This guest post on digiscoping with the Leica M 240 ($6,950) and the Leica spotting scope APO-Televid 82 ($2,999) is by Gunnar Olssons Foto:
When Leica Camera Inc. released the new M camera (240) with live view and movie function arose the possibility of using the camera for digiscoping. That is, the ability to connect the camera to a spotting scope and get a high focal length. We have now tested this setup for a couple of days and think that the result is really good.
The camera connects to the spotting scope by a T2-adapter with Leica M-mount (third part, not supplied by Leica) and the Leica Photo Adapter for Leica spotting scopes. The focal length of this setup is about 800 mm with an aperture of f/9.8. A stable and strong tripod and tripod head is needed, we have also used a classic cable shutter release to minimize the vibrations.
The aperture is fixed at f/9.8 and the photographer can adjust the shutter speed and ISO. Focusing is done manually on the spotting scope, with help from the focus peaking function and the display zoom function in the camera.
It takes a while to master the art of getting maximum sharpness and good exposure. But with a little practice and patience, we think, however, that the result is really good (all pictures are unedited):
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