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Tips and tricks: Digibinox ?
by Ann Cook and Stéphane Moniotte

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(Picture by Stephane Moniotte, Optolyth 7x50)

Introduction.
The must: Coolpix and Monocular Techniques
Pictures taken with this technique

The idea, here is to use binoculars, instead of a scope, with a digital camera... 
I had to get the camera lens as close as possible to the eyepiece on the binoculars. I took the focusing ring off the eyepiece and attached a cut-up Kodak film canister with electrical tape in place of the focusing ring. (Not great because the lens can now fall out). Then I jam the Coolpix lens into the film canister. That's it. 

I borrowed a monocular which I think will work better because the eyepiece collar screws off with the lens staying in place.... haven't tried it yet.

Focus the binoculars, attach camera and shoot. Focusing the camera with attached contraption can be tricky. Works better in macro mode.

The must: Coolpix and Monocular Techniques

1. Focus the monocular on your subject.

2. Camera Settings:
 - Area focus mode: manual
 - Camera set to macro focus

3. With my monocular I must have adequate light, example bright sunlight and calm or no wind. I hand hold so I have to shoot at a fast enough shutter to freeze movement. Camera shake must be at a minimal.

4. Focusing is tricky. I start at full telephoto, if the camera won’t lock focus zoom out a little, that will usually lock focus and them zoom to full telephoto. If you shoot between mid zoom and full zoom you will get some vignetting. At full zoom there is no vignetting. My monocular rubber eyepiece fits nicely in the lens of the camera and is held there with an elastic band. How you connect the camera and binocular is up to you… just be careful of your lens.
More info on adaptors and setups to connect binoculars and lenses are presented on the page dealing with brackets and adaptors.

This technique can be used with one eyepiece of a binocular. The camera lens and binocular eyepiece lens must be as close together as possible to avoid vignetting and to be able to lock focus on your subject. The larger the diameter of your binocular the more light you will have to
work with. And finally: experiment… delete is just a button away!

See here some additional pictures taken with this technique.