Scope + Camera Arrangement

This page last modified on 04 March, 2001

Before building the arrangement shown on this page, I sent messages to all of the major manufacturers of high quality spotting scopes inquiring whether they offer (or recommend) attachments which allow use of the Nikon Coolpix 9x0 cameras with their scopes.  All replied that they do not.  While the Coolpix is extremely popular, and presumably very popular among birders who may wish to take photos, the number of potential combinations of design choices may reduce the potential market below any reasonable volume threshold for a big scope maker. With enough expressions of interest through the Digiscoping website, perhaps one of us who have solved the problem individually may be able to interest a small optically oriented tools manufacturer to offer such products for the most popular combinations.

Of the several competing high quality scopes cited in the Digiscoping website, I chose the Leica APO Televid 77 scope in the Straight-Through configuration.  Reasons for choosing the more expensive APO version (freedom from chromatic aberration) are explained in the main page of this suite of pages.  Among otherwise similar quality manufacturers, I chose the Televid because it offers a very short minimum focal distance, and a very wide cone of view (to maximize the camera's zoom range free of vignetting).

Choice of the Straight-Through configuration requires more explanation, since most birders seem to favor scopes with the eyepiece angled at about 45 degrees re. the main axis of the scope.  My experience over more than a year shooting birds with the B&L scope showed the importance of using a very effective viewfinder.  The important issue is speed, since birds don't sit still long enough for one to make a whole lot of adjustments.  My hands are not steady enough to do it the way Laurence Poh does (first adjust the scope by itself at minimum zoom, then just hold the camera in front of the eyepiece).  In addition, my few efforts to do this have shown that the exact angle of placement of the camera in front of the eyepiece makes a big difference.  So I insist on a rigid mounting to join the camera with the scope.   I had made a "kludge" viewfinder for the B&L scope using the cylindrical casing of an old ball point pen - with wires at the ends for cross-hairs.  This was helpful, but still took too much fine tripod adjustment in the neighborhood of the bird to get the bird centered in the LCD image on the camera.

For the Leica Televid scope, I decided to try another design as illustrated below:

The cylinder is constructed using two (used) plastic dental-floss tubes glued (Super Glue) end to end so that each end terminates with the clear plastic end-piece of one tube.  For "Glide" floss, each tube is 3 inches long, and 1 inch diameter.  In the center of each of these end pieces I drilled a 3/16 inch (4.76 mm) hole.  That diameter has worked best for me.  Earlier tests with somewhat smaller holes were not as effective.  (Obviously the appearance of this cylinder could be improved with some paint.  My wife criticizes my emphasis on function at the cost of appearance!!). Some black ink (from an indelible laundry wash pen) added to the inner surface of the forward hole helps a lot to position the scope quickly to the near neighborhood of the object to be photographed.

I mounted the tube on a 6 inch length of 0.2 inch thick (5 mm) aluminum bar stock.  The first step was to attach the bar stock to the scope using self-adhering Velcro strips. To position the viewfinder tube, so that an object seen through the two viewfinder holes would coincide with the same object seen on the camera's LCD, it was necessary to use masking tape to make small adjustments (per the illustration).  When the combination was aligned, I attached the viewfinder tube to the aluminum bar, again using small drops of Super Glue.  Initially, this combination proved not to be stable enough to remain precisely adjusted enough to survive being placed in the back of our car while on bird watching outings.  So I glued the remaining pieces of the original 12 inch bar as "wings" attached to the scope with additional Velcro, and to the central bar with additional Super Glue. Short rods cut from paper clips were dropped into the "V" shaped slot between the bars to give the glue joint additional strength. 

This arrangement has proven to be very easy to aim very quickly.  I rarely encounter a situation when the position selected with the viewfinder does not result in the bird appearing near the middle of the LCD image on the camera.

The reason for the choice of the Straight-Through scope configuration should now be apparent.  One wants to be able to switch very quickly from looking through the viewfinder to setting the camera focus and exposure.  At least for me, the need to switch from the viewfinder to a camera aimed at a 45 degree eyepiece would take much longer.  Moreover, the position of the angled eyepiece would obstruct the viewfinder if placed on top of the scope. I would find placement of the eyepiece on the side to be more confusing.

Platform for Mounting Both Camera and Scope

The following photographs illustrate the simple mounting tray that I built for the combination of camera and scope.  Details are discussed following these figures.

