by Jean Iron

These pictures show a home‐made adapter that holds the camera lens steady and close to the scope eyepiece. The adapter fits over my Swarovski scope eyepiece and allows the camera lens to fit snugly into it. Using a 20x or 30x wide angle scope eyepiece results in no vignetting, and a sharp image with even distribution of light. The adapter, made from Club House spice jar lid (about $4 in supermarket), fits perfectly. I use it with a Canon Power Shot SD950 digital camera. The 20‐60x zoom scope eyepiece causes vignetting, which is overcome by zooming your camera. A lid from Dermal Therapy heel cream fits over the zoom eyepiece.

Take the lid of a Club House or McCormick spice or pepper jar that fits over the scope eyepiece, and carve out the centre of the lid to fit the diameter of your camera lens. It works brilliantly. You can still scope birds without removing the adapter, and it’s a lot cheaper than commercial adapters.

This idea for a digiscoping adapter came from Willie D’Anna of Niagara Falls, New York.