Digiscope w/ point & shoot

[c-ne-elk]

Has anyone done any digiscoping with a point and shoot camera? I have a Swaro 65mm spotting scope and have held the camera by hand and taken photo's but was thinking about getting an adapter and a new point and shoot camera (if necessary) to do it right.

 

Any experiences? What combo of adapter/camera did you use?

 

Thanks for any suggestions.

[rcdinaz]

I was going to ask the same question but it looks like no one chimed in?

 

I have done a fair amount of reading and it sounds like there are a lot of recommendations for the Nikon Coolpix, versions with low zoom to avoid vignette from the zoom.

 

Swaro does have a page of cameras they recommend on their site but I think it is very dated.

[elpepe25]

adapt.bmpI use one of these to mount my video camera and point and shoots to a nikon field scope. I do still get some vignetting but I think I paid $20 for the mount. The best way to do it seems to be something like the Minox DCM that replaces the eye piece on the spotter. I think they make them for just about every big name scope.

[rcdinaz]

That is a cool little setup. Makes me wish I hadn's sold my little minox spotter!

 

I can see a lot of uses for this with the larger screen, long range shooting sessions more than one person can watch for trace and hits, scouting pics, hunting video, etc.

 

Pricing seems to be about what I would pay for the adapter only from Swaro, impressive.

 

Good find, thanks!

[Viper]

I have the Minox DCM for my Zeiss scope. Outdoorsmans had a sale on them a couple years ago. It doesn't work very well. It takes good pics, but the magnification is fixed because it replaces the eyepiece...30x I think. It is very difficult to find a distant object on the viewer. You have to target a larger landmark/feature near the object you want in the picture. Maybe I just need more practice with it, but it wasn't what I expected. I find myself using my Flip Video with my scope more than anything, but it is handheld and not HD. I would like to get an HD type and a bracket.

[rcdinaz]

Good feedback!

 

I am still going to get one for long range shooting. I think it will be great so that a couple people can watch the targets out to 1,000yds and see the hits and give feedback. My kid has a flip guess I am going to have to hijack it now and try it.

[June]

I have a point and shoot Nikon. Sometimes you can find the right size pill bottle and cut it to fit. It makes a great poormans adapter. I have used the inner roll from some Ace bandage inserted into a discarded pill bottle. I'm playing with this right now. Sorry, I wont pay for a commercial made adapter. Sawaroski has a neat adjustable adapter for around 40 bucks but it wouldn't fit my scope. Here is a picture of a buck 300 yards away through my scope just holding the camera to the lens. Not the best way to do it. I'm sure others have better ways of doing it though.

[elpepe25]

a member on here is selling a cam and digi mount

 

http://forums.coueswhitetail.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=28905&pid=281492&st=0entry281492

[rcdinaz]

Thanks for the heads up!

 

I found one of the Minox DCM and ordered it. May still get a camera and adapter if the DCM is too cumbersome to operate for some scenarios.

[KevinG]

I bought both the DCA and the DCB II for a Swarovski 80mm and found the following issues. First the DCA is for a DSLR so it may not apply to you, but in case you decide to go this route, here's some info. The camera I'm using this for is a Nikon D7000 and the pictures come out very good, the problem is the weight of the camera. Even with the spotting scope rail, the camera is too heavy and I had to add a second rail. This makes the unit very awkard to use and heavy. The other problem with this setup is with it being so heavy you lose what you were originally aiming for and have to find it again once the camera is mounted. Since this camera doesn't have a tilting LCD screen it is very difficult in bright light to find your subject.

The DCB II is very nice and easy to use since the camera is permanently mounted, the weight doesn't change so you don't lose the subject as easily. But there are drawbacks to this as well. I noticed that the image is a lot worse than with the DSLR, but it is viewable and captures the subject a lot easier. The other drawback is that most point and shoots don't have a shutter cable, this makes for camera shake when pushing the shutter which can be very annoying during vidoes and blurry images on photos. I've seen where people have made a bracket that will hold an old style shutter cable and they glued a pencil eraser to it so it won't damage the shutter button on the camera.

 

Hope this helps

 

Kevin

[Becker]

Check out tinesup.com

[Viper]

I have the setup from Tinesup....works great! Very easy and quick to set up. Light weight too.

[azgutpile]

Viper, If you have an iphone, try the adapter that Outdoorsman sells. It is much easier to use that the already easy tines up adapter.

[Viper]

Thanks...I have a Droid. I think I'll stick with the Tinesup for now.

[Becker]

buckclip1.tiff

 

I took a screen shot off of video that I took with the tines up camera set up. Not sure if the quality of the screen shot but thought I would try it!!!