Henry Rifle Forums

I ordered a camera adapter for my Kowa TSN-99A spotting scope. It was on back order for six weeks and I just received an email saying it’s now in stock and is being shipped soon.

I’ll be glad to get it so I can attach my Nikon to it. These pictures were taken with my cell phone. The scope is very sharp and high contrast and the handheld cell phone doesn’t do it justice.

I see you have some Sandhills in your yard. Very, very interesting bird. We have a pair nesting on our lake, too.

North Country Gal wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 13, 2022 2:24 pm

I see you have some Sandhills in your yard. Very, very interesting bird. We have a pair nesting on our lake, too.

Two adults and two young ones. They nest in the wetlands across the field. I have a couple resident crows and a few days ago eight turkeys in my yard.

All the wildlife is one of many reasons we love it, up here. Enjoy.

I bought one also, it works very well, but i don't have the best scope, even with the glass cleaned my pictures are no where as nice as yours. I am thinking of picking up a nice spotting scope so i can use my old dslr. Anyone have a spotting scope that uses a DSLR mount?

DsGrouse wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 13, 2022 7:05 pm

I bought one also, it works very well, but i don't have the best scope, even with the glass cleaned my pictures are no where as nice as yours. I am thinking of picking up a nice spotting scope so i can use my old dslr. Anyone have a spotting scope that uses a DSLR mount?

Yes my spotting scope uses one but I won’t have the Mount till next week.

I've used spotting scopes as prime lenses via adapters for many years. As to what you get as far as speed and quality very much depends on the scope quality and aperture size. A smaller spotting scope with say a 60mm lens will make for a very slow lens, so you will be limited to shooting in bright light. A big scopes like Sir Henrys, though, will make an impressive lens. No, don't expect to go pro wildlife photographer using a spotting scope as a lens, but you can get some very nice pics.

By the way, Kowa (Sir Henry's brand of spotting scope) makes high end optics for the medical industry. That's their main line of income, so they do know how to make a great spotting scope.

My 99mm objective is bright and fast but doesn’t have a lot of depth of field. That’s a big trade off.

My spotting scope/camera setup is now complete. I have everything except the knowledge to use it. I’ll have to study the manual.

The window has dew on it because the house is colder than the outside and the humidity is so high. I can move it to the deck in about a minute. The Nikon mounts to the scope directly via a bayonet mount. The tube is part of the scope. I can send the pictures directly to any devise with Bluetooth. It takes a minute to remove the camera from the scope which isn’t long. Converting the scope back to eye viewing takes longer so I’m going to leave the camera attached as a dedicated unit. I may buy a separate camera for off scope use. I majored in photography and want to get back into it.

Speaking from experience with both spotting scopes and cameras, that is one impressive unit.

North Country Gal wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 19, 2022 11:06 am

Speaking from experience with both spotting scopes and cameras, that is one impressive unit.

Thanks Joanie. If I ever get finished with my tractor projects I’ll be spending some time taking pictures. It’s fun to spot the birds with it.