Notes on Phonescoping with the Nokia 6630
By Ben Miller
All the photos below are digi-scoped birds, handholding my Nokia 6630 to my Swarovski AT HD80.
I've found the camera very easy to use. The results are OK although nothing of the quality you can get using a modern compact digital camera. Like all digiscoping it requires lots of light, even more so than traditional digiscoping though. The normal camera pics are only really good if it's a brightly-lit day.
I've tried making an adaptor for the phone, but so have have got all my results by simply hand-holding the camera over (but not touching) the eye-piece. It's quite easy.
Clearly it's got limitations, but non more so than traditional digi-scoping. It's so useful to always have a camera with me though, like on Saturday night whilst just chatting and doing some relaxed birding in Dauke's at Cley, when a 1st-summer Caspian Gull dropped in. Got some record pics, which will save a lot of time notes writing!
Technically, it's 1.3 megapixel with a 3x digital zoom, that's actually not bad. I got a 64mb memory card from Orange with my phone so it can hold c.200 photos. It's 3G so digi-scoped photos can very quickly be e-mailed to birding mates for real gripping!
Indian Coursers, Sultanpur, India
Steppe Eagle, Sat Tal, India
Great Grey Shrike, Sarratt, Herts
Terek Sandpiper at Cliffe
Short-toed Treecreeper, Essex
Terek Sandpiper, Kent
If you've got a camera phone, send us a pic from the twitch by posting them to the UK Rarities Phonescoping Page and grip off those PC bound birders!
General Camera Phone Photos from anywhere in the world can go to our World Phonescoping Gallery |
