How to Digiscope

Digiscoping is a type of digital photography using a spotting scope, as used in hunting and bird watching. By shooting digital photos through a powerful scope, you can produce highly magnified photographs with the same image quality as that of a SLR camera with 2800mm of focal length. The technique and theory behind digiscoping is fairly easy, but you will need some special equipment.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Digital camera
• Adapter ring
• Plastic milk bottle cap
• Monocular telescope
• Small camera mount (optional)

1. Inspect your camera for a few details that, while not 100% necessary, make digiscoping easier. The perfect camera for the job has a swivel body as well as internal zoom and focusing, so that the camera does not move while focusing and zooming through the scope. The camera should have a small lens diameter so that it will easily fit into the eyepiece of the scope. With effort and patience you can adapt any camera to work; however, these specifications will make digiscope photography much easier.

2. Make your own adapter ring so that you can place the camera lens as close to the eyepiece of the scope as possible, closing out all light. Cut out the center of a plastic milk bottle cap and slide it over your camera lens. This way, the lens fits inside of the scope eyepiece, while the bottle cap will cup the outside of the eyepiece.

3. Focus the scope on the subject first, before placing the camera to the eyepiece. Then quickly place the camera onto the scope and shoot. It is best to set your digital camera on the 'Aperture Priority' setting so that your camera will automatically adjust the shutter speed for you.

Tips & Warnings

• Try a small camera mount if you are shooting a lot of blurry photos. High-magnification photography requires an incredibly steady hand, a job made even harder when trying to shoot through a scope.