An introduction to digiscoping with professional equipment — personally guided by Ulrich Götz Roth.
Summary
A private introduction to digiscoping at the Fuencaliente salt flats: photograph Berthelot’s pipit, waders and herons with your own phone through a professional spotting scope. You need no camera and no prior experience. The tour lasts 3–4 hours, for 1–2 participants, and everyone gets their own Kite Optics set. Ideal for beginners.
Description
What it’s about
In digiscoping, your phone sits on an adapter behind the eyepiece of a spotting scope. The scope magnifies and your phone takes the picture. This lets you photograph birds at distances your phone camera can’t reach on its own.
The location
The Fuencaliente salt flats at the southern tip of La Palma are the ideal place to start. Here you photograph Berthelot’s pipit and waders such as ruddy turnstone, whimbrel, plovers and sandpipers. Grey herons and little egrets hunt for small fish in the pans. Black-winged stilts or avocets turn up now and then, and on rare occasions flamingos.
A real example: Berthelot’s pipit at 35 m and whimbrel at 25 m, taken with an iPhone 15 Pro Max on the KSP 80 HD2.
How it works
You work hands-on with the equipment the whole time. You learn to mount your phone on the adapter, align it and focus, and which settings on your phone work best. Above all, you practise finding a bird, getting it into the scope and keeping it in the frame.
Equipment
Each participant gets their own Kite Optics set: spotting scope, tripod, phone adapter and stabilised binoculars. You choose your scope:
- KSP 80 HD2 (25–50x): High-end spotting scope – All the bird photographs on this page were taken with this.
- APC 60 ED (17–35x): Image-stabilised, ideal for videos and Reels, the perfect complement to the KSP 80 HD2.
- SP 85 HD (30–60x): Designed for everyday use by professionals
All you need to bring is your phone, sturdy shoes and clothing suited to the season.
Meeting point and time
We meet right at the salt flats, usually at 9:00. I’ll send you the Google Maps pin after booking. You arrange your own transport by rental car or taxi. The 3–4 hours start at the meeting point.
Included
- Private instruction by Ulrich Götz Roth (DE / ES / EN)
- Your own Kite Optics set for each participant
Not included
- Transport and accommodation
- Food and drinks
Price
€148 per person, minimum 2 people (€296)
Please let me know
Enter the make and model of your phone in the comments field so the right adapter is ready.