Hoopoe
Digiscoped using a Canon A95

Copyright © Richard Ford - www.Digitalwildlife.co.uk

8- What is your best offer for a beginner if he wants to gather his/her first set of digiscoping equipment for birds? Please name the whole set. What if he is on a tight budget? And what if he is not on a tight budget? Please advice for both conditions.

On a low budget, the Canon A95 is available at around £100 used; an adapter and mechanical cable release could be another £100. Look at he Kowa and Opticron range of scopes, there are second hand models around very cheap perhaps just a few hundred pounds, and they produce good results. A basic Manfrotto tripod and head will coast about £200 but can be picked up second hand and other cheaper makes will do the job, a sturdy tripod is very important though, there is not point spending large sums on equipment if you are going to put it on a cheap wobbly tripod.

If money is no object I would still go for Canon A95 but you could look at other well respected and more expensive digiscoping cameras like the Nikon Coolpix 8400 and the nwere P5000 which I have already mentioned. The top end Swarovski, Leica and Zeiss scopes with high definition glass, are around the £1000 mark and will all do a good job, which you use is probably a matter of personal preference. Look at and try before you buy, if you can, ask other digiscopers/birders you see what they are using, and if you can have a look through there scopes, most are happy to help. For a tripod look for something sturdy but also bear in mind that these setups can be heavy especially if carried around for long periods, some new tripods are light and made of carbon fiber, which may just save you some back pain.