Birding Spotting Scopes & Accessories

Zeiss PhotoScope 85 T FL

The hot NEW diascope from Zeiss with digital camera built in — my review is coming soon!

The Zeiss Diascope 65 T* FL LT 65 mm spotting scope, is another spectacular spotting scope from Zeiss. This is the straight version of their 65mm Diascope, which comes with magnificent optical quality and resolution.
Main Features:

Legendary Carl Zeiss quality.
FL Glass for vivid, clean, bright colors in any light.
Dual ratio focus: rapid and precise.
Fully waterproof and [...]

Zeiss Diascope 85 FL

The Carl Zeiss Victory Diascope 85 FL is undoubtedly one of the best 85mm scopes available. Needless to say, like all Zeiss diascopes, it is equipped with magnificent Zeiss optics for outstanding magnification, high resolution and exceptional brightness.
Main Features:

Legendary Carl Zeiss quality.
FL Glass for vivid, clean, bright colors in any light.
Dual ratio focus: rapid and [...]

Angled Spotting Scope vs. Straight

Angled and straight are the two basic body designs of the refractor spotting scope.
In a straight scope the eyepieces are aligned to each other while in an angled scope, the eyepiece is at an offset of 45 degree or 90 degree from the barrel. However, straight design is preferred by many.
straight body designed scopes can [...]

Spotting Scope vs. Telescope

From the point of view of the design, a spotting scope and a telescope are not very different altogether.
Both are used for magnification and are constructed with an eyepiece lens and an objective lens. Both are used to be able to see long distance images clearly. Both the spotting scope and the telescope are designed [...]

Using a Spotting Scope for Astronomy

Over recent years, the use of spotting scope has gained popularity due to its portability. Moreover, it often results in clear images and is much cheaper than a conventional scope. Spotting scope is a durable telescope which is used for bird watching, hunting and even digiscoping. Depending on the configuration of the lens and eyepiece, [...]

Tips for Birding using a Spotting Scope

A spotting scope will widen your horizon for most bird watching. You can see a bird more clearly with spotting scope. All of us know that sometimes we need more than the usual 7x to 10x binoculars to locate those rare species of bird which we missed otherwise. However, it is not only used for [...]

How-to pick a Spotting Scope for Birding

There are many kinds of scopes available. Birding spotting scopes come with many features and its price generally ranges from $100 to $2,000. The costlier ones are characterized by large objective lens and special coated optics.
While purchasing a spotting scope, one should consider many factors. The factors include: the objective lens’ size, alignment of the [...]

Kowa TSN-664 Prominar ED 66mm Review

The Kowa TSN-664 Prominar ED 66 mm straight spotting scope is spotting scope created for professional users for wildlife shooting and bird watching, etc. The Kowa TSN-664 Prominar ED 66 mm straight spotting scope is a high end spotting scope that can be used in all situations and is of rugged make. It can be [...]

Kowa TSN-602 60mm Review

The Kowa TSN-602 is a spotting scope created for professional users for wildlife shooting and bird watching, etc. The Kowa TSN-602 Standard Optics 60 mm straight spotting scope is a high end spotting scope that can be used in all situations and is of rugged make. It can be used in all weather conditions and [...]

Swarovski STM-65-HD Review

The Swarovski STM-65-HD spotting scope is a high performance scope which not only delivers optically but in terms of durability as well. But all this does not come with the price of having to carry around a weighty device. The Swarovski STM-65-HD 49718 Scope is light, compact and portable measuring 12.79 inches and weighing about [...]

Swarovski ATS-80 HD Review

The Swarovski ATS 80 HD is a high definition premium spotting scope that is bound to perform exceptionally no matter what weather conditions, light conditions or the complexity of the target that you are shooting. But all this does not come with the price of having to carry around a weighty device. The Swarovski ATS [...]

Swarovski STS-80 Review

The Swarovski STS-80 (straight, 80mm) is a high performance spotting scope which not only delivers optically but in terms of durability as well. But all this does not come with the price of having to carry around a weighty device. The Swarovski Optiks STS-80 is light, compact and portable measuring 13.9 inches and weighing about [...]

Tips for Buying the Best Spotting Scope Tripod

Tripods play an important role in providing stability to a spotting scope. It is believed that even the world’s best spotting scope is useless if not stable. Tripods come in variety of shapes and size. They are also available in different colors and variety of head configurations. (Head of the tripod is the place where [...]

Digiscoping 101

Digiscoping
is a combination of the words digi and scoping wherein digi comes from digital cameras and scoping comes from spotting scopes.

Have you ever tried taking a picture by placing a digital camera in front of the spotting scope eyepiece?
Not yet? Try it! It has a great advantage over the normal bird spotting scope.
Let [...]