Last weekend, we had a booth at the Adirondack Sports & Fitness Summer Expo. We were there to introduce local outdoor enthusiasts to our Wild Birds Unlimited Nature Shop, especially our great optics selection.
We brought a great selection of binoculars by Eagle Optics, Vortex Optics, Stokes, and Leupold, and we introduced many show attendees to digiscoping, which is taking photos with a digital camera through a spotting scope. The cardinal image below was digiscoped in my yard.
At the show, we highlighted two spotting scopes. We showed the Vortex Skyline scope with the optional MK1 QR Digital Camera Adaptor.
The scope has a fantastic 20x-60x magnification, and the 80mm objective lens ensures bright, sharp images.
The digital adaptor fits the Skyline scope (only) and provides a quick-release feature that allows you to switch from using the scope to digiscoping in seconds. Watch this 5 minute video on YouTube showing the Skyline scope and digital adaptor in action.
The other scope we showed and are especially excited about is the Stokes Sandpiper scope.
This scope was recently included in "Living Bird" magazine's Scope Quest 2008. Here's a little of what they had to say:
"An even nicer surprise was the Vortex Stokes Sandpiper, which at $359 or less could be the best buy of any model we tested."
"With so many fine scopes on the market, choosing the right one should be easy and fun. Your selection should be based on budget— how much you can really afford—and the kind of birding you do most, or hope to do more of with a new scope. If you’re on a tight budget and want decent optics in the least expensive package, I’d try the Vortex Stokes Sandpiper."
Here's a link to the full Scope Quest 2008 article. And read what Don & Lillian Stokes themselves have to say about the scope.
This is a great mid-priced scope that can help get you into the digiscoping hobby. Digiscoping with this scope is accomplished with the use of a Vortex Universal Digital Adaptor.
The universal adaptor can work with just about any scope. The adaptor seats the camera securely behind the scope eyepiece to provide the stability required to enhance your digiscoped images.

On Saturday, I conducted a seminar called "Capturing Images of Your Backyard Birds" to help attendees attract birds to their feeders and to take photographic or digiscoped images of the birds.
NOTE: If you know of a local group that would be interested in this presentation or other optics or bird-related presentations, please contact us at wbu@nycap.rr.com.
It was fun talking about binoculars, spotting scopes, and digiscoping to a whole new audience. Stop by Wild Birds Unlimited - Saratoga Springs to check out our great optics selection.
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