Customer Reviews

Alpen Digital Camera Adapter for Spotting Scopes

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This adapter is what it looks like - no surprises. Feels pretty sturdy (and heavy) and universal. There are many degrees of freedom. One of them allows you to pull the camera away in one motion, allowing you to use the scope alone - a useful feature. Some tightening knobs are hard to find (especially the one that holds the vertical slider), so expect some effort at learning all the operating details before becoming frustrated - it can be confusing at first. Read the manual first - it contains some important advices. But be mindful of the screw which holds the pad on which the scope is mounted - it tends to slide off if not tighten properly. I tried this adapter with Meade Redtail 60x77 scope and Canon A510 camera and got some nice pictures, although I got similarly good pictures before by simply holding the camera with my hands at scope's eye piece. The adapter is useful mostly when you need long exposure photography, like at night. Note that digiscoping works best with small objective lens cameras. If you have a large and heavy SLR and you're having a hard time shooting anything through the scope, it's probably not the adapter's fault. Try a smaller camera.

a little complicated but will get the camera in position as desired...slight bumps to the equipment causes the camera to become slightly misaligned with the eye-piece and must be carefully monitored

I bought this mount to use with a DSLR and an ipad teleprompter that mounts to a tripod mount. There is no perfect solution for what I'm doing available as of right now, but this adapter can be re-fitted to provide a mount for both DSL and the TelePrompter while mounting on to a single (heavy duty) tripod. The quality is very good with machined aluminum pieces that feel very heavy duty. It's holding about 15lb of gear for me and is very stable.

Length:: 0:50 Mins

Works great on a telescope with internal focusing too.

I would recommend testing your camera and scope combo before buying this or any rig. Tried with a cheaper spotting scope and the eye relief was too short to use with any camera I tried. Build quality was decent however some of the locking screws felt weak. The adjustablility was great however do to the long length of the linkage from the camera to the scope, vibration was an issue.

I had to use a 1 3/4 inch block of wood secured with two small nuts and bolts to raise my straight (non angled)Leica scope high enough to meet the camera lens even when the camera is set at its lowest adjustment point. This device was apparently designed for angled scopes which I consider very odd. Also, the shoe plates have to be extremely tight -- to the point where you might damage the threads -- to prevent the scope from turning and thus misaligning when bumped or carried. Otherwise, it is very well constructed and works very well -- after it is re-engineered to work with a straight scope. The quality of the photos shot through the scope with my Canon Powershot S100 (an absolutely marvelous compact camera) is excellent. They are comparable to photos taken with a good DSLR with a 700+ mm lens. Bill Jones