Last week I had my very first experience with digiscoping, and I can easily see how one becomes addicted to this fascinating hobby. As my coworker Mike showed me, digiscoping is taking photographs using a digital camera and a spotting scope. While I have long admired Mike’s exquisite photographs ( he has 8 [...]
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Good Camera for Digiscoping!
I’ve been receiving very positive feedback from a number of customers who are using the Canon S90 for digiscoping. While Canon doesn’t make an accessory adapter to bring it out to a convenient filter thread to support Swarovski’s DCA or Kowa’s DA1 adapters, the S90 will mount to bracket/platform adapters like the Swarovski UCA [...]
Removing Chromatic Aberration
Q: “What is that purple glow in my digiscoped bird images?”
The purple color anomaly along the right side of this Barred Owl is an artifact that occurs when the optical system fails to focus all colors to the same convergence point. It can appear visually when viewing through a binocular or spotting scope, as well [...]
Demystifying Spotting Scopes
Perhaps you’ve looked at a bird through a spotting scope during a field trip and were completely awed by the intimacy of the experience. When it comes to observing a bird, nothing personalizes the experience better than the view through a scope. Intricate feather detail is revealed as a bird raises its crest, preens, or [...]
This is Shrike Country
Shrike country is open country. Shrike country has peripheral perches, scrubby habitat, and lots of prey items. For as long as I’ve been visiting Pheasant Branch Conservancy, a Northern Shrike has claimed its snowy prairies throughout the winter months. Occasionally there’s been more than one shrike. Even though I’ve observed a shrike there just once [...]
Vortex Razor 20-60×85 HD!
Vortex Razor 20-60×85 HD
I recently spent a few hours evaluating the Vortex Razor 20-60×85 HD spotting scope alongside some of its market rivals. Considering the comparatively friendly price of the Vortex Razor scope at $1,599.00, I was curious how it would stack up against my personal favorite high-end spotting scopes. Under overcast lighting, [...]
Aperture and Digiscoping
Though digiscoping has opened the doors of nature photography to thousands of birders and other outdoor enthusiasts, it’s still not a silver bullet when it comes to obtaining good results. However, I do feel it’s a compliment to digiscoping whenever it is compared, albeit somewhat skeptically and critically, to high-end super-telephoto setups that cost [...]
Using a Photo Adapter
Another method of connecting a D-SLR to a spotting scope has been around for many years, but film SLR cameras were used prior to digital. In this configuration, the eyepiece is removed from the spotting scope and the lens is removed from the D-SLR. Using a T-ring that’s specific to the camera body, the scope [...]
More about DSLR Digiscoping
Someone we need to see more digiscoping from is my co-worker Ben Lizdas of 600 birds blog. He’s made a few changes to his digiscoping rig since last time I blogged about him, upgrading from the Leica Televid 77 APO to the new Leica Televid 82 APO. This gorgeous photo of a Bald Eagle was [...]
Digiscoping Tech Group!
Wouldn’t it be awesome to have a resource where the latest digital cameras are field tested and discussed by expert digiscopers from around the world? Look no further than Yahoo’s digiscopingbirds tech group! It’s a great place to obtain accurate information on digiscoping adapters, accessory adapters, camera reviews, and obtain answers to all [...]


