Digiscoping from a vehicle (1 Viewer)

Hello,

I have started digiscoping from my car since the cold weather is upon us here in the southeastern part of the USA. I thought I would start a thread on this type of digiscoping, as I was not able to find one on the necessary equipment or technique when I started. Below are some pictures of my rig, which is made up of the following:

Zeiss Diascope 65mm T* FL straight scope
Zeiss 30x B WW eyepiece

Olivon swing-out camera adapter (modified, as you can see from the nylon screws and inside buildup from a vitamin bottle)

Fuji F30 camera

Manfrotto #3273 sliding adapter plate and #3272 sliding plate

Manfrotto quick release plate

Manfrotto 701RC2 Mini Video Head

L. L. Rue Groofwin (ground, roof and window) support pod

I use a Swarovski 80mm HD angled scope to digiscope with on a tripod, but I bought the Zeiss scope because it was straight and also shorter than the Swarovski. Things do get cramped inside my car sometimes. The 30x eyepiece is good, but sometimes I wished I had the Zeiss 20x, because the 30x has a little too much power at times. I think the Olivon camera adapter is a very well designed, but the workmanship is rough. With the sliding plates I can balance the scope and camera so that I need very little tension on the video head to stay on target. The Groofwin support pod – what can I say – It’s big and heavy, but it works. I have used it both hooked into the window channel of the door and on top of the car. Works well in both positions.

I hope someone on the forum will find this useful.

Robert

Robert,
Looks like a robust setup. I have digiscoped from a car using a tripod , monopod and hand held and you can get good results with each approach if you are careful. Probably the easiest I've tried is the monopod with the scope braced against the window and the window frame. I use the Nikon 8400 for these types of situations but the Fuji F30 should do a good job to with it's fast frame rate in Continuous Mode.
It's certainly much warmer to stay in the car in winter time.
Neil.