Best to get a 50mm Nikon lens for the D50 if that
is your best digiscoping camera (and probably
better than point and shoot, because it is faster
on response time, giving you almost instantaneous
result of an image you want, and you can manually
set everything to adjust for light issues, AND if
your fieldscope is straight tube, you can use
flash to assist). Zoom lenses are not a good
solution. Use the fieldscope to focus with
whatever you use. Otherwise, if you must have a
zoom, get an 80-400 Nikon zoom [or one of the
Sigma or Tamron]... if you are "sold" on zooms.
I've used a few zooms, and always came back to
prime lenses (starting with 300 Tamron [macro],
400 Sigma [macro], 500 Tamron [mirror, macro],
settling on an older style Nikon 600 [5.6]) for
most of my current bird photography, and just got
closer to the subject to get what I wanted
(sometimes frustrating when the duck is out there
in the pack a hundred yards or so); all these
lenses have yielded results far superior to any
but the VERY best digiscoped images one might get
(if done at comparable distance and time), at
comparable exposure and distance, or of those I
could get close enough to that a digiscope set-up
might be excellent, or too close... Digiscoping
is great for distant subjects or those that don't
move very quickly (feeding orioles or sparrows on
seed), or if you can afford the best scope AND
best camera set-up [which no one seems to want to
divulge when asked], but is not, frame for frame,
as good as best (or nearly best) camera+lens for
action, such as weaving by vireos or humbirds.
But, I have seen excellent humbird hovering shots
(Anna's last fall) by use of out of production
Nikon Coolpix 990 and scope at about 25 feet. So,
it all depends on distance, magnification, and
size of subject. Bottom line: prime non-zoom lens
is best, descending in results, through best
quality zoom, to point and shoot and scope -- Jim Greaves, Thompson Falls MT

At 01:01 PM 3/4/2009, tweeters-request at mailman2.u.washington.edu wrote:
>Message: 1
>Date: Tue, 03 Mar 2009 12:15:08 -0800
>From: Trileigh Tucker <tri at seattleu.edu>
>Subject: [Tweeters] Anna's hummingbird; digiscoping
>
>When it's been windy the past few days, it's
>been fun to watch the nesting Anna's outside my
>bedroom window through the scope as she sways
>and swings in the breeze. When she returns to
>the nest after flying off, she has been bringing
>fluff and thread back, and it's a joy to watch
>that little needle-beak weaving the thread and
>fluff into her nest. Knowing that she's still
>doing interior decorating, I'm planning to set
>up a mesh bag with combed-out cat fur for her.
>
>And I'd love to be able to capture all that in photos, but my current setup
>(shooting through the fieldscope with a little Canon pocket digital) is
>yielding basically functional but nonaesthetic images. I'd like to upgrade
>my Nikon D50 with a bigger zoom than my current 70-300.
>
>For bird photography, which would be better?
> > (1) Buy a bigger zoom lens for the Nikon ? if so, which lens would you
> > recommend?
> > (2) Buy a digiscoping setup that would rig up
> my existing Nikon lens (either
> > the 18-55mm kit lens or the 70-300) to the
> fieldscope in a more effective way
> > ? if so, where could I find the right setup?
> >
>Thanks much for your expertise and ideas,
>Trileigh
>
>************
>Trileigh Tucker
>Lincoln Park, West Seattle
>Tri #at# seattleu.edu