[birdky] Re: using a digital camera to take bird photographs


> I recall a message posted on the list recently where someone (Frank
Lynne?)=
>  had successfully used a digital camera held up to a spotting scope to
ge=
> t decent pictures of birds.
>
> I was thinking of trying this, and was wondering whether you need an
especi=
> ally fancy digital camera to do this, or an especially good telescope.
I =
> have a Bushnell Sapcemaster with a zoom lens, don't know if that will
wor=
> k OK. Any advice/camera recommendations would be much appreciated!

Ian

The consensus is generally that the Nikon Coolpix 990 would be the
camera of choice. It has a small internally focusing lens that fits
inside the 1.25" eyecup of most scopes. Although this camera is no
longer manufactured you can still find it online. There are some
refurbished ones available also. You'll also want the UR-? step down
ring that fits it.You can try it with the Bushnell, but don't expect
super results with it. One of the drawbacks to this technique is the
reduced amount of light through a scope and the resulting slow shutter
speeds. The Bushnell isn't good at gathering light. There are commercial
adapters available for digiscoping and there is a list serve at Yahoo
called digiscopingbirds. Search the archives for tips.

I don't mean to imply that you can't do this with other digital cameras,
but that would be my recommendation since you don't already own one. The
main thing is to get one that has a smaller lens than the glass in your
eyepiece and it needs to have an optical zoom. The optical zoom is for
the purpose of narrowing your camera's field of view so that it takes a
picture of what the scope sees and not the rubber around the glass.

Clint Murray
Crawfordsville IN

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