Birdchick

I have fallen into the addictive world of digiscoping. Basically, you can use your regular point-and-shoot digital camera and take photos through your spotting scope. This will work with most any combination of camera and scope you use, however the quality of the image depends on the type of scope and eye piece you use.

This is the full digiscoping set up that I use with a Fuji FinePix E900 and Swarovski 80mm ATS HD Spotting Scope. I chose the Fuji FinePix E900 because I was looking for a camera that works well for digiscoping but also will take decent up close shots for when I’m at a bird banding station. This camera will also take short videos, too. At the time I got my scope, it was one of the best models to use for digiscoping. That changes about every six months.

This is my camera with both adapters attached to it. The silver tube is the Fujifilm AR-FXE02 Lens Adapter that you can get with the camera and the black piece is the Swarovski Digital Camera Adapter-Zoom Eyepiece that you can order for the Swarovski spotting scopes. This adapter is the easiest to use because it slides quickly and easily off the spotting scope, and is not as futzy as others available.

If you are interested in digiscoping, spend as much money as you can afford; it pays off in the long run. Once you have chosen your scope, ask the optic company which cameras work best with their scopes and adapters. Check around on the internet for review or comment from people who have used their camera. Take your scope to a camera store and ask and employee to help you test cameras with your scope.

I am a birder first and a photographer second. Many of the images I take are more for the joy of capturing an image to share on the blog, or just a personal souvenir of a great bird.

On this page are some of my favorite images that I have digiscoped. There has been minimal touching up to the photos—mostly just a little sharpening or brightening in iPhoto. None of these have been put through Photoshop—not that there’s anything wrong with that; it’s just that I only have so many hours in a day.

The best digiscoper that I know personally is Mike McDowell at Eagle Optics. He’s is an excellent resource and a really nice guy and far more knowledgeable on the subject than myself.