Is my digital compact camera suitable for digiscoping with a bird scope?
So much depends on the interaction between the camera lens and the optics of the telescope that it isn’t possible to give a definite answer. So you need to carry out the following test.
- Set the telescope on a tripod and aim it at a definite subject such as a tree, electricity pylon, brick chimney, tiled or slated roof etc. It is important that you choose a subject which is static, and which has a structure so you can recognise just how much of it you are seeing through the telescope/camera. Branches, bricks or slates/tiles are an ideal point of reference.
- If the telescope has a zoom eyepiece set it to the minimum power
- Hold the camera over the eyepiece and see what you get. For best results, the camera lens and the telescope eyepiece need to be as close as possible together – without actually touching of course. Some combinations can give better results with a gap between the eyepiece and camera lens. Try moving them apart to see if the image size gets larger. Let us know when you talk to us.
What can you see?
Probably a black screen with a bright circle in the middle
- Try coming up on the zoom setting of the camera lens. You should find that the bright circle increases in diameter.
- You may need to move the camera around to see an image within the circle.
- Try to get as large a circle as possible without zooming too far otherwise the image may be too magnified
- See if you can make out part of the image that the telescope is aimed at. What width can you see – how many bricks etc?
- If you have a camera which is in excess of 4 megapixels, compromise between a full frame image and less magnification. With that many pixels, you should be able to afford to crop the image in software and still get a good size print.
Are you getting something which you consider to be reasonable?
If so, then we can provide you with a variety of equipment to connect everything together.
If not,then there is probably nothing we can offer.
All our devices are for mechanically holding everything together. All we are doing is replacing your hands with something more easily aligned and rigid. If you can’t get it by holding, there probably isn’t a lot we can do. It may be worth contacting us, telling us what you have done and what you are getting just in case we can suggest another approach. So much depends on the combination of equipment you are trying to connect.
Guidance on good Digiscoping combinations.
- A telescope with a large objective lens
- An eyepiece with a low power
- A camera with a small diameter lens
- A camera with about a 3 or 4x optical zoom. Anything more powerful usually has a larger diameter lens
What is happening - a semi-technical explanation.
The term for this type of picture taking is ‘A-focal photography’
You have to shoot through the exit pupil of the eyepiece. This is an optical ‘hole’ though which all the light rays have to pass. It has nothing to do with the diameter of the eyepiece itself, but has a diameter which is dependent on the diameter of the objective lens of the telescope divided by the power of the eyepiece. So, it you have a 60mm objective, a 20x eyepiece will give you an exit pupil which is only 3mm diameter. A 30x eyepiece will give a hole which is only 2mm diameter!!!
From the camera point of view it’s a bit like trying to take a picture through the hole in the middle of a polo mint which is stuck on the front of the lens. By coming up on the camera zoom, you can zoom though the hole, but you zoom in on the image.
If your camera has a large diameter lens, the hole in the middle of the polo mint is very small in comparison, and the image circle will look small. If your camera has a small diameter lens, the hole will appear larger in proportion.
This is an over-simplification what is going on, but we hope it serves to illustrate the theory.
