Photography Tips

Digiscoping 101:
Photography
Tips
What it is, Why it Matters, and How to
do it Right
by
by
What Is Digiscoping?
Nate Christian
Photography
Specialist
You may have heard the term “digiscoping”
being used here and there and wondered
exactly what it means. You may even know
of someone who’s done it, but you’re
not quite sure how they pull it off. If it’s
sounding like I’m reading your mind, read
on. The idea of digiscoping is pretty simple
really, and if you’ve never tried it for
yourself, it will change your hunt forever
once you start.
Digiscoping is basically the act of taking your digital
camera, pointing it through the eyepiece of your spotting
scope, and snapping off some photos or video. But is it
really that simple? Well, yes and no. But before we
get into the details, let’s go over why you should be
out there giving this a try in the first place.
if this is really the trophy you’ve been after. As you
spend time looking at the photos and video you’ve taken
through your scope you’ll get to know the animal you’re
looking at better and better. That way, when you do
get out on your hunt, you won’t be left wondering how
sure you are that the animal you’re looking at through
your rifle scope is the same one you saw when you were
scouting. You’ll recognize him right away.
Don’t forget to bring your digiscoping kit along with
you on the actual hunt as well. It will come in handy
for documenting your trip and can help you take some
excellent kill shot videos. All around it’s a great setup to
have with you whenever you’re out on (or off) the trail.
Why It Matters
You should be out there digiscoping right now.
August is a major scouting month for most western
hunts. A camera pointed through your spotting scope is
the ultimate scouting tool that will allow you to get an
incredibly accurate read and virtually eliminate ground
shrinkage altogether. When done correctly it will allow
you to take dozens of high quality, close-up photos at
different angles and, in most cases, capture quality,
high-definition video as well. This can all be done from
as far away as your spotting scope will allow and will give
you extremely useful information that you can then take
home with you and spend time analyzing and deciding
D av e L o e s c h e r ' s D i g i s c o p i n g S e t u p :
C a n o n P o w e r s h ot ELPH 320HS
Tines Up ScopeCam adapter
L e i c a APO T e l e v i d S p ot t i n g S c o p e
Mounted on a Jim White Panhead
Digiscoping
is very useful for scouting because
i t g i v e s yo u g r e at c l o s e - u p s h ot s f r o m d i s ta n c e
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How to do it right
First off if you were to head out there and do this exactly
as I described in the second paragraph of this article,
technically, that would be digiscoping. However you’ll
have a hard time getting results that will be useful for
you. What you really need to do is get yourself a good
adapter that will allow you to mount your camera to
your spotting scope and get consistently high quality,
useful photos and video. There are all kinds of adapters
out there. Some are universal and ridiculously complex
but can mount to just about any scope. Some are jawdroppingly simple and scope-specific. Some have clamps
that attach to the spotting scope and can swing out of the
way to allow you to use the eyepiece for direct viewing,
while others keep the camera fixed in place. Some are
difficult to attach and remove, making them practically
a permanent fixture, but some go on and off very easily.
Everyone has their own preference; look around and find
one that suits your needs. I personally like the ScopeCam
adapter made by Tines Up, pictured to the left on Dave
Loescher’s setup, because of its elegant simplicity. It
fits over the eyepiece of the spotting scope, effectively
eliminating unwanted light around the eyepiece and is
compact and easy to pack and carry. It’s easy to use
and goes on and off quickly with no clamps or screws to
fiddle around with. Tines Up adapters are made to fit
many different eyepieces, but make sure it fits with your
spotting scope and camera.
So what about the camera itself? Bigger is generally
thought of as being better, right? Bigger sensor, bigger
lenses with more glass, bigger screen, etc., all that will
make for better photos, right? Well forget everything you
thought you knew because when it comes to digiscoping
this is certainly not the case! It may seem reasonable
that you should be able to take your big, expensive DSLR
camera and use it for digiscoping to get superior photos
and video. Think of it this way — all spotting scopes have
been designed to work best when used with one specific
optic: the human eye. That means that if you’re going to
point a camera through the eyepiece to take photos and/
or videos, the more closely the optics of your camera
resemble the optics of the human eye, the better your
results will be. The lens of the human eye is about 9mm
in diameter, so the huge lenses that are used with DSLRs
that have a lot of glass in them don’t even compare. That
doesn’t mean that your DSLR won’t work at all, though.
It will still do a decent job, but you’ll end up having
a hard time overcoming problems like vignetting (dark
edges surrounding a circular image) and other issues that
will make your photos less useful to you. Also, as I’ve
Using
a camera with a lens closer
to t h e s i z e o f yo u r e y e w o r k s b e s t
for digiscoping
P r o f e s s i o n a l DSLR
cameras don't
work as well for digiscoping
because their large lenses don't
fit the scope's eyepiece
435-865-1020
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by
Vignetting
P h oto s
o n p h oto s r e s u lt s w h e n u s i n g a
c a m e r a w i t h a l e n s t h at i s to o b i g
mentioned before, DSLRs are bulky and cumbersome to
take with you scouting or on your hunt, so, in this case,
smaller wins all the way around. If you want to find out if
your camera is a good analog to the human eye, look into
the front of your camera lens (make sure it’s turned on if
it’s a compact point-and-shoot) and you’ll easily see the
diameter of your lens. Lenses no bigger than about 3/4"
across will give you the best results.
Digiscoping requires a steady image. As you may have
noticed just from looking through your spotting scope
or even the scope on your rifle the higher the power of
magnification, the more difficult it is to keep steady.
Make sure you have a sturdy tripod and use a shutter
release cable or a timer to make your images and video
as clear and steady as possible. Most newer, compact
digital cameras have a 2-second delay timer, which
works perfectly to eliminate the shake that results when
you press the shutter button on your camera. If you can
manage it, take your scope off the tripod and rest it on a
bean bag for an even steadier platform. This will require
your viewing angle to be lower, in most cases, and may
not work if you are trying to look over tall grass or other
obstructions, but it will give you the steadiest possible
shot, especially if you’re out on a windy day. Another
way to ensure a clear, steady image is getting the shutter
speed as high as possible. As always in photography,
the more light you can get to the camera’s sensor, the
better. This is doubly true with digiscoping because more
light will allow you to increase your shutter speed without
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ta k e n u s i n g a c a m e r a
with a smaller lens
underexposing your photos. The best way to allow more
light into your camera is actually to use less magnification
on your spotting scope and as little zoom as you can get
away with on your camera while still eliminating the
vignetting. If your camera has a macro setting, use it.
This will help your camera bring the point of focus to
the image on your scope’s eyepiece rather than trying to
focus on the actual object through the spotting scope.
M acro
S etting
Find
t h e f l o w e r s y m b o l o n yo u r c a m e r a ' s
s e t t i n g s to t u r n o n t h e
Macro
mode.
While it has not been a comprehensive guide to digiscoping,
this introduction should get you off to a great start. I
hope you’ll be able to get out there and use this excellent
scouting tool to your advantage and capture some great
images and footage when the hunt comes around as well.
If you ever want to know more on this subject or about
photography in general, drop me a line. I’m available to
answer questions at photos@huntinfool.com.