Annoyed at my inability to pick out tiny .22 holes at ranges as meager as 50 yards, I realized i had a digital camera. And a tripod. That would work, right? Actually, it did. Quite well, in fact. The thing that makes it work, however, is generally the most despised function amongst photographers-- The digital zoom. By and large, digital zooms are the bane of photography since the more of it you use, the worse your end result gets. Actual glass optics are preferred for zooming, but we aren't taking pictures here. We're spotting using the camera's much lower resolution LCD display.
I have a Sony HX9v. Amongst it's more notable features is great x16 optical stabilization. This easily gets you great pictures and to the 50 yard mark without trying. But like most cameras, it's been cursed with a digital zoom to fluff up the spec sheet. Absolutely useless for any real photography, but for spotting, a huge boon. My particular camera has a x64 digital zoom. It's tough to put that into quantifiable measurements, save that I can tell the brand of airline cruising at 30k feet (if caught at the right angle and light) and the layout of a horse ranch two miles away through heat distortion (if you've been to sunset point, AZ, you know the one I'm talking about
) At this point 100y is well within reach.Now mind you, these would produce substandard pictures. But on that camera sized LCD? If all we're doing is hunting bullet holes in paper, your camera will probably do it and do it well if it's within the capability. Of course, your sight picture will be bad and your field of vision is limited to the LCD. I'm readily acknowledging the limitations here. But I'm quite happy putting a piece of hardware I already own to good use, as opposed to shelling another $200-$300 on something else.
Maybe this will help you out too. Give it a try.
