Digiscope adapter TG2 to Vortex Viper HD 65mm 15x-45x

[Ray]

It turns out that the rubber eye piece of a Vortex Viper HD eyepiece is just a smidgen less than the ID of a 1 1/2" ABS end cap. Once shoved all the way over the rubber eye cup the ABS fitting is pretty snug. It also turns out that the OD of the 1 1/2" ABS end cap fitting is just larger than 58mm. Hmm...
Using a step up filter adapter of 40.5mm to 58m and a simple plumbing fitting I made a replica of several different digiscope adapters. This system is similar to a Leica adapter for their spotting scopes, but just a few dollars less.

First you need to sand the fitting to remove all the injection molding flash and markings. Then grind a small bevel along the rim to allow the step up filter adapter to slip over.

Then mark the inner ring of the plumbing fitting to be removed.

Since my drill press is out of commession I used a coping saw to cut out the center hole. Drill four clearance holes.

After a little clean up with a rasp and rat tail file it looks like this

 

[Ray]

Just a thin bead of hot melt glue - I may want to take it apart later on to repair or change - it looks like this.

Once cooled and cured you can screw the adapter into the 40.5mm filter adapter on the TG2.

Then fit it on the spotting scope

The rubber eye cup and its twist up system is rather loose fitting so the weight of the camera causes it to droop just a hair. I will see about getting out this weekend for some test shots. But for less than $10 for the two pieces to make the adapter and then $18 for the extra TG2 40.5mm filter adapter its not too bad of an investment.

 

[dotman]

So you get vinyetting or however it is spell at max power on the scope? Great job!

 

[Ray]

So you get vinyetting or however it is spell at max power on the scope? Great job!

When first mounted there is vignette around the edges. The TG2 has internal zoom so with a little zoom the vignette goes away. I will get the scope outside and test it this weekend to see how it works at various power settings.

BTW - the rubber end cap on the eye piece has to come off to allow the fitting to slid all the way on.

 

[dotman]

Ok thanks

 

[Ray]

This image is with the adapter on the camera and no other changes to the zoom. The TG2 has a wide angle lens when not zoomed so it sees the outer edges of the adapter. From what I have read about the 4x teleconverter for the TG2 it also presents a vignette image with out zooming.

This image is on the scope set a about 15x. This is the same peak in the first image that is lost in the cloud haze. Due to the LCD on the TGF2 and my prescription transitions lenses it is hard for me to focus the spotter with the camera mounted. The camera zoom was not used in this image to show the vignetting caused by the spotter eyepiece.

Now with camera zoom and a 2 second timer to minimize tripod shake causing blur. This is still at 15x scope power. The camera zoom makes a huge difference.

This image shows as far up in spotter power the system would go and still be usable. I think it was about 30x on the spotter. I could not see well enough to focus it.

So for $10 this adapter will capture a decent image from 1 mile away through a medium quality spotting scope.
The only issue I noted with mounting the adapter is that I must have not flush sanded the end of the pipe fitting as it takes a little tweeking to get the camera and scope to line up. There is something to be said for a machined adapter like the tines up or Vortex system. This pipe fitting still has to deal with the loose fit of the rubber eye cup on the eyepiece to get it to line up. I might have to mess with the concept of thumb screws to force a more firmer mount action and force the alignment better rather than rely on field tweeking it.

 

[JustOneMoreShot]

Looks really good! I may need to try this. Thanks a lot.

 

[Ray]

The girlfriend captured me messing around. The dog is bored with all this technology stuff. This also provides some insight into the angled vs straight spotter debate. In varied terrain the straight spotter will be too low to just bend over and use.

A note on the build process: The hot melt glue did not stick to the anodized surface of the step up filter ring. It pulled off after 48 hours. I then glued it on with a gel based super glue.