Digiscoping in the field

[Glassaholic]

For those of you who bring spotting scopes into the field to scan for game afar off, have any of you tried using a digiscope adapter for your phone to reduce eye fatigue? I've been thinking about grabbing a pair of Maven B.5 18x56 bino's or the new Vortex Razor UHD 18x56 (maybe a discussion for another day) for reduced eye fatigue while scanning/spotting; however, there are times where I might want a little extra oomph on magnification and that's where the spotting scope comes into play, but squinting and using the little eyepiece is not the greatest for extended use, but if I could use my phone to display the image through the spotter, that might make it even easier to use - the biggest question is, how good is that image and it will probably depend on the phone used. I guess I'm looking for pro's and con's of this setup for those who've tried...

 

[White Mamba]

Better glass will help.
The Bino viewer from Swarovski is a great piece as well

 

[Quickshot]

There’s an image of my rig in post #18 of this digiscoping thread.

https://www.snipershide.com/shooting/threads/camera-camcorder-as-a-spotter.6894365/#post-7662462

The HDMI adapter cable dangling off the back connects to a VR headset. That allows some minor light amplification.
Cheers,

 

[Glassaholic]

There’s an image of my rig in post #18 of this digiscoping thread.

https://www.snipershide.com/shooting/threads/camera-camcorder-as-a-spotter.6894365/#post-7662462

The HDMI adapter cable dangling off the back connects to a VR headset. That allows some minor light amplification.
Cheers,

Well that's an interesting idea, a VR setup which would block stray light and allow you to just focus on the FOV. One of the issues with phones is the poor quality in bright light. I wonder who will be the first to make a digital eyepiece that has a sensor built in that can have an external monitor like an Atomos Ninja on it. What camera do you have on there and what adapter are you using?

 

[AMTGMC]

I use the Novagrade adapter with a samsung s8 on my Meopta S2 spotter and it works great. If you have a Samsung phone and tablet check out the SideSync app, it allows you to use your tablet to view whatever your phone's camera is looking at. This allows you to use manual focus, take a picture or video without touching the phone and shaking the tripod!

I already had Samsung products so I didn't have to buy anything extra. I would like to know if it works with other android phones or if Apple has an app like this, as it will be part of my decision when upgrading phone's. It's nice to look at the tablet instead of looking through the spotter while at the bench.

 

[Glassaholic]

I use the Novagrade adapter with a samsung s8 on my Meopta S2 spotter and it works great. If you have a Samsung phone and tablet check out the SideSync app, it allows you to use your tablet to view whatever your phone's camera is looking at. This allows you to use manual focus, take a picture or video without touching the phone and shaking the tripod!

I already had Samsung products so I didn't have to buy anything extra. I would like to know if it works with other android phones or if Apple has an app like this, as it will be part of my decision when upgrading phone's. It's nice to look at the tablet instead of looking through the spotter while at the bench.

Off topic a bit, but have you tride the Novagrade with a riflescope? I'm wondering if the longer eye relief of a rifle scope will cause issues for the Navagrade. I like the Novagrade but would want something that worked for both spotters and rifle scopes

 

[AMTGMC]

Off topic a bit, but have you tride the Novagrade with a riflescope? I'm wondering if the longer eye relief of a rifle scope will cause issues for the Navagrade. I like the Novagrade but would want something that worked for both spotters and rifle scopes

Haven't tried it on a rifle scope. When I get back home later this week maybe weekend, I'll give it a go and post back here.

 

[Quickshot]

What camera do you have on there and what adapter are you using?

That was a Sony Alpha 6300. They are cheap used. The adapter is specific for the Nikon Fieldscope. It’s is a Nikon FS1. I’ve got a similar setup for my Swaro Str80. But, I prefer to use that to call splashes. The 4K videos really come to life on the big screen at home. It’s possible to see impacts that were noseeums in the field.
Cheers,

 

[Glassaholic]

That was a Sony Alpha 6300. They are cheap used. The adapter is specific for the Nikon Fieldscope. It’s is a Nikon FS1. I’ve got a similar setup for my Swaro Str80. But, I prefer to use that to call splashes. The 4K videos really come to life on the big screen at home. It’s possible to see impacts that were noseeums in the field.
Cheers,

I've had my eye on the little Kowa TSN-553, I love the small size for carrying into the backcountry. Was originally thinking of the Maven B.5 18x56 bino's, but there are times where I'd like more than 18x and while the bino's would be easier on the eyes, I thought maybe digiscoping with the Kowa might be better. I was thinking just my phone, but I like to bring a camera into the field, your comments on the Sona a6300 are intriguing, Kowa offers several options for adapters but of interest is the 4/3 adapters they have, I've already invested in some 4/3 gear for my kiddos. But like phones the LCD's on the back of the camera's aren't the biggest or brightest, but I could also try the Atomos Ninja V 5" screen which should work fine in bright sunlight.

Lot's to think about, I appreciate everyone's thoughts

 

[AMTGMC]

Off topic a bit, but have you tride the Novagrade with a riflescope? I'm wondering if the longer eye relief of a rifle scope will cause issues for the Navagrade. I like the Novagrade but would want something that worked for both spotters and rifle scopes

Well I got home and tried it on a pst and you are correct, not enough eye relief. I think a pvc spacer could be adapted easy enough but maybe a different mount would be a better solution.
Now off to Germany, be nice if I could jump over to Czech Republic and pick up my new Meopta.

