Reviews & Ratings for Alpen Spotting Scope Digital Camera Adapter — 9 reviews — Page 1

It was difficult to use. it works but takes a lot of patience. It adds weight to the scope!! It did no suit needs for hiking. Overall awkward and not what I hoped for. I am going to try iPhone adapter.

I bought the Alpen 706 spotting scope adapter hoping it could work well for my Pentax 80-ED spotting scope with its straight eye piece. The adapter has a good design and when it arrived my first impression was that it is well made. But after tinkering with it several times, I had to conclude that my scope was just too big and heavy for this unit. It attached, but it was a very shaky affair. I also found that the camera mount vertical arm did not quite reach full perpendicular to the horizontal scope mounting arm. This meant that the camera was never quite inline horizontally with the scope. I feel I could have modified the vertical arm joint slightly to achieve full perpendicular, but with my scope also being too heavy for this unit, I elected to send the whole thing back. Optics Planet was very accommodating with the return and I would have no problem purchasing from them again.
Pros: Nice design
Cons: My scope was just too heavy

This would be a good product for the price if it worked, and with practice I'll get better; but it's very difficult to set up and even with a cable release I'm not sure it will ever really work as I'd like.
Cons: The set up is quite unstable, and makes it difficult to take photographs without vibration or movement

Adapts well to both my canon power shots and canon ZR800 video camera. Very pleased with the product.
Pros: Works with digital and video camera

I use it to mate a konus-100 to an hp r837 camera. We mainly do wildlife watching. It has been really fun to bring back stills and videos without spending much extra money. Now that I have the hang of it I probably spend as much time filming as just viewing.
Pros: Easy to switch between viewing and filming.
Cons: Requires some patience and practice to use well.

I'm using this adapter with a brunton eterna scope, and an Olympus stylus camera. I'm pleased with the setup. Its easy enough to get everything aligned and start snapping pictures. I haven't needed a remote or anything. If I set the camera to a fast ISO, shaking is not an issue. Don't get the best pictures that way, but I'm often just trying to get a picture of a far away bird for identification purposes. This adapter does the job well. The only con: the adapter mounts sturdy to the scope and tripod, but the connection from the scope mount to the balance rail has some play in it. Not a big deal, but a little problem.
Pros: cost, ease of function
Cons: a bit of play

I'm 99% happy with this adapter, and would be 100% happy if I had an angled eyepiece. Mine is straight (PF-65ED II) so the eyepiece is lower, and I can't use the quick-screw adapter for my camera. Instead I just use the flat plate, which just means I need a coin to screw or unscrew it from the camera.
Pros: quickly swinging the camera out of the way
Cons: quick-screw adapter for camera is tall