Avalon Digiscoping Adapter for Nikon DSLR Cameras

The adapter is quite simple to use. My set up is a Barska 30-90x100mm spotting scope with a Nikon D7500 DSLR. You simply take off the Camera lens and screw in the adapter. The other end of the adapter slides over the eye piece an is a very snug fit, with no side lighting creeping in. You need to adjust the camera to manual focus (auto will not work) and then adjust your focus on the spotting scope. This part of the process is all very simple, although you lose of of the auto focus ‘e.g. face recognition’ attributes of the DSLR. The application of a manual focus adjustment probably suits itself to slow moving or stationary photographic targets as with the long focus lengths moving objects drift out of focus quickly and more importantly in daytime shots the you need time to dial in the exposure. The range you get with this set up is excellent. A 600mm zoom lens gives you about 12x the length and would cost in the order of A$1500. The spotting gives you 30-90x the length. However as noted the ‘ease of use’ in focus and exposure is not the same as a dedicated telephoto lens. I’ve played around with this photographing astrological objects (moon, planets etc); as well as in the day time a rowing regatta, photographing an individual rowers face at distances of 400m. It is capable of greater distances than that. I’ve read that others have used this sort of set up for bird photography, however as noted you would need a still object to allow time for exposure setting, manual focus etc. The only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars was that the mount does not securely fix to the spotting scope end (it slides over the spotting scope eye piece rather than ‘fixing’ to it). There is a thread on the inside of the adapter piece that slides over the scope but the thread on the inside of the adapter is approximately 44mm or 1.73 inches. The thread at the end of the eyepiece on the Barska scope is about 47mm or about 1.85inches. The reason this is relevant is that the camera body has quite a bit of weight hanging off the end of the adapter, which means that it ‘sags’ down and pulls the camera out of alignment with the scope. You can hold it in place but that is problematic as at that focal length the slightest brush or movement (even on a tripod) puts the image out of shot or focus. This is even a greater problem with astrophotography as the scope is pointed upwards and the effect of the camera ‘sagging’ at the end of the scope eyepiece is even greater. I need to have a look around and see if I can find an adapter for the end of the Avalon adapter that will mean I can thread it onto the scope and or find a secure clasp to clamp it on. Beyond this the Avalon digiscoping adapter is a good solution to allow you to combine your DSLR with a scope and get some long range shots without spending thousands on a telephoto lens.