular one for a Nikon camera, but I now own this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Neewer-Manual-PANASONIC-Digital-Cameras/dp/B01JIJNK2I which I use with a m4/3 camera, and it works really well for digiscoping. Finding the perfect lens might involve some trial and error, but you should find most lenses will work in the 28mm-55mm range, though some will be better than others.

Steve,

Thanks for your input. I may give that lens a try and see how it does. I know finding the perfect lens will require some trial and error from what I have read so far on digiscoping. Was just hoping to maybe find someone that has used the same setup to save from having a box full of prime lenses.

I had looked at it before and also looked at the 35mm for the camera.

Thanks