Digiscoping is a method of obtaining photos using a digital camera through a spotting scope, telescope or, less often, binoculars. I currently use a Nikon ED111 scope and Nikon P5100 camera.

Digiscoping

First Off!

Before I begin with a brief intro to digiscoping I will start with the settings I find are imperative, although not exhaustive, for attaining a good image. I will give this first as I know most people will not want to read all about digiscoping, rather you will just want to get the settings and get clicking so here goes.

1) Camera Menu set on "Aperture priority"

2) Metering to "Spot" or more often than not "Center weighted"

3)Auto Focus area "Manual" This is my preference

4) Auto focus mode "AF"

5) Image quality " Always choose the best"

6) Image size ie megapixels " Highest" :- this is up to you depending on card size and how quick the image can be written to card.

7) White Balance "Auto" is a good setting to leave it on as most cameras do a good job in the auto function.

8) Auto Bracketing "Off" I never use this feature

9) Shutter "continuous" as the better image can come later in a series when the shutter is kept depressed.

10) Flash "Always Off"

11) F Stop As Low as the camera will allow ie F2.7 is better that F6.7. Depth of field is not required in digiscoping but plenty of light is essential. You wasting your time if your shooting with an aperture of greater than F5.

12) Exposure. This needs to be adjusted as the situation changes so get your self familiar with exposure and how to adjust it.

13) ISO Setting This changes as light permits but I like to use nothing over 200 iso.

The last two points (12 & 13) constantly need to be evaluated as this makes the pictures good or bad. Most of the other settings are mostly dialed in only once on the day so no need to worry about those just keep updating the ISO and exposure to suit the light as this is very important.

Once set up focus your scope on the subject first then half press the shutter on the camera to allow the camera to focus then fully depress to take the shot. You can refocus the scope if needed after you have put the camera up to the eyepiece but often this is down to camera and scope combination used.

If you are using a zoom eyepiece then try to leave it on it's widest setting although you can try out different zoom changes but again I find the best images are those on the least zoom setting. You will notice that once the camera is put against the eyepiece you will have a black circle on the outer edges of the screen. This is called vignetting and it's not really a problem as you can get rid of this circle in photo editing suite after or I like to click the camera zoom a couple of times which normally gets rid of this altogether. A word of warning here as the first thing you will want to do is zoom in as far as the camera will allow....don't, you will find that the more zoom you apply the worse the image becomes due to many factors which I won't bore you with. Don't get confused with more zoom on eyepiece or camera is best, it is not it is quite the opposite. The biggest thing to give you the best shots are getting as close to the subject as you can. Whilst digiscoping can be good over longer distances it is no substitute for getting close to the subject as all optics are compromised by air pollutants, heat haze and moisture etc.

This will get you up and running. The other greatest advice I can give is to use a coke can to practice on and to be very patient. Often taking 100 shots can only leave you with one good shot so take plenty of shots.

My own kit consists of a Nikon ED111 Fieldscope and 12mp P5100 camera, with a fixed eyepiece and FSB 6 and cable release that holds everything. It all sits on a very sturdy Slik 700dx tripod. The best advice with DSing is practice, then practice some more!

An Introduction

Digiscoping is relatively new in terms of photography techniques but as optics move on in cameras, Binoculars and spotting scopes it has allowed this technique to flourish with a little patience and understanding. Laurence Poh is regarded as the first real pioneer of this form of photography although it has undoubtedly been tried and tested to varying degrees by others.

Laurence Poh is an experienced photographer and discovered the joys of digital photography with the purchase of a Nikon CoolPix 950 digital camera in 1999. He too, is an avid birdwatcher and is very active with the birdwatching group of the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS). A spotting scope is often used to observe birds from a distance without alerting them of your presence. It didn’t take him long to realize that his 2 interests could be combined, and digiscoping was born. Laurence pioneered the technique now known as digiscoping which basically involves the attachment of a digital camera to the eyepiece of a spotting scope, using a homemade adapter or mount and shooting through the lens of the spotting scope. Over the years he has gone through several cameras and taken photographs of over a hundred species of birds in Malaysia using this technique.

What is 'Digiscoping?

Actually, it was a member of birds-pix@yahoogroups.com Mr. Alain Fosse from France who coined a new name for this method of photography by calling it 'digiscoping' which stands for digital camera scope photography.

Why?
To shoot birds conventionally with a 35 mm camera system usually means shooting with a Single-Lens-Reflex (SLR) camera with powerful and costly and not to mention heavy lenses. The available lenses are often not powerful enough. A mirror reflex lens of 500 mm has an aperture of f8 which renders the image through the lens dark and difficult to focus. A Nikon super-telephoto 500 mm, f4 ED lens alone costs a minimum €6500.00 and even when fitted with a teleconverter is still short for small birds. With digiscoping, the integrated 3x optical zoom on the camera plus the 20 X magnifications on the spotting scope means we are getting over 2800 mm magnifications 35 mm equivalent. With such magnifications, one can even use this system to photograph and identify the bands on the legs of banded birds.

Some other advantages of Digiscoping are:

1) Immediate feedback is possible once the picture is taken through the Play mode and by zooming up to 10 X magnifications and scrolling around the captured image.

2) Exposures can be judged and corrected after the 1st shot by the LCD image as it is written to the Compact Card for storage. Bad pictures can be disposed off immediately or later. Later is better always check the quality of the picture on a PC before disposal.

3) Pictures downloaded to computer can be self-processed within minutes.

4) Its much easier to lug a pocket camera than a 500mm f4!

Some of the disadvantages are:
1) Presently, the cameras are still slow when writing to the storage card and shooting opportunities are often lost due to this.

2) One has to be computer literate to download files and manipulate the pictures taken.

3) Dim LCD can be difficult to see in bright outdoor.

4) No control of Depth-of-field.