Digiscoping. How to take Sharp Photos: Focus, Aperture, Timer, Tripod & Quality Optics

Five things to consider when wanting to get sharp digiscoping photos:
1. Get good focus - use the optical viewfinder of a DSLR or macro autofocus of a compact camera.

2. Understand your camera settings - use ISO and Aperture setting to get photos with low noise (low ISO) and with a wide open aperture (smallest f number in Aperture Priority mode) to get the fastest shutter speed possible for those conditions.

3. Use a remote release of countdown timer - anything that lets you reduce the shake of the camera will improve the sharpness of the images taken with the digiscoping setup

4. Use a stable platform - carbonfibre tripods are light and dampen vibrations effectively. If you are using a tripod, make sure you use a telescope balance rail as adding the weight to the back of the telescope tends to pull the whole setup out of balance and introduce/accentuate camera shake.
Even better than a tripod is a Bean Bag. These are very easy to make and - filled with beans, rice or corn - make excellent vibration-dampening camera/telescope supports.

5. Use good quality optics - photographers have been saying this for decades: buy good quality lenses first, and then think about upgrading your camera body. Applied to digiscoping, the quality of the image coming through your scope will largely determine the quality of the image you are able to get out of your digiscoping setup.

In this video: Swarovski Optik STM80 HD spotting scope, 25-50x wide eyepiece, UCA digiscoping adapter, Canon 1000D DSLR

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Digiscoping
• Swarovski
• Optik
• Shutter
• speed
• DSLR
• dale forbes
• spotting
• scope
• telescope
• canon
• 1000D
• UCA
• adapter
• binoculars
• birding
• hippo
• african wildlife
• digiscoping technique
• game reserve
• spotting scope photography
• telescope photography
• photography
• south africa

[ApexCadaver]

I feel really dumb... I have a similar setup, but I have absolutely no idea how to change the aperture on my scope.

[digiscopingvideos]

Hi ApexCadaver, a normal telescope has a fixed aperture according to the magnification and the objective diameter, so I meant that you are opening up the aperture of the camera objective lens.

Having your camera's lens wide helps your camera's meter work properly (and get the fastest shutter speed), even though the real aperture is a whole lot less because the lens is stopped down by the telescope and not by its own built-in aperture control.

Happy digiscoping,

Dale

[rhyskallen]

can you use this setup for sports photography but with a monopod

[digiscopingvideos]

@rhyskallen, sure you can use a monopod. I also do a lot of free-hand photography with this and similar setups, but as I tried to stress in the video, it is all about stability and compromise. If you have less stability (monopod or free-hand for example), then you will need more light or a higher ISO, giving you a faster shutter speed.

[rameyonwheels]

"The wider the aperture, the sharper images you get"

That is completely wrong. Almost every lens out there loses sharpness at the widest aperture. Usually a lens is at its sharpest at 2-3 stops narrower than the maximum aperture. It changes lens to lens, you have to run tests to see the capabilities of your own lens and use it accordingly.

[digiscopingvideos]

@rameyonwheels, you are right, but only if all other variables are favorable. In the case of digiscoping, the extremely large focal lengths mean a high sensitivity and susceptibility to system vibration. In this case, system-induced blur becomes way more critical than lens errors. It is important that the scope is of high quality as it delivers the image to the camera objective. The objective is naturally already stopped down by the narrow scope exit pupil which is much smaller than the lens FOV

[nightubble]

@digiscopingvideos hi there mate, im new to dslrs ... and waas wondering , how do i focus on just one object and i wana blur the background of it eample theres a cup, and i wana focus the cup and blur our the background .. and may i know why is it a must to put a timer ? :O im new ..

[ScottBragonier]

@BuffoonCinema What about a dead cat?

[ScottBragonier]

@capepolly Srry, i used my ipod which sometimes the autocorrect works (when I don't want it to) and sometimes it doesn't ( when i want it to) work

[capepolly]

@cdbrag, that was "aluminium" not "aluminun"

[cdbrag]

Say aluminum again

[BuffoonCinema]

Great information, next time tape your mic or use a dead cat.

[Intiom]

@ApexCadaver You do not attach a lens to the scope - the scope takes the place of the lens. The advice about aperture was for those who prefer using a telephoto camera lens rather than digiscoping.

As for " I would imagine having a smaller aperture than what the scope has, would really benefit my images" - a smaller aperture would require even MORE light to produce a correct exposure. Note that the gentleman in the video said a small F number: which is the opposite of a small aperture.

[ApexCadaver]

@digiscopingvideos

I don't use a Lens... which is probably why I am unhappy with my images... I would imagine having a smaller aperture than what the scope has, would really benefit my images, but I do not know where to find an adapter to fit from a lens to the scope... only an eos to a collar that snugs down onto the eyepiece.

I definitely notice a difference in fidelity in my pictures versus looking through the eyepiece, even in a 30 second exposure with the smallest aperture...