I am the proud owner of a Kodak DC4800 (3,1 Mpixel) digital camera.

I have very recently got interested in purchasing a birding telescope. My first choice was the new Swarovsky HD 65.

Why?

Because at that time I wasn't aware of the digiscoping technique. I wanted a truly portable scope suitable for most of birding situations.

Then a I had the opportunity to test a Swarovsky HD 65 (1447 euros the body only) and the new Zeiss Diascope 65T (1044 euros the body only) side by side. Difference in prices and previous comments I heard made worth the comparison.

To be truly honest, there was not a clear winner in this contest. Lots of details can be written here. The absence of fringes, high (outstanding) luminosity and color fidelity were comparable between both of them. Both eyepieces were fantastic in all senses. So did the images of the same birds, tree leaves and flowers I used for comparison.

As a matter of fact, I rather use the focusing wheel in the Zeiss scope. You only handle a little wheel an not a ring encompasing the whole scope. It is a question of personal preference. I also like the possibility of rotate the whole scope to any of both sides. It allows my wife to see what I see without having to manipulate the tripod, because she gets access to the eyepiece by simply rotating the scope (she is a little shorter that I am).

So I have purchased the Zeiss scope. And a 15-45X eyepiece.

Then, I knew about digiscoping.

I could not wait to shoot my first set of pictures with the scope. The very first pictures were taken without adapters. I hold the camera against the eyepiece by hand. Manual shooting as well. The batteries of the Kodak camera were running low, and I even could not see the image in the LCD screen to ensure a good aligment and focusing. However, the pictures I took were very, very promising. Better you can even imagine..

Then, I managed to make a very simple DIY adaptor for my camera. And here you can see some examples of the first pictures I took. And some of them are truly fine. Very crispy and detailed pictures indeed.

I am aware that a combination of Swarosvky HD 80/Leica Apo 77 along a Nikon Coolpix is a dream of anybody interested in digiscoping.

Maybe this page will help people in choosing other alternatives....