Prior to coming to Canopy Tower and Canopy Lodge for Leica’s digiscoping workshop, I had never tried digiscoping anything smaller than birds – in fact, I often decided against using a digiscope technique even on smaller birds in favor of a conventional long lens; small birds were just too active (I thought) to allow me to locate them in a spotting scope, attach the camera, correct the focus if needed, and capture the image. However after a solid week of some of the most intense photographic training and practice I have ever experienced in my life, I now lo longer find digiscoping an inapplicable technique for not only small birds but butterflies and other insects as well.
Take this Pale Daggerwing I digiscoped on La Mesa Road in El Valle, Panama. While the butterfly was actively “mud puddling” and changing location frequently, using the Leica D-LUX adapter and a Panasonic LX3 camera in combination with Leica’s APO Televid 82mm spotting scope, I was able to quickly locate the butterfly following each of its repositionings and record eleven total images before it flew away out of sight.
Of course, as all experienced digiscopers know (and all potential and beginning digiscopers need to know so as not to become discouraged), not all of the images recorded were to the level where I was satisfied with them; however many were, and in the final analysis of any photographic endeavor, it really only takes one truly great image to make all the effort spent on any one subject worth-while.
