Expanding on the video camera dealie...

[bogie]

Has anyone ever rigged up a video camera spotting scope? Wireless preferred, but wired could be okay. I know prices have been coming down as of late, and I'd _really_ like to be able to stick something out at the 600 yard berm for those days where I can't find someone to pull targets...

 

[armedandsafe]

I tried it a number of years ago and found that visibility on the monitor in ambient (out door) light was a problem. I happened to have a 100 - 300X lens available. The newer monitors and cameras might have fixed this problem.

Pops

 

[bogie]

Well, the monitors are going to be in the shade, and just have to be very good at black/white... I'm more concerned about what I'm gonna stick out by the target. I don't really wanna mess with a 100-300x type of lens, due to mirage, etc...

 

[armedandsafe]

If you are going to stick the camera out by the target, you will want to look carefully at the maximum distance you can run cable (unless you go wireless.) The maximum distance the camera can handle should be found in the specifications sheet. Other than that, I think it might just work. Of course, that's what I thought last time, too.

Pops

 

[Mad Man]

I've got an older Orion CCD (#8635), which replaces the eyepiece of my spotting scope.

It's no longer in their catalog, but is availabe at http://www.optcorp.com/product.aspx?pid=319-326-2817 , and probably some other places as well. A color version was also made.

The only problem I had with it was (1) since my scope was focused by turning the eyepiece, it was difficult to keep the image right-side up, and (2) required lugging around a small TV with a large battery pack. Not all spotting scopes have removable eyepieces, but a good refractor telescope should work as well.

Now that the price of those portable DVD players with built-in screens have come down, I'll probably pick one up, dust off my CCD, and use it again (as long as I can find a portable player with video input jacks).


Orion does offer some newer model CCDs for use with telescopes, but they cost much more than mine did.

http://www.telescope.com/shopping/p...emID=130820&itemType=PRODUCT&RS=1&keyword=CCD

http://www.telescope.com/shopping/p...emID=111429&itemType=PRODUCT&RS=1&keyword=CCD

http://www.telescope.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?&iProductID=144779

 

[hksw]

Has anyone ever rigged up a video camera spotting scope? Wireless preferred, but wired could be okay. I know prices have been coming down as of late, and I'd _really_ like to be able to stick something out at the 600 yard berm for those days where I can't find someone to pull targets...

I've thought about it for the past couple of years and will probably finally try it out this year. Looking for a high mag camcorder with at least a 2.5" screen preferably hard drive. Only problem is the high mag making the image gittery even with a steeady cam-type sytem. Also thought about hooking it up to a laptop for a larger screen.

 

[bogie]

Okay - let's rephrase.

I don't want a high magnification video spotting scope, which will be prone to getting blown off target, vibration, mirage, etc - may as well just use a regular spotting scope if I have to put up with all that. What I'd like to do would be put a video camera 15-20' from the target, focused on the target, and use that as my long range "spotting scope." Due to the application, cheaper is better.

 

[QuickDraw]

Hey Bogie,
I like the idea.Camera set on the ground pointing
at the target.Wireless back to your monitor.
Man that would be cool.You'd never have to
leave the bench!
What about one of those cheapy wireless security
cameras/monitors?

QuickDraw

 

[odysseus]

Yes. I have a couple wireless cameras that run on TCP/IP so they save to external servers and record and work in policies on my server too. They update me on motion detection and send me clips and pics. They can move and pan on their own as well by policy, or I can manually connect to them from the Net. The ones I have are very weak on magnification and not to the high level ($$$) also as the ccd's the gov's use. They see pretty well at low level light, and I usually cover an area up to 50'

You can find them out there on and reviews of them on the web.