2 replies to this topic

[Harpo57]

Does anyone here do digiscoping?  I have a Nikon D5000 with a 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED AF-S VR lens.  There are times like this past week that I saw two different Scoters that were too far out to get a decent pic.  I bought a cheap scope when I first started and have tried to rig up a digiscoping to it with my Canon SD550 P&S.  No success as of yet.  I have looked into buying a new scope and adapter for my D5000 which could run into some money.  Would it be better to spend the money on a 300-500mm off brand lens?  I was told that I am not able to use a teleconverter on my camera with my 70-300mm.  If true, would it be better for me to upgrade my camera and just buy a teleconverter for my lens.

Any advise?  Tks.

[Harpo57]

After reading more I see that my 70-300 lens would not have enough light if I were to use a teleconverter.  I guess I need a different lens with a smaller f-stop number if I wanted to use one.

[lyceel]

Harpo57:

After reading more I see that my 70-300 lens would not have enough light if I were to use a teleconverter.  I guess I need a different lens with a smaller f-stop number if I wanted to use one.

Right.  The cheapest Nikon lens you can use with a TC is the 300mm f/4, I believe.  You can put a 2x on it to get to 600mm f/8, but you might not like the results.  A 1.4x (420mm f/5.6), or 1.7x (500mm f/6.3) would probably work better.

You're not going to get high-quality shots by digiscoping, but I think digiscoping would let you spend less money to get a lot more reach for an ID shot.  However, if your goal is to get high-quality photographs at longer distances, you're going to have to buy photo-quality glass for it.