Make: SpyCamera
by Eric Rosenthal
Eric Rosenthal is President of Creative Technology, LLC (CTech), a company specializing in new and advanced imaging technology consulting and development.
Mr. Rosenthal was Vice President of Advanced Technology Research at Walt Disney Imagineering Research and Development, Inc. In 1999, he successfully completed the construction of Disney/ABC's Times Square Studios at 1500 Broadway.
During his 26-year tenure with ABC Television he was general manager of A/V systems engineering at the ABC TV network. He received an Emmy award for his work as technical project manager for the audio-video systems engineering of ABC's coverage of the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York.
Mr. Rosenthal is an Adjunct Professor at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP). He has been awarded 4 patents and has 3 patents pending.
Lower center: Taken with the cell phone camera without a monoscope
Upper Left: Amusement park with monoscope
Upper right: Water Tower with monoscope
My digiscope using a low cost field scope and a digital point and shoot camera
My cell phone camera coupled to a Zeiss 10 x 25 monoscope using two mini tripods as described in the MAKE: Article
Upper left: SpyCamera image of statue shown in large photo taken with just the cell phone camera
Things You’ll Need:
* A cell phone with a camera
* 2 mini tripods - Vanguard VS55 Mini Table Tripod
* Cell phone belt clip that fits your phone without covering the camera lens
* 13/64” drill bit and ¼-20 tap
* Monocular telescope - I used a Zeiss 10 x 25
* 1” pipe clamp to mount the monoscope
* ¼-20 nut
Technical information:
The focal length of a digiscope system is calculated by multiplying the focal length of the digital camera lens by the magnification of the spotting scope (If your are using a 10 x 25 monocular the magnification would be 10). For example, when a 3X zoom digital camera with a 100mm focal length (35mm equivalent) and a 10X spotting scope are combined, the effective focal length will be 1,000 mm (100 x 10). A digiscope system simulates long focal lengths for capturing super telephoto images.
A high end digiscope using a Nikon Camera and a Zeiss scope
