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Homemade Phone/scope adapter (2 Viewers)

Wimpy

Well-known member
Thought it was about time I shared my adapter with you guys. Basically it is made from a rectangle of 6mm plywood, four pieces of 8mm dowel and some small of cuts.

The dowells are arranged to fit the circumference of the rubber eye ring on my Swarowski ATS 80 scope. Once this is completed it is just a matter of adding a "buffer" at the end and side rails to hold the phone secure. A coat of matt black spray paint finishes it off and covers any blemishes ;)

I have found that the best position for the phone is with the eye ring halfway out. This together with the 6mm platform puts the lens of the phone at the best distance from the scope eyepiece.

But it has to be said that it is the phone that does all the work. I can't understate how good my Samsung S5 mini is. I will post a few images taken with the adapter.

Roger
 

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Samsung S5 and Swarowski ATS 80

Here are a selection of the images. It also takes a good video. Zoom control is easily accessed on the volume control and the shutter is voice activated.
Of course blown up screen size you start to see the limitations of the camera - well it is a mobile phone after all.

Roger
 

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Nice DIY adapter! I also use the S5 mini since shortly (with the Kowa adapter) and I'm equally pleased with the results. E.g. this video here: https://youtu.be/5eYJv884Xxo

As the camera of the S5 mini has rather modest specs, I wonder what can be done with the better phone cams of S5, S6 or Sony Xperia Z5...

While the image quality does not really superpass my previous set up with the Canon S95 compact camera, the ease of use is way better. As everything is more compact and much lighter, the entire handling is easier. There are much less vibrations when taking a pic by slightly touching the screen (or even without touching at all by using the speech control), so no time lag is needed as with the compact camera. Also zooming in and out is easy and intuitive. And a surprise bonus is that the screen view also allows for easy sharing of the view simultanously with several observers.

Cheers, Florian
 
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Here are a selection of the images. It also takes a good video. Zoom control is easily accessed on the volume control and the shutter is voice activated.
Of course blown up screen size you start to see the limitations of the camera - well it is a mobile phone after all.

Roger

Wimpy,

Those are some very good photos. Nice setup!
 
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