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The idea of the attachment was inspired by an article in Birdpix submitted by Ooi Beng Yean and which I fully acknowledge.

Using the Nikon 990, the attachment I have made fits perfectly onto the end of the Swarovski 'scope, with no gap between the 2 lenses. I think this will be the case with all the Nikon swivel body digital cameras.

I started with a piece of aluminium 40cms long, 10cms wide and 5mm thick. This was cut down to 33cms long. All measurements are given as though looking down on the scope from the back.

You then need to drill 2 holes, 1 to take the base plate and another to hold the scope down at the end of the new attachment. You will see what I mean from the photos at the end of this article.

The hole you drill for the base plate has to be able to take the standard thread for the base plate so that you can screw from underneath it, into the attachment, and this then allows you to attach the plate to the tripod. The centre for this hole is 16.1cms from the bottom and 5cms from the right hand side. In addition the 2nd hole needs to be slightly larger than standard to enable a wing nut to pass through and screw into the mounting on the 'scope. The centre for this hole is 5.4cms from the right hand edge and 1.5cms from the bottom.

In addition you need a 5mm piece of aluminium cut like a washer to go between the top of the attachment and the scope mounting to bring the scope upright. Again you will probably see what I mean from the photos.

Now having fixed the attachment to the tripod and mounted the scope, you need to bend the end of the aluminium up to the angle of the scope. I then took 2cms width off the right hand side of the aluminium from the front to where the bend starts approx 24.5cms. I removed from the left hand side top a piece 8.5cms by 7cms. Now round off all the corners and generally smoothen everything before you get cut fingers!!

At the top of the attachment, on the bent up piece, you now have a piece of metal measuring approx. 8.5cms by 3.5cms. You now need to drill a hole slightly bigger than the standard ( I made it the same as for the front hole on the attachment that anchors the scope). The centre is 8mm from the right hand edge and 12mm from the top.

With the pieces you have cut off you need to cut one piece 7.1cms by 3.5cms and 2 holes have to be drilled in this piece both just above the standard size.

The first is centred at 1 cm from the top and 1.7cms from the right hand side we'll call this hole 1. The second is 1.4cms from the right hand side and 1.7cms from the bottom, hole 2. You are now ready to attach the camera.

Through hole 1 you need a wing nut which I thing is 3/8ths Whitworth, but you will need to check this. I put 2 washers underneath the attachment before screwing up into the camera. The 2nd hole needs another wing nut, with 2 washers underneath and 3 washers on the top, which then screws into a nut thus securing it to the attachment. I found it best to araldite the washers and the nut to one another and to the plate so that the nut does not move. This is where you loosen the wingnut in order to swing the camera right away from the scope so you can use it normally.

I tend to position the camera so the lenses line up and tighten the wing nut through hole 1 so the camera does not move and only loosen the wingnut through hole 2 without touching the wing nut through hole 1.

You can either carry the scope with the camera attached to the lens as it is very secure, or you can swing it away and only swing back when ready for a photo.

With a bit of practice you can actually find birds in the camera frame with the lenses aligned. I also find putting the Eagleeye sun visor on helps a lot as you can focus both with and without glasses.

The only problem I have had is that the scope sometimes swings around if the base plate is not tight enough. This has been overcome by aralditing two strips of metal either side of the base of the scope so preventing any sideways movement.

You will probably have to play around with the measurements to a certain degree but they should be about the same if you have a Swarovski 'scope otherwise you will have to work out dimensions using the above as a guide. All you need is a hacksaw, file, vice, drill, aluminium plate, about 6-7 washers, 3 or 4 wingnuts and 2 nuts to fit the wingnuts. Seems complicated but not really. I think the photos will explain some of the instructions.

Since the above was written I have now developed a range finder that allows me to keep the camera permanently in position on the scope so that there is no delay in taking a picture.

I first focused the camera on an object that was easily identified eg the top of a clothes line post. Then I swung the camera into the scope and secured it. I then marked a spot on the camera at the rear edge so that I could look from behind the camera. At the front of the 'scope I attached a water pipe clip that had been drilled and a thin bolt screwed through it. This was attached to the front of the 'scope with the bolt in the vertical position and the scope marked so that it would always be mounted in the same place.

Looking from behind the camera I lined up where the bolt was in line with the object I had focused on, marked the bolt and then cut it to size. By lining up the top of the bolt and the mark on the camera I was immediately able to see what I had focused on. All this was done with the zoom at 20X but once on a bird it is possible to increase the zoom all the way to 60X if so desired but then you need to re-focus somewhat. Pictures will follow of the new development.
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