Digiscoping (attaching camera to spotting scope)

[EdDavisKY]

Anyone have any experience with Digiscoping? Have a canon EOS 70D and making a trip to Yellowstone first two weeks of September. Any help would be grateful even on a spotting scope has great magnification without washing out after 40 power magnification. Would love to be able to keep it under 1200. Had one picked out Vortex Optics Razor HD 20-60x85 Straight Spotting Scope now seems both of these models have been pulled can only find them on one web site and is heavily discounted.(Optics Planet do most of my dealing with B & H or Adorama) Anyway looking to be able to get distant shoots of the Wolves in Lamar Valley in YSNP, any help is appreciated.

[Ky 520c]

Ive never tried it tho I've read some and considered it, I would definitely want an adapter to stop light from leaking in thru the sides, and a nice tripod. Problem with shooting wildlife will be you lose autofocus and need alot of good light, but i would love to see your results Ed keep us posted on your setup also! You'll love Yellowstone

[EdDavisKY]

KyZ21 I have been to Yellowstone a couple of time by one of my brothers who has not is going with me. I have decided to rent a 95mm Swarovski ATX 30X70 zoom @ $40 per day. Got my Vortex Optics Razor HD 20-60x85 spotting scope today with an adapter I ordered and am glad I decided to rent, Vortex just does not have the reach to photograph wolves in Yellowstone. Not going till the middle of September. IF I remember(old age syndrome) will post some pics of the trip. Going to be a long haul as we are driving due to him wanting to see some other places.

[SoonerCharlie]

[Fishysam]

only experience i have on this is taking pictures of my employees messing around but im closer to them than a wolf.

[EdDavisKY]

Thanks Sooner have read that already But watched it again. And renting the straight one not with the offset eyepiece. As have read and been told the straight one is much easier to find distant targets. Such as a wolf den about a mile from roadway.


Was really hoping to find someone that has experiences with it and some of the things to look out for.

Well how did ya do Fishysam? and what camera and scope did you use.

[EdDavisKY]

Did a little experimenting yesterday afternoon. After talking with someone who does a lot of wildlife photography, mostly of wolves, he informed me unless you are really good at knowing all you camera's settings and manual focus a cell phone is a better option. If you take the lens of any Digital Camera (which is required to hook up to a spotting scope) you lose all automatic functions. I tried it with my Canon D7 and got fairly decent pics, but where out of focus, as the only way you have to check is by using the LCD Screen, which is to small or my eyes are too old.

Got my phone adapter in the mail yesterday morning, so decided to try it out.
Spotting Scope - Vortex Optics Razor HD 20-60x85
Cell Phone - Samsung Galaxy S6

This is taken just with the Cell Phone to try and show the distances covered. White line shows where the deer where.


This is taken at the weakest magnification, figure it's washed out a lot due to me being in the shade. Black border is before I learned to magnify the camera a tad to do away with it.



Highest magnification, and turns out to be a yearling buck in velvet


This is one, the color was fixed and had the phone magnification up to high why it's out of focus


Here are a couple of test shots I did before the deer walked out in the field. Big difference in the clearity when phone is left alone (not adding magnification do away with black outline)