Photography, since its inception, has
taken a hold on us. The ability to capture an experience as a permanent
pictorial record allows one to share with the world what they have seen.
Be it still photos, movies, video, all these allow us the ability to store
and share memories. With the advent of the Internet, the ability to share
pictures with most anyone on the planet is truly a wonderful development.
Birdwatchers have long taken pictures of their "prey" and over the years
the quality of the photographs has moved from adequate to outstanding.
The development of the 35mm camera has allowed the masses to attempt the
fetes of those who publish in magazines like National Geographic.
 However,
unless you are very lucky and the bird that is being photographed is both
very still and very close, an investment in lenses and sophisticated cameras
becomes necessary. For many individuals this is a significant one, and
often results in increasing frustration at not being able to get the shot
they would like. The development of the digital camera has begun to change
this situation by allowing a new form of bird photography that combines
the use of a spotting scope with a digital camera. It is not a totally
ideal approach, but one that is giving truly fantastic results. Indeed,
digiscoping basically involves attaching a digital camera to the eyepiece
of a spotting scope, using a homemade adapter or mount and shooting through
the lens of the spotting scope. Simple as that !
 The
novelty of this approach lies in the fact that by combining the magnifications
of the telescope (20x to 60x), the camera (3x optical zoom) and cropping
on the computer (0% to 50%), one ends up with a total magnification of
approximately 80x, which is equivalent to either looking through a telescope
equipped with an 80x eyepiece, or shooting in 35mm with a 4000 mm telephoto
lens!
Digital birding photography also offers
multiple other advantages and has rapidly gained a significant success
among birders and wildlife photographers around the world. The improvment
of digital technologies and the marketing of leaders in lens production
(Nikon, Canon and others) largely contributed to the enthousiasm of birdwatchers
for digiscoping.
 The
present website gives you a more detailed description of the technique
and results from information collected since the early days of digiscoping,
and has been greatly improved by the help of many international contributors.
New contributors are welcome, as digiscoping is still an evolving science.
Articles on technical aspects of digital photography (Tips and Tricks)
must be submitted in Word or HTML format to S. Moniotte (see contact information). Notes and reports currently available may be found on the 'Articles" webpage.
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