How to improve your digiscoping skills

1. Frame the subject and adjust the focusing ring

Frame the subject you want to photograph by looking in the camera's LCD monitor. Focus the image with the focusing ring on the Fieldscope or Spotting Scope.

Zoom in to get closer to the subject

When you zoom in with the camera you can make the subject appear larger, but focusing becomes more difficult. It is probably best to zoom in only about half way along the camera's zoom range.

2. Use the camera's autofocus

After you have focused the scope to get the subject to appear as sharp as you can, depress the shutter-release button halfway with the cable release supplied with the compact digital camera bracket to activate the camera's autofocus function (AF Lock). You will know that focus has been properly set when the green AF indicator lamp lights up.

3. Take the picture

Remove your hands from the equipment to prevent camera shake, and gently push the cable release all the way to release the shutter. Take several photographs to get a successful image.

Hints for practicing picture taking

It will be difficult for beginners to photograph moving subjects, so see if you can take a good photograph of a flower or a signboard about 5 to 10 meters away. Once you get used to operating the equipment, you could practice on pigeons in a park or water birds on a pond, etc.

Take pictures after carefully observing your subject

When you actually start taking pictures, it is important to carefully observe your subject (wild birds or small animals, etc.) and take your photos once you have a sense of how they move or where they might stop.

4. Compensate for brightness

Compensate by under-exposing .		Compensate by over-exposing .
This one is fine!		With the COOLPIX, you can immediately view the photo you have just taken to check it. If it seems that the image is too bright or too dark, you can adjust the exposure to obtain the correct level of brightness. Generally speaking, with digiscoping it seems to be better to set the exposure on the minus side.