Digiscoping Adaptors

More information can be found about my adaptors on Bird Forum, with a materials list and plans
Click here to see them

Mk I Adaptor
The first one I made was a tube type adaptor for the Fuji F30. It worked very well, but was not easy to put on and off the scope eyepiece, because it has to be a good fit, not sloppy. 
The lower grey tube which was the right diameter, is a sliding fit over the scope eyepiece, this tube is fixed to the white painted aluminium camera holder.
The upper grey tube has an old video camera lens fixed in it, to use as a magnifier for the camera lcd screen, this tube just clips to the camera, so easy to take off when your are not looking through it. The sun must not be allowed to shine through the magnifier, it will burn the lcd screen. Remember your school days setting fire to a piece of paper with a magnifying glass ??

Mk II Adaptor

A complete redesign, very lightweight.
The adaptor was made so that loosening one wing nut the camera could be hinged up quickly, to use the scope in the normal way.
The hardest part was making the pinch block that attaches the adaptor to the collar on the Nikon ED82 scope, below the eyepiece.
The adaptor had the disadvantage that it was made to fit a particular camera.

From the other side you can see the wing nut and pivot point

MK IIa

Now the adaptor has been altered so the camera can be adjusted nearer or further away from the eyepiece to suit different cameras. The camera shown is the Nikon P5000

The magnifier can be hinged forward as well, so the sun doesn't damage the lcd screen, when you are not actually looking through it, or taken off by sliding out the hinge pin

Adaptor without the magnifier, note the adjustable stop from bottom of cable release bracket to camera, to stop rotation of the camera on the platform. Also the extra diagonal on the cable release bracket to stop the bracket from flexing.
The black wing nut on the left adjusts the distance of the camera to eyepiece. The blue wing nut when loosened allows the adaptor to be hinged up away from the eyepiece, to use the scope in the normal way. The camera must be switched off to achieve this, otherwise the camera lens being extended will get in the way. The second central black wing nut is not normally in position when using the adaptor, it is purely a locking device.
You can also see the slider that runs up and down the arm to allow adjustment of gap between camera lens and scope eyepiece.

Note the plastic stop at the base of the camera, again to stop rotation of the camera when pressing the buttons on the back. 

View without the camera

The sliding platform taken off.

The hinge and bent pin is for attachment of my magnifier, the grey foam pad and bracket is a stop for the magnifier when the magnifier is hinged forward.

The U section slider, is lined with a low friction material such as nylon or as in this case, thin fibreglass sheet to enable the slider to move smoothly.

The sliding platform back on again, note the semicircular cutout in the base of the platform to enable the platform to clear
the 30x DS eyepiece when hinging the adaptor up for normal use of the scope. The DS eyepieces have a much larger diameter than the MC eyepieces. The black lines on the aluminium in the bottom right hand corner of the picture, are setting points for different eyepieces used on the scope ie nearer or further away from the eyepiece.

Return to Digiscoping Home page click here