How good are scopes as lenses?
 

As the title says.

I have a Leica APO 77 scope and a D70. If I stuck a Leica camera adaptor on the scopes and took photos with a D70 or better, how good would the images be compared to a decent prime lens?

Let's assume that I've solved the vibration issues, so it's just the lens quality that is the deciding factor. I believe th camera adaptor doubles the lens focal length. So assuming the scope is ~F5, this means that with the camera adaptor the resulting focal length is ~800mm.

I assume that the quality would not be that good as no-one seems to use a scope in this manner. Or maybe it's the shutter vibration and slow F number that turns people off?

Leif

It's a method that produces respectable results (and was a standard method for many in the 80's and 90's) , but this is turning the scope into an f10 800mm lens and that's awfully restrictive light-wise. the view in the camera viewfinder will be very dark indeed with a dslr like the d70... on a dull day, almost too dark to ascertain focus.

With my old 35mm bodies and a 77mm Kowa scope, ASA800 was the norm for anything like a sensible shutter speed.

As I said, results were quite good, slightly softer and less contrast than a genuine lens but certainly ok for a 10x8 print... I still wouldn't go much more than saying it's a birder's method for 'record shots', a Sigma 50-500mm would be better by a margin (and with the luxury of AF)

cheers,
Andy

Hi Leif,

Nothing to add to Andy's comments, just posting to say welcome to WPF, nice to have you aboard.

Duncan.

Having tried using scopes as a lens with both the APO77 and the AT80HD I would not recommend it.

Main problems I found were:
1. light gathering - poor light gathering means slow shutter speeds, which makes shake and bird movement a big issue.
2. lack of metering - this can cause exposure issues (though not so bad with digital were trial and error is easy) I found I normally ended up under expossing to push the shutter speeds up.
3. time consuming system - it takes time to remove the camera lens and scope eyepeice and attach it all together. This is far from ideal if you plan to combine birding and photography.

That said in good light it is possible to get good shots (though I always found them to be a bit soft). If you already have a scope and a DSLR then this is cheaper than buying a long lens, and will give higher mag. However a lens such as the Sigma 170-500 wouldn't cost too much more, will alllow AF and give better and more consistant results.

opps - should also have mentioned that putting an slr on the back of a scope will make it very tail heavy, so a good tripod head becomes even for essential.

I'd also say that in my experience digiscoing with a compact digi camera has been easier and given better results.

Check out Faisca Sparky's gallery on Birdforum to see what can be done in the bright light of Portugal with a 350D and Zeiss85/camera adaptor.

I took about 100 shots of Lesser Spotted Woodpecker last year with an angled Leica/photo adaptor and Canon 20D and none of them was up to much! Admittedly it was not an ideal situation and, as mentioned by postcardcv above, my tripod head could have done with being a bit more substantial, but I thought at least one or two would have been OK. There was also some noticeable blue fringing around the areas of black against white in the bird's plumage.

The Leica adaptor screws around the outside of the eyepiece mount via a very fine thread which has to be lined-up perfectly to engage and can be a bit of a nuisance, especially in very cold weather.

Marvelous! Thanks everyone for your informative answers. I knew this would be the place to ask.

Leif