Request digiscoping primer

Started by light trap, 04/30/2002 04:16PM
Posted 04/30/2002 04:16PM Opening Post
I've been really impressed by some of the pics posted on this forum, and was surprised that some are taken with a digital camera and a spotting scope. It encouraged me to do some web browsing on digiscoping. The idea of getting 60-80x magnification for my wildlife shots really intrigues me. I've done a little bit of 35mm photography with my Maks, but am very intrigued by the image quality of some of the digipics and I'm just about fed up with the hassle of 35mm for long range work. (I really like derry's closeup of the female cardinal. The feather detail is amazing!) I just got back from a trip to the coast, where I really could've used lenses with over the 500mm focal length that I had for better resolution of migrating shorebirds. So, my initial questions are these:

1. What digiscoping camera and scope would folks recommend and more importantly, WHY?

2. What are some of the non-obvious pitfalls of digiscoping?

3. Is getting the image from camera to computer difficult?

4. What's the concensus on best printer for reasonably priced photo-quality prints?

5. Is anybody using a Mak for eyepiece projection digiscoping? Or are there adapters to attach a digicam to a Mak/SCT?

Thanks,
Mike Swaim