Digiscoping on a budget

[Davegw]

I'm a keen (but not very good) birder and I have recently bought some kit to let me do some digiscoping.

I've got a Celeron 65 scope (£80), I did have an Argos Tripod - but the weight of the scope was too much and I now have a Vangard (£110), and a Samsung PL 200 camera, with a manual adaptor (ebay £40)

Images are still a challenge - hopefully will be a little better with the new tripod - but I often hear "Get the best you can afford" which I don't disagree with - but given the current situation, I wonder if anyone has any tips for getting the best you can with the least outlay.

My tip for the day - whatever tripod you have - make sure you can hang a bag from the centre to add weight - if you use your back pack it won't cost anything.

Dave


“If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have at least to consider the possibility that we have a small aquatic bird of the family anatidae on our hands.” Douglas Adams.

[PeterB]

Welcome to the forum Dave. Looking forward to seeing some of your pics with that setup. I've taken some OK pics with a point and shoot behind a scope.

[RoyW__]

Good luck wıth your dıgıscopıng!

As ıt sounds lıke you are new to ıt, try and concentrate on bırds that are close whıle you try out dıfferent technıques and camera settıngs. Dıgıscopıng always produces better pıctures at close range (and at low magnıfıcatıon - so avoıd the temptatıon to use the zoom on the scope ıf you have one).

You probably already know thıs, but you wıll need to zoom ın slıghtly wıth the camera to avoıd vıgnettıng (a black cırcle around the subject). Use the mınımum zoom that you can on the camera.


Edıt: If you post some of the resuts that you are gettıng ıt would probably be easıer to suggest ways to ımprove them. Unfortunately though, ıt ıs dıffıcult to get good results from budget gear - ıdentıfıable records shots should certaınly be possıble, and ıf you can get could results from the gear you have you should be able to get superb shots ıf you can later afford (and want to get) better equıpment!