Telephoto Zoom for Scouting instead of Glassing?

[OrangeCurtain]

Hi all,

Bit of a wild idea because of weight, but has anyone ever used a longer telephoto lens for scouting or glassing? I own a number of long telephoto lenses 500-800mm that I use for wildlife work, and have an adapter to glass with them. But I'm thinking of trying using the digital LCD, as I can zoom in beyond what my eyesight sees through the viewfinder or ocular adapter, and the lenses are stabilized as well with the camera.

Other than the weight penalty, and minuses or pluses if you've tried this route? The goal here is to make my photo hiking sessions into general glassing and ideally hunting season scouting sessions (timing permitting for deer patterns).

 

[OrangeCurtain]

Forgot to mention, these setups almost always require bringing a tripod as well, but some of them, like the Nikon 180-600, can be reliably handheld. Scouting ranges are out to about 1,000 yards.

 

[patagonialuke]

I've experimented with using my OM-1 and (FF equivalent) 200-800mm lens in place of my cheap 12x binos, as well as my 20-60x spotter. It's heavy, but it can definitely serve the same role as my binos for moderate distances; not so much the spotter.

Under roughly ~2000 yds, the 800mm lens does a decent job. Binos are more comfortable for extended glassing, I'm much quicker with them in terms of locating game, and I just prefer the viewing experience in the moment. But being able to comb through photos/videos afterward can be nice when I have the time.

Past ~2000 yds, the utility tends to drop. I shoot micro 4/3, so I'm not working with super high-resolution images, but at extended distances, I feel like my 20-60x spotter with a phone digiscope is more effective than trying to zoom in on photos / videos taken with the 800mm lens. At those distances, various atmospheric distortions (e.g., mirage) seem to limit the utility of zooming in on photos in post vs. looking through a higher-magnification optic.

But for what you mentioned, I'd definitely give it a try. If you'd otherwise already be carrying the camera with a smaller lens + a pair of binos, definitely worth swapping the binos for a big telephoto lens and seeing how you feel about it.