Digiscoping is a technique for taking photographs using a digital camera through a spotting scope, a telescope and less often binoculars. Digiscoping can give you some amazing shots of birds to rival those of professional photographers.
There are a number of benefits of digiscoping for bird watchers. It is a cost-effective method for taking long range photos compared to buying expensive telephoto lenses and for birders who already often carry a scope, the additional size and weight of an adapter and a compact digital camera is fairly insignificant.
If you have a high definition scope then you are going to get better images when digiscoping. You will also need a digital camera, an adapter to connect the scope and the camera, a tripod and a cable release. The adapter will help keep the camera steady and prevents blurring and the tripod will allow you to keep the camera in the same position without tiring your arms.
When you start digiscoping take lots of shots of the same thing using different settings. As you review your pictures you will begin to learn which settings work best in which conditions. Remember you have two pieces of equipment to focus correctly; your scope and your camera.
You will not need to use your camera's zoom function with your spotting scope. A quality scope should have all the zoom you need.
When you have magnified an image many times any small factor is going to show up that much more so the shortest exposure time is best as it allows less time for movement and anything else that could result in a poor picture. For this reason a sturdy tripod is essential too. You may even consider using a self-timer on your camera so you can take a picture a few seconds after you have stepped away.
As with any hobby digiscoping will take some practice to get it just right but once you have mastered the technique you will be able to get some fantastic shots of birds that you could not achieve with a camera alone.
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