Best Swarovski Scope for Waterfowl under 1000$? (1 Viewer)

[ShlundoKyogre]

I was recently photographing ducks with my Canon EOS R10 and a RF 100-400mm Canon lens and was not able to get great quality shots of these ducks as they were so far off on the water. Is there any scopes of this brand in which I could try digiscoping with my camera for under 1000$? Or is there a better alternative way to get better and more upclose shots of these wonderful waterfowl. All feedback is appreciated!

Thanks,
Shlundo

 

[Montereyman]

You are paying a significant premium for Swarovski over other brands that provide comparable optics and build quality including Pentax and Vortex and Kowa. BH Photo regularly provides 25% discounts on Vortex products. Vortex Viper 20-60x85 discounted email price is $749.00. The Vortex Razor HD 22-48x65 sells for $970.75 and with a Payboo credit card there is no sales tax with BH Photo.

I own 4 Swarovski binoculars but use a Pentax scope that cost me a fourth of what the Swarvoski would have cost. Since buying Sig Sauer 16x42 image stabilized binoculars my scope has not been used at all.

 

[ShlundoKyogre]

I know this may seem like a simple question for many but would I be able to hook up my Canon EOS R10 and various lenses to a scope to get more zoom over the water when photographing waterfowl? Or are they not able to be used to capture images other than with a smartphone? Any advice is appreciated!

Best Regards,
Shlundo

 

[Bill Atwood]

Start here: The Birdforum Digiscoping Forum

 

[Viraj]

I was recently photographing ducks with my Canon EOS R10 and a RF 100-400mm Canon lens and was not able to get great quality shots of these ducks as they were so far off on the water. Is there any scopes of this brand in which I could try digiscoping with my camera for under 1000$? Or is there a better alternative way to get better and more upclose shots of these wonderful waterfowl. All feedback is appreciated!

Thanks,
Shlundo

I think best alternative to get more reach with your EOS R10 is RF 800 f11 lens. No scope would provide you better digiscoping photos than that. If you focus on more observations than taking photos a scope is a way to go.

 

[quincy88]

Swarovski does not make a scope in that price range. I think you would probably have difficulty finding even a used one for that price.

 

[forent]

I was recently photographing ducks with my Canon EOS R10 and a RF 100-400mm Canon lens and was not able to get great quality shots of these ducks as they were so far off on the water. Is there any scopes of this brand in which I could try digiscoping with my camera for under 1000$? Or is there a better alternative way to get better and more upclose shots of these wonderful waterfowl. All feedback is appreciated! (...)

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you aren't close enough." (Robert Capa)


The format-filling bird photos in top quality that you know from magazines and the Internet were usually taken with similar ‘effective focal lengths’ [no discussion about the expression, please] in relation to the 35mm format as you already have available. With your APS-C camera, you get the same angle of view at 400mm as with a 640mm lens on a full-frame camera. Even the increase in magnification with an 800mm lens would not be decisive at long distances on a water surface, for example.

What makes the difference are extended photo sessions in the right place, possibly camouflaged, the right light, a lot of practice and, last but not least, luck. It also helps to realise that some subjects are simply too far away for top pictures. That's just the way it is.

Digiscoping would be one way of achieving higher magnifications, but it would involve a great deal of effort and would be fraught with limiting technical difficulties. The easiest way to very narrow image angles = very high magnifications is a superzoom bridge camera with a small sensor such as the Nikon P900. However, you should not expect ‘top quality’.