The tray is made from a length of 4.5 inch (11 cm) aluminum Tee-bar stock.  The scope and camera are attached to the tray via their tripod-mount screw holes.  There is no use of the camera's filter attachment threads. In fact the Leica eyepiece has no T-ring or similar camera/lens mounting threads.  The Leica eyepiece comes with a tough (but slightly flexible) dust cover.  I cut a hole in the center of one of these dust covers, with diameter that exactly fits the outer diameter of the Nikon 990 lens/filter mount.  This serves to center the camera within the eyepiece, and it shields the space between camera and eyepiece from stray light.

Things to note:

• It is important to balance the camera/scope combination on the tripod. To photograph birds that are swimming or walking, one needs to be able to rotate the whole with one hand, while holding the camera shutter release with the other.  This requires that the adjustment tightener of the tripod be set relatively loosely.  If the whole is fastened to the tripod using the scope's own tripod mount, the camera/scope combination is so badly balanced that it tends to drop out of adjustment much too easily.  So the mounting tray must be fastened to the tripod at the center of balance of the scope + camera + tray combination.
• The extra aluminum plate fastened to the tray at the center of balance is reinforcement for the 1/4 inch nut placed there to serve as tripod mount for the tray.  Super Glue alone was not strong enough to fasten a flange nut to the tray by itself.  I don't have ready access to a machine shop where a threaded aluminum, brass, or steel plate might have been made to replace the nut.
• The cylindrical item just forward of the tripod mount is a 1/4 inch screw normally used in place of the tripod's mounting screw to fasten the Leica scope to the tray. (It is shown on top of the tray in this view, though in normal use it is at the bottom.)  The stack of washers, held to the screw by a pair of conventional nuts locked together, serves as a knob for hand adjustment.
• A similar screw-with-washers arrangement at the left of the view acts in place of the tripod's mounting screw for holding the camera.  In this case, a 1/4 inch nut acts as a retainer to prevent the screw from separating from the tray when not in use. In order for the combination to turn freely when tightening the camera to the tray, this nut is lightly fastened to the screw using a very small drop of Super Glue.
• Adjacent to the camera-fastening screw are two small platforms used to create a solid surface against which to tighten the camera - in place of the usual tripod platform for this purpose.  The screw can slide along a 1/4 inch wide slot between these platforms.  The platforms are made using 2 layers of spare aluminum from the Tee-bar material used for the tray itself. They are surfaced with 1 layer of self-stick laser-printer label material which serves as a fine-tune shim to place the camera at exactly the height to match the height of the scope's eyepiece (for an axial match of the optics).
• Just forward of the camera-fastening screw is a white covered platform made from two layers of heavy cardboard. This serves to stabilize the position of the scope relative to the camera. This cardboard platform is attached to the tray using masking tape.

The following view shows the combination from close to the position where one would place one's eyes:

You can easily see the small hole in the rear end of the viewfinder. I've left two strips of masking tape on the viewfinder to provide supplemental support to the viewfinder tube.  The plastic of that tube is very light weight.  When I first used this kludge viewfinder with the scope, I had not left masking tape there for esthetic reasons.  A slight bump against the car body when extracting the combination (mounted on the tripod with legs collapsed) broke the wall of the tube where the spots of Super Glue had been placed.

Also visible in this view is the Peak 4X Loupe that I use to shield the LCD from bright sunlight.  The Loupe also serves to permit my old eyes to get a well focussed view of the LCD (right down to detail on individual pixels) for focus adjustments. The Loupe is attached on three sides to the camera using narrow strips of Velcro (an arrangement created at my suggestion by John Cowley). I've found it useful to reinforce the Velcro attachment using the black cords seen in this view. (They are supplied with the Loupe.)

This final view provides perspective from the photographer's normal view of the combination.  The diagonal cuts in the aluminum tray make it possible (though somewhat awkward) for the user to peer directly through the scope's eyepiece after detaching the camera.   This works better if the eyepiece in use is the Leica 20-60X zoom version, which is longer than the 20X eyepiece seen here.  The bayonet design of the eyepiece mounting makes it possible to switch eyepieces quickly.  For more serious use of the scope without the camera attached, it is worth the time and effort to detach the scope from the tray, and attach it normally to the tripod.  By the way, even for that use I have found my informal viewfinder a lot more useful than the two small bumps cast into the body of the forward part of the scope as a simple viewfinder.