UKH

I have an old spotting scope that offers 75 x magnification.  I have seen videos of people in the USA using one of these and a mobile phone with an adapter to take great photos of wild life. Essentially just clipping the phone on and taking the shot, very quickly. Unfortunately I can't find anything similar in the UK.  The things on offer here seem to be all swivelling levers, bolts and complicated to set up.  Does anyone know where I can get hold of something a little more sophisticated and easy to use. I'm thinking it would need a specialised phone case and a cover for the scope.  I think it's called digiscoping.

Just google digiscope phone attachment, there´s loads.

Nothing on earth will enable you to simply clip and shoot straight away when you´re just starting out though. You might want to have a look at this thread re starting problems:

https://www.ukhillwalking.com/forums/off_belay/using_a_smartphone_adaptor_-_th...

Thanks for that.  I am well aware of the difficulties having tried with a small contraption that looked like something from the Spanish Inquisition but there are videos on YouTube of people in the US simply clicking and shooting.  They even show another person with another phone just clicking onto the setup and ready to shoot.  It is possible to make it simpler.  One of the problems I will have is that my spotting scope has a rubberised eyepiece so it may not be possible with that but the kit does exist to make it easy albeit it in the US.

Maybe that’s possible now because phone cameras have moved on tremendously in the four years since I was doing it - let us know if you find something, sounds great!

PS birdforum.net is brilliant; it’s international, it’s huge, very friendly to starters-out, and has subfora on everything:

https://www.birdforum.net/forums/the-birdforum-digiscoping-forum.243/

You should definitely be able to get state-of-the-art info there; I’m betting those Americans are also members.

Smartoscope variable adapter but it's very expensive.

Regardless of what you've seen from the USA, I find it difficult to believe that there is a setup that just allows you to slap your phone on and away you go on an adaptor that's not been previously setup. Simply because you have to get the phone camera very well aligned on the adaptor so that when it's put onto the scope it's bang in the middle of the eyepiece lens.

If you've previously set up the adaptor for your phone, then different designs are likely to make a difference with:

• how easy it is to get the phone back onto the adaptor in the (previously setup) correct place
• how firmly the phone is held to keep it in that position
• how easy it is to get the adaptor onto the scope
• how firmly the adaptor is held onto the scope

Also, you're unlikely to be needing the 75x magnification - I presume you've got a zoom eyepiece - 25-75x ? At 75x the light levels will be lower than at lower magnifications which would be noticeable even on a real premium piece of kit (although less drop-off than on lesser scopes). You'll almost certainly find lower magnifications more useful. On the other thread BC pointed out that zooming with the phone gets better results than zooming with the scope, and of course post-processing magic is available.

I suggest that you take a look for yourself.  I did not saying that it is not previously set up but once it has been that's it, the phone just clips into place and aligns itself.  A different phone with it's own adapter can simply be swapped out. There is no need to realign or set up. I am well aware of the characteristics of high magnification but than you for taking an interest.

After I bought m phone scope adapter, this was mentioned to me (I think it’s this, not 100%)

https://phoneskope.com/phone-scope/

IIRC, they request make and mode of your phone and scope and provide the appropriate adapter. When I’ve seen folk use them, they do spend less time than me faffing about - they leave the adaptor clamped onto their phone (kept in a pocket) and quickly push onto scopes eyepiece. 

Didn't realise that you meant different phones each already set up with their own adaptor - that'd work. I'm finding it all much more tricky than I expected, overcome one limitation just to find another, maybe I've just been naïve - see latest post on t'other thread. 

Until you find out, difficult to know level of experience etc - hope it didn't come over as patronising.

Perhaps a little but as you said it's difficult for you to know what I know and know what I don't know.  Try writing that after a few glasses of red

After further research I've opted for the Hawke Smartphone adapter.  It's simple, small and works reasonably well but by far the best I have seen is the Ollin system which unfortunately does not appear to be available in the UK.

I have this vision of tweed-clad twits pointing their iPhones at the grouse on the 12th of August...

That's what I've got. Started with the original (smaller) one which Hawke said was compatible but it was super-tight and first try at home it ripped the rubber ring bit off the eye-piece. It's gone back on again with only very minor cosmetic damage and to be fair to Hawke they did send a replacement part but I've not needed to use it yet (note: from this and other interactions I can confirm that Hawke's customer service is very, very good)

That's when I found out that a larger version was going to be available this summer so I returned the original one and waited for the larger one I've now got. It's not perfect but I think part of the problem is that phones tend to have the camera towards a corner which inherently means that an adjustable adaptor is unlikely to be gripping the phone in the centre which introduces some leverage - would be better for this purpose if the camera was in the middle.

Just looked up the Ollin system, that looks very smart (avoiding the above issue by being tailor made) but expensive - not sure what you do if your phone and/or scope aren't on their list but maybe that just means you've not spent enough on either scope or phone to justify spending that much on an adapter 😁

Good stuff , some good tips on a recent thread by Michael H. Phone scoping is great for videos, and use the phone zoom before the scope zoom. 

The Hawke one works but is a faff and rotates the mag ring on my spotting scope but for £25 it's probably the best for the price.

Recently back from Costa Rica where all the wildlife guides come armed with telescopes on tripods. They focus in on the bird/animal (sloth usually) and the punters get quite decent photos by just placing their phone lens up against the scope eyepiece and zooming on the phone as required. Probably not the quality you're looking for, but I was pretty surprised how good some of the results were.

Martin

I've managed to get the whole thing set up but I think I need a good quality tripod now.  It's currently sitting on a cheap tabletop tripod.

Just plonking your phone straight onto the eyepiece requires (at least) two things to have a chance of getting a decent shot...

1. A bit of luck
2. A fairly static subject 

You say "sloth usually", hmm 😁

But yes it is possible. I remember being shown a pretty decent shot of a kingfisher from a non birdwatcher who'd done just that on a handheld (might have been supported on a wall, etc) pair of binoculars.

For anyone still interested I ended up buying a new spotting scope.  My old one was not suitable as the zoom control was an integral part of the eye piece so would only stay in place at minimum zoom level.  I've purchased another budget scope, a Gosky 25 x 60 x80.  It's excellent for around £100 and very easy to set up for digiscoping.