About spotting scopes

[fishead]

Is this scope a waste of money? Bushnell 15-60x60 Scope 4000mm 78-1700 lens for Canon. I really can't afford to waste any money, I spent enough for this new camera already.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Bushnell-15-60x60-Scope-4000mm-78-1700-lens-Canon-/300450295457?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item45f43baea1

[bill rudden]

You sure have the birding bug Dave.  
The way you like to use your boat, think about sticking with hand held.  
Advanced point and shoot cameras w/12-18X
or SLR w/100-400 lens

Digi-scoping is tripod work.

The really good pics are tripod 500, 600 (and a lot of talent)

 

[fishead]

Thanks for the info bill. I do have tripods in my boat, two home made and one nice one that goes as high as I would ever need. The ones I made work best. I use them to get video of me fishing and i sell dvds on ebay. They are just tube like things I drop the top of an old tripod shaft into which is very handy and easy to use.

I have been taking photos while out fishing for some time but I am getting more serious about it now and I need better quality and I have been looking at dslrs for about a year now. I also need a hobby to get exercise especially since this year the water has been so high and fishing has been tough and I do sell photos in my tshirt store and I post lots of photos on my website. I also take photos of the scenery, insects flowers and fish (fish sell the best). I also incorporate bird and fish photos into my art.

I am thinking about selling my kodac point and shoot I just bought with 26x because I bought the canon DSLR with 2 lens, one is 55-200 mm and I could use the money to get more accessories for that. I do have a couple more point and shoots anyway that I can use if I need to. I did do some research today and read where 400 mm for my dslr is minimal to get good photos of birds and wildlife, but that will be some time before I can afford that. One thing in my favor is I can get closer than most people to the birds, but it would be nice to have more zoom.

[fishead]

This is why I am going with the DSLR over the point and shoot. Both birds were with full zoom (cropped), hand held. Guess which were taken with dslr:

[bill rudden]

Dave you seem to have answered your own question. 
Although low cost, the scope is no match against a long lens.
 

[fishead]

Yes I found that out bill, after checking on a canon website yesterday.

I changed my mind, I will keep the point and shoot for macro purposes, until I can afford a new lens for the good camera. I hate to carry two camera but at least I can keep the good camera loaded with the big lens in case a bird comes into view while messing around with butterflies.