Birders have discovered a way of adding upwards of 80X optical magnification to their digital cameras. They stick their spotting scopes in front of the camera and achieve some astounding results. Magnification equivalents ranging up to 35mm with a 4000 mm telephoto lens, in some cases. You won't get the same amount of light into a spotting scope as you would into a big telephoto lens, so good light is important for best quality photos.
Fuji Finepix 4700, 3.3 megapixal, and Bushnel scope
Ed Pellizzon uses a bracket to mount his camera immediately behind his spotingscope and gets magnification equal to a 1500mm camera lens.
bought the bracket and then cut and drilled to specification
Ed says "my mating of scope and camera was not planned. That it worked was somewhat a fluke.
There are hundreds of camera/scope combinations. If you are serious about digiscoping, you will find the right
combination. I would recommend that when selecting a scope, choose one with a wide
angled eyepiece, (brings in more light) and that the camera be over 1 megapixel.
3x optical zoom is also best."
Remember that digital zoom just resizes the same amount of image info, so you always lose clarity and quality.
More commonly lens adapters and threaded custom connectors are used to create solid mechanical unions between camera and scope.
- Nikon Coolpix 990
- Eagle Eye Type L-1 Adapter
- 18X - Fixed Power lens (Pentax #XL28)
- Pentax 80 E D Scope
a few links
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