First, it’s good to think about the ways in which you’ll be using your binoculars. Do you need more detail at theater and sporting events, birdwatching, wildlife viewing, or hunting? Will you use your binoculars to view things close up or far away? Will you be able to prop your arms on [...]
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How Important is the Warranty on my Optics Purchase?
Your optics purchase is an investment, so it makes sense to know the manufacturer’s warranty before you lay down your hard-earned money on that binocular or spotting scope. The warranty may be as important as the price!
A typical warranty in the optics industry is a “limited lifetime” warranty which covers materials or workmanship, referred [...]
Clearly, A Better Gift
Puzzled about gifts this holiday season? Let me ask: do you have a stargazer on your holiday gift list? Someone that loves to attend sporting events, concerts, or the theater? How about a hunter, or an avid observer of birds or butterflies? Any curious kids? If so, a binocular, monocular, [...]
Nina Learns Digiscoping (and enjoys a little beginner’s luck)
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
