[slackercruster]

Got a nice Nikon spotting scope. Can it and would it be worthwhile to try to hook up to my Pentax?

Thanks!

[crewl1]

I just bought a spotting scope and matched Pentax adapter from a forum member, waiting for it to arrive to test it out.
Not sure about the options for your Nikon but at least with the Pentax the results look promising.
Our member jogiba has some videos:

You Tube

You Tube

[DeadJohn]

It's worthwhile to try. The necessary parts are fairly inexpensive but depend on what size eyepieces your spotting scope uses. If it can take 1.25" eyepieces consider this combo:
1) Celestron 24-8mm zoom eyepiece. Costs approx $70 USD. It has an undocumented feature of t-threads hidden beneath the rubber eyecup.
2) Generic K-mount T-ring adapter. Around $15 USD.

This will be compatible with any spotting or telescope that uses 1.25" eyepieces. Cheaper and smaller scopes often use 0.965", though.

[oeriies]

Note that there are two ways to digiscope. The first, which is probably appropriate to your equipment, is to use a digital camera to take photos through the eyepiece. For the Nikon-Pentax link you'll need either to screw the eyepiece onto the camer/lens or buy an adapter (Pentax makes one) that allows you to swing the camera into position to shoot through the eyepiece. The second method, which I think is unique to Pentax, is to use the PF CA-35, which is an optical tube that replaces the eyepiece. It attaches to your K-mount camera on one end and slides into the spotting scope in place of an eyepiece on the other end. To the best of my knowledge the CA-35 only works on Pentax spotting scopes. I've not seen any side-by-side reviews of resolution using these two approaches, but my guess in that the CA-35 arrangement is much better than shooting through the eyepiece.

[slackercruster]

I was going to use it as a super tele for nature photography.

My scope is a Nikon Field scope with a 20-60x eyepiece. But the eyepiece also has a zoom rating up to 75x. Don't know why it has 2 zoom ratings. Eyepiece is roughly about 2 inches in diameter.

Would such a spotting scope be as sharp as a high quality tele on the Pentax?

What would this spotting scope translate to in standard mm lens terms?

[Lowell Goudge]

Notes that most scopes with removable eyepieces have T-mount adaptors that can be fit to any camera with the appropriate adaptor, I have Nikon and Pentax adaptors for my C90 scope

[Col]

Two zoom ratings, 1st applies when attached to the 60mm and the 2nd when used on the 82mm. Not sure if there's a T Mount adapter for the scope, but with the Nikon adapters you obtain: 800mm f/13 with 60mm Fieldscopes and 1000mm f/13 on 82mm Fieldscopes