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A quick and simple review of the Lens2scope adapter. (1 Viewer)

AtOne

New member
I decided to give the Lens2scope adapter for turning your camera lens into a spotting scope a try before I spent more money on high quality glass.

Here's what it is.
http://lens2scope.com/product.html

I have to say so far I'm pretty impressed. The fit and finish is very clean and looks great on my Canon L.

I've got a 70-200 2.8 with a 2x extender on so it turns the lens into a 14-40x spotting scope. I've also tried it with my 1.4x extender and it worked great also.
I did read this review http://alpenglow.info/2011/07/17/review-of-lens2scope-spotting-scope-adapter-and-a-warning/ after I had already ordered it and was worried about the issue he had with his electrical contacts but the Canon one's are flat and smooth so there's no issue for me. You may want to check out your lens to be sure you won't have any future problems before you buy it.

It not only works well as a spotting scope but also for macro viewing. I was able to view flowers and insects as close as 5'.
The following photo's don't do justice to the view through the lens as I was hand holding the camera to get the pictures. I'll be picking up a universal camera mount for it for sure and will try to get some new shots with it.
Also I'll bring it to the up coming local range comp to compare it with some of the Kowa Prominars that are out there and get their opinions of it.


This is what it looks like on my Canon 70-200 2.8 with 2x extender.
s180mr.jpg

Top view of the Lens2scope
28lwgi9.jpg

350 yards to the top of the water tower
25h03o5.jpg

Actual view of the water tower.
fm47jt.jpg

Flower from 6' the wind was blowing so not the best shot hand held.
288z0ae.jpg
 
Hi AtOne!

Nice review + pictures, and I am glad you didn't suffer from the same problems I had with the Sigma/Nikon combo. I did post an update at my site - I got the Sigma back from repair, it did cost me about 70 EUR :C

Do you have the feeling you get additional resolution with using the 2x extender? What I found with my Sigma 2x TC was that it did enlarge the image indeed, but did not bring any additional information into the picture (mostly noted when looking at bird plumage for IDing, of course). The 1.4x did improve the image, though (both on the 300 mm f/4 maximum focal length).

I would be interested to see how presumably better glass (your Canon) changes that.

Cheers and greetings from Munich!
Christof (from alpenglow.info)
 
Hi Christof
First thing I have to say is thanks for the review you did of the lens2scope ! It set my mind at ease after I had already ordered it. Finding any reviews about them is very slim pickings with yours being the only one out there at the time.

On my Canon 70-200 2.8 it does make a difference at longer distances. An example of say the water tower picture going from the 1.4x to 2x enables me to see the nuts and bolts on the mast of the water tower where with the just the 1.4 on you can't make them out.

I've never noticed any lower resolution in my pictures going from either extender and the same seems to hold true with the Lens2scope on there. But for me its going from a 28x to a 40x zoom where yours is a 42x to 60x scope, so yours is zooming quite a bit further than mine and may be effecting the overall image quality at the longer length.
I can say this for sure, I can't get a picture that represents what I'm seeing through the scope yet. The viewed image is much sharper than I've been able to recreate on my camera...still working that part of it out.

I'll see if I can get a few more shots going from no extenders to the 1.4 and 2x so you can see what you think.
What distance do you regularly look at bird plumage and I can set it up for that.

BTW glad to hear your repair didn't break the bank and its great info for Sigma users to know in advance !
 
I'm curious what the depth of field is like. I made my own straight through with a Skywatcher 10mm erecting eyepiece, glued into a lens cover, it works, but the depth of field is very small and focusing is critical!
One pic of the eyepiece, and one on my Sigma 400mm this 1.4 TC.
 

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Alan it depends on how close your viewing from. The closer you are the finer the D.O.F will be, I've used it from 5' and the D.O.F is very small but with Canon's smooth focus ring its easy to lock in on what your your looking at. From larger distances its not as critical as your closer to focusing at infinity.
I had thought about building one like yours using a few of the great threads out there but liked the fitted look and package that Lens2scope put out.

Hor Kee there are no electrical connections in the eye piece adapter so everything is manual focus. It really should be used with a tripod anyways at that zoom length so you really don't have issues with the image moving. Now trying to take a picture using a separate camera is another story ;)

I did some more testing to see if I could get a picture of what I was actually seeing yesterday and so far I can't. I printed out the USAF resolution test on a 8 1/2" x 11" paper and set it up 20 yards away. I was able to read the second smallest 1 row clearly through the scope but when taking pictures of it, it came out blurry. So I'm still working on trying to convey what I see through the lens. Here's an example of what I'm talking about the number 1 row that I was able to read is on the right of the 0 row in the center of the page.
25p1c8m.jpg

Here's another photo at 3 miles away on a slightly foggy morning, again not as clear as the view through the lens.
23vhlq9.jpg
 
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To add - I think the optical quality (I won't mention the mechanical problems again) of the lens2scope is completely ok for its price. Putting it on the Sigma 100-300 f/4, which is a fine lens in the range of ~1000 USD, gives a bright (no surprise, at 82mm opening of the lens), sharp image that suffers a little bit from the perceived shallow depth of field. I couldn't compare it directly with a spotting scope, but would consider that combo superior to the cheaper scopes, e.g. a Nikon ED50 (which is nice and small and easy to carry - I am still looking at it *now that I can not use the lens2scope*).

The sharpness of the image, as AtOne pointed out, is actually very good and better than what my D300 can record with the same lens - viewing e.g. a Eurasian Curlew at 300 meters gives you a nice viewing experience with the lens2scope and no problems to ID at all, while - with the same lens, but without the lens2scope of course - a photo with the D300 leaves a heap of pixels hard to find in the field guide...

Greetings,
Christof
---
www.alpenglow.info
 
I'm curious what the depth of field is like. I made my own straight through with a Skywatcher 10mm erecting eyepiece, glued into a lens cover, it works, but the depth of field is very small and focusing is critical!
One pic of the eyepiece, and one on my Sigma 400mm this 1.4 TC.

This is a neat solution Alan. I'm going to revisit doing this with my old Nikon 300/4 AF.
 
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