Quick Comparison: Digiscoping vs. D-SLR

Taking pictures in the rainforest—any rainforest or jungle or woods—is a challenge particularly due to the lack of light. On the recent digiscoping trip we took to Trinidad and Tobago, sponsored by Leica Sport Optics, I got to compare the relative difficulty and success/failure rate of taking photographs with a digiscoping set-up versus taking photographs with a professional-grade digital SLR camera.

My loaner digiscoping rig consisted of a Leica APO-Televid HD-65mm spotting scope, a Leica D-Lux 4 digital camera, and a bayonet-mount digiscoping adaptor.

My big-rig digital SLR camera is a Canon 30D with a 300mm fixed, image-stabilized, lens.

One of the images above (a female rufous-tailed jacamar) was taken with each set-up. I took these shots moments apart from one another on a trail in Gilpin Trace rainforest on Tobago.

Both images are just as they were taken, no adjustments to color, sharpness, or cropping. Both were exported as jpegs for use in Blogspot.

Can you guess which one was taken with which rig?

Canon 30D Digital SLR image.

Leica digiscoping rig image.

I know from other attempts at digital SLR photography in the deep, dark jungle, that it can be really hard to get good "keeper" photos, especially without the use of a tripod and a bracket-mounted flash unit. When I returned from the Philippines last spring, I was crushed to see how few of my D-SLR images were good enough to keep. Some of this was the result of low-light conditions, some of it was due to "operator error" and some of it was just plain old bad luck.

This is where digiscoping can really pay big dividends for the bird watcher who also likes to snap a few images of birds that happen to cooperate. If a bird sits still for more than a few seconds, it's a candidate for digiscoping. The only downside is that you do need to haul a spotting scope with you in order to digiscope most effectively.

The Leica scopes we were using are the new, top-of-the-line models. Mine was the APO-Televid 65. The coatings and lenses on these scopes gather an incredible amount of light. The focus on them is super-fine. Combining this with the high-end compact Leica cameras we were using, and we had a nearly perfect set-up for digiscoping.

And the images? Well, I can't resist showing off one more digiscoped image from that same day.

Male collared trogon, Gilpin Trace, Tobago, WI.

I'll go deeper into the digi-details in future posts. If you're interested in learning more about digiscoping, there are a number of fine websites and blogs online with all the information you need to get started. If you're more of a hands-on learner, the Midwest Birding Symposium is offering two separate two-hour sessions with many of birding's best digiscopers, including pros from Leica, Zeiss, Swarovski, Nikon, and Eagle Optics. We're calling it The Digiscoping All-stars, and it's free to all registered attendees. Details about the Digiscoping All-stars can be found here.

(Not So) Great Kiskadee

This series of images of a great kiskadee (coughing up a ball of what I assume are insect exoskeleton bits), was taken from the verandah of Asa Wright Nature Centre in Trinidad. In the last image, the bird looks almost relieved, and perhaps a bit embarrassed that the whole episode was captured on camera.

There are days (like today) when I'd like to be able to cough up a huge ball of stuff, if it would make everything better. On second thought, maybe there are better ways to make oneself feel better. Like playing a softball double-header. Think I'll try that instead...

Currently Reading: Sleeping Naked is Green

As the editor of Bird Watcher's Digest magazine, I get a lot of nature and birding books sent to me for review. Most of them I send off to BWD's hand-picked reviewers, often folks with an interest or expertise in the subject matter of each title. When Sleeping Naked is Green landed on my desk, I was intrigued enough to keep this one for myself.

Sleeping Naked is Green was written by a fellow journalist (she writes for The National Post in Toronto) and blogger, Vanessa Farquharson, who, as a self-professed eco-cynic, wanted to see what all this green stuff was all about. She challenged herself to make one green change in her life per day for an entire year. And then she wrote about each change—how she accomplished it, felt about it, and how it affected her (and the universe). Initially she wrote about these daily changes on her blog, which eventually attracted a significant worldwide readership and a book deal.

Having just finished Sleeping Naked I wanted to share it (and my reaction to it) with BOTB's readers. Why? Because this is a really interesting book. Ms. Farquharson writes with a delightfully light touch. I admit that I felt some trepidation as I started reading—trepidation that it was going to be a bit of a Gen-X snarkfest, chock full of navel-gazing and whiny griping about how badly this eco-adventure was making her life suck. As I got deeper into the book (which I read in small bites until the last 75 pages, or so, which I read in one day) I found the author's voice and writing style to be quite pleasing. She is that rare creature: an environmentalist with a great sense of humor. And some well-honed writing chops.

I was also curious to see how many of the author's green initiatives were ones to which I could relate. Answer: A lot of them. Some I already do: recycling, buying local food, gardening and composting, using permanent shopping bags, if it's yellow....—all the stuff many of you probably do, too. But I also got an insight into how much easier some green, eco-friendly steps are for city dwellers than for us country-living folks. For example, Vanessa gave up her car. This was a bold and admirable step, and my recycled bamboo-cloth baseball hat is off to her, but it's one I could never do, living 17 miles from the nearest hospital, grocery store, or taxi cab. She also unplugged both her freezer and her refrigerator. Wow!

Other ideas that Vanessa put into action are ones that I will be incorporating into my life: turning down the thermostat on the water heater, switching to all-natural cleaning products, stop shaving my legs (already have), not getting receipts if I don't need them for store and gas station purchases. Each chapter in Sleeping Naked begins with a list of the changes she made day-by-day in each month. This is a handy reference for readers to check themselves against.

Sleeping Naked is full of great ideas. It's also full of funny turns of phrase, great pokes at the ironies of environmentalism and consumerism, and hundreds of wonderful, thought-provoking stories about 366 days of trying to be greener than you were yesterday.

If you're feeling an urge to green-up your life a bit, Sleeping Naked is Green is a wonderful jumping-off point. I highly recommend this book.

To learn more about the author and what she's up to now, visit her website and blog at greenasathistle.com

Book details: Published by Mariner Books, paperback, $13.95, 267 pages. www.marinerbooks.com.