2/7/17
Clay
Taylor was in town for an impromptu digiscoping demo, so after deciding to have
it at Estero Llano Grande SP, Keith asked me to attend, and I was happy to do
so! My own attempts at digiscoping had
been pretty dismal, so I was eager to learn some tricks!
The
very best way, of course, is to have the type of setup Clay had! As a rep for Swarovski Optiks, he had use of a
top of the line STX scope with an eyepiece adapter to which he could attach his
SLR camera body! Some of the photos he
showed us were stupendous, and the equivalent telephoto lens you’d have to drag
around would be prohibitive to say the least!
He also had an adapter for his IPhone, which was provided by Apple;
apparently all you have to do is give them the diameter of your scope eyepiece,
and they’ll provide one that will fit perfectly! There are also multi-use smart-phone adapters
on the market that come with a holder that will adjust to any size smart-phone,
plus various rings that will fit any size scope (I tried one that Keith had and
it worked like a charm)!
Cute little Brown Anole we enjoyed while Clay was setting up
Clay Taylor showing us how it's done!
But
in the absence of any fancy gadgets, Clay showed me how to get the best you can
with what you have: with the camera function
on your IPhone on, hold it up and away from the scope eyepiece, and look for
the little dot of light in the scope (like the light at the end of a
tunnel). Then slowly close in on that to
the point where you have the sharpest image.
Ideally, you’d probably have to have the eyecup extended, as that will
allow you to rest your phone on the scope without the phone’s camera being
right up on the eyepiece lens (which you don’t want; there needs to be a bit of
space between the two). Enlarging the
image on your phone will do away with the vignetting, and by pressing your
finger on the image so that it locks, you can adjust the exposure, which was a
big issue with my previous attempts at digiscoping as the subject tended to be
over-exposed.
Digiscoped image of a Green-winged Teal (above) and Northern Shoveler (using my IPhone 6 and Nikon scope)
The same birds taken with my Canon PowerShot XS50 (what really needs to be posted here are some of Clay's shots...)
The
people who seemed most interested in Clay’s setup were those who already had
“big guns” and were convinced that his results were much better than anything they had achieved with just the
lens! Indeed, I have a friend in the Houston
area who takes all his pictures
through his scope with a similar setup, and his photos are truly astounding!
Apparently
you can use a mirrorless camera (like
the point-and-shoot Canon SX50 Powershot that I use), but you need an adapter
for that as well – you can’t just stick the camera up to the eyepiece like I
used to be able to do with some older PAS’s.
The irony is that the Powershot itself has the equivalent of a 1200mm
zoom on it, so the pictures I can get with the camera are actually better than
what I try to digiscope with my IPhone!
(Plus my scope is not a
Swarovski… J) But you get what you pay for, and Clay
explained that the more expensive SLR cameras (as opposed to my affordable
Powershot) has better sensors, which results in a sharper image and less
graininess at high ISO levels (and I can attest to that, comparing side-by-side
photos of a lost Northern Jacana at the same park under the same conditions,
one taken by my friend with a Canon 70D
and Sigma 50-500mm lens which was crystal clear, and my own photo that looked
like an impressionist painting…)! But
there’s no question about it: if you want to get knock-your-socks-off photos
without breaking the bank (or your back), digiscoping with a quality setup is
the way to go!
More birds shot off the deck with the Powershot:
Green-winged Teal
Snoozing Gadwall
Sunning Great Blue Heron
Cinnamon Teal
Adult and immature White Ibis
Snowy Egret
Clay pointed out a subtle trick to help tell a female Blue-winged Teal (left) from a female Green-winged (center and right): the breast speckling on the Greenwing is a bit more crisp than on the Bluewing!
The afternoon light brings out the brilliance on this male Green-winged Teal!
At a different angle, the "green wing" actually looks more blue!
Here
are the birds logged while shooting off the deck:
Gadwall
Mottled Duck Blue-winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Plain Chachalaca
Least Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe
American White Pelican
Great Blue Heron
Snowy Egret
White Ibis
Osprey
American Coot
Wilson's Snipe
Buff-bellied Hummingbird
Green Kingfisher
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Vermilion Flycatcher
Great Kiskadee
Black-crested Titmouse
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Northern Mockingbird
Orange-crowned Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Lincoln's Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Lesser Goldfinch
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