 

[TeamPOI]

It definitely helps to have a Phone Skope set up while your glassing for long periods of time. As far as using something for your rifle scope. The Skoped Vision works awesome! www.skopedvision.com

 

[Glassaholic]

It definitely helps to have a Phone Skope set up while your glassing for long periods of time. As far as using something for your rifle scope. The Skoped Vision works awesome! www.skopedvision.com

Glad you mentioned that as I literally just purchased the skopedvision today as guidefitter was having a nice sale on them

 

[TeamPOI]

Glad you mentioned that as I literally just purchased the skopedvision today as guidefitter was having a nice sale on them

Phone skope has videos on youtube for set up and what not if you need them.

 

[Glassaholic]

Phone skope has videos on youtube for set up and what not if you need them.

I appreciate that, was just setting it up last night and used their app, when I rotated the image it made the reticle bend so I'm thinking the optical alignment is not perfect, I was also expecting the image to be... bigger, but it might just be my phone (iPhone SE)

 

[TeamPOI]

I appreciate that, was just setting it up last night and used their app, when I rotated the image it made the reticle bend so I'm thinking the optical alignment is not perfect, I was also expecting the image to be... bigger, but it might just be my phone (iPhone SE)

You can use your fingers and pinch and zoom. that way you can use the phone to zoom as well.

 

[acudaowner]

had a phone image magnifier that worked a bit to 100 yards not so well as soon as touched it lost picture or wind blew it shook to bad to make out or if we touched the bench in any way It was a cheapie so could not expect too much from it . the other was an attached the phone to the scope which was better but still very touchy but saw these posted here a while ago and think it looks neat https://tplogic.com/eagleeye-gs-90-100/

 

[Glassaholic]

You can use your fingers and pinch and zoom. that way you can use the phone to zoom as well.

I tried that from the app and it didn't work, only from my regular phone camera which doesn't have all the nifty features of the app

 

[TeamPOI]

I tried that from the app and it didn't work, only from my regular phone camera which doesn't have all the nifty features of the app

That's interesting, you should be able to zoom with your fingers. Try reinstalling the app. Make sure you have all the updates for your phone.

 

[Glassaholic]

That's interesting, you should be able to zoom with your fingers. Try reinstalling the app. Make sure you have all the updates for your phone.

It works intermittently, sometimes I can pinch and other times its just stuck. I also don't like the way it distorts the image some, I expected the reticles to be straight and they are curved, I'm also not super impressed with the image from the phone, could be my iPhone SE of course but I was hoping it would be better. I don't do much video through the scope, so I think I may send it back as it's kind of a hassle to setup.

 

[308ftWIN]

+1 for Novagrade. Takes a little to get right, but works well on my Razor HD 20-60 once you're set.

Have a Carson Hookupz 2.0 ($30) and Orion Steadypix EZ ($50) I'd sell if anyone wants adapters. The Orion was too small once I upgraded to the Razor and the Carson was too small once I went to a Huawei phone.

 

[TeamPOI]

It works intermittently, sometimes I can pinch and other times its just stuck. I also don't like the way it distorts the image some, I expected the reticles to be straight and they are curved, I'm also not super impressed with the image from the phone, could be my iPhone SE of course but I was hoping it would be better. I don't do much video through the scope, so I think I may send it back as it's kind of a hassle to setup.

I would definitely recommend checking this video out and make sure you have everything straight. Its an awesome tool.

 

[Glassaholic]

Appreciate the video, decided the PhoneSkope just wasn't for me, didn't like all the fiddling to get everything right and then wasn't too impressed with the IQ of my phone. I think for now I'll just stick with taking through the scope images with my DSLR which works for rifle scopes with long eye relief but not with binos and spotters with short eye relief, for those I'll probably look into a Novagrade universal adapter.

 

[Glassaholic]

Back to the main topic of the thread - digiscoping in the field, I would be curious how many of you are using your spotters with phones to video shooting steel to see what the bullet is doing? Was reading an article on digiscoping and the author was saying this was a huge benefit to him once he got it setup. I never see trace when I'm shooting and I need to train more to get the rifle back to the POA after I fire so I can see impact better, but until that happens I thought maybe seeing a video of a shooting string on some steel might actually be of benefit. Just curious if others have done this and what your experience has been.

 

[PracticalTactical]

I bought an adapter to connect my gopro to a Vortex spotting scope and was never happy with it.

What I've been using lately actually works much better. I did quite a bit of research on digital cameras and found that micro 4/3 cameras have what they call a 2X crop factor.. that means that a 100 mm lens on a full frame camera provides 200 mm of zoom on an m43 camera.

Olympus has a 75-300 mm lens that is not too expensive and if you put that on a 1080 M43 camera body you will get 600 mm of zoom compared to a full frame camera... then there's a digital doubler button to get it to 1200 mm of zoom. That's a lot of zoom.

Now put that on a 4K body and now its up to 2400 mm worth of zoom on a full frame camera.

If you price out a full frame lens with that kind of zoom you better have about $30,000 handy.

Anyway it works well for me and if you already happen to have a micro 43 camera around, you might be just a lens away from some decent zoom video.

BTW.. I have recorded bullet trace using this system.

 

[PracticalTactical]

… not sure what happened here... double post.

 

[SmileMaker]

I posted this elsewhere but this combo works well. Leupold Mk IV, Vision Pro shop adapter & tripod.