I ran across this crazy setup at the Nikon booth at PhotoPlus 2013. This is a Nikon D5200 equipped with the FSA-L2 field scope adapter and the Nikon EDG VR Fieldscope 20-60×85 spotting scope.
This combo produces a 750-2,625mm equivalent field of view on the Nikon D5200 (taking into account the 1.5x crop factor).
Before you go thinking that this might be a cheap way to ease yourself into a supertelephoto kit, think again. The above spotting scope will set you back $6k and the FSA-L2 adapter runs $1k. Even worse, the aperture range starts at f/5.9 at the “wide” end and drops down to f/21 at the full telephoto reach of the scope.
A legit 500mm f/4 lens runs a little over $8k and a 2x teleconverter will set you back $500. While that won’t quite get you to 2,625mm, the DX crop factor puts you at a reasonable 1500mm at f/8.
I have a very similar setup with a micro 4/3 camera (2:1 crop factor) so take that! It’s great for bird watching.
Or you use an old 500 4.0 and a GH2 with a 1,4 converter. You get what you need für less than 2500! And with an hacked GH2 you gett an sony F100 kickass too! the perfect combination to film birds in high quality!
Nikkor x Converter x M4/3 Crop x Pixelcrop -> 500 x 1,4 x 2 x 2,6 = 3640mm F5,6! Ok, you have to pull down to F8 at the Nikkor (F11 real) but it works fine. And without the TC you come up to 2600mm. With a good tripot and an fluidhead, you get fine and steady shots.
Hio all,
I did tested this scope too last year. Short review at http://horukuru.blogspot.com/2012/02/nikon-fieldscope-edg85-vr-review.html :D