Digiscoping Home

What You Really Need for Digiscoping

Kestrel. Photo courtesy of Mike McDowell.

A digital camera and spotting scope is all you need to get started. Many people capture incredible images by simply holding their digital camera up to the eyepiece of a spotting scope. Aim and shoot—it's that simple!

Adapters make digiscoping easier

Using a digital camera adapter or bracket for digiscoping will steady the camera, increase flexibility when framing wildlife, and help prevent blurry images.

Digital camera suggestions

When selecting a digital camera, we recommend the following:

  • 4 megapixels or greater
  • An optical zoom of under 4x
  • 2-inch LCD screen
  • Accessory thread* and/or tripod thread

*Some digital camera adapters use an accessory thread to connect the digital camera to the spotting scope. Digital camera brackets use a tripod thread of 1/4 x 20mm.

Article and Kestrel photo contributed by Mike McDowell, an avid digiscoper, amateur naturalist, and Eagle Optics employee. Visit Mike's Birding and Digiscoping Blog.