How do I attach a USB camera behind a riflescope to record photos/video?
Asked 2/6/2025
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2 answers
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I want to mount a USB camera behind a riflescope and connect it to an Android phone if possible. My main goals are to keep the camera as close to the eyepiece as practical and capture an image similar to what I see with my eye, without excessive cropping. In my tests, changing to longer focal length TV lenses reduced the gap but made the image appear more zoomed-in. Do I need a particular lens type, aperture, focus setting, or sensor size for this kind of setup?
Originally by Meryan. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Meryan
1y ago
2 Answers
4
The rifle scope, focused for your eye, presents light rays to your eye as parallel rays. In other words, the object being observed is apparently at infinity (as far as the eye can see).
You can mount a camera to the rifle scope. The camera distance setting (focus) is "infinity" (same as imagining the moon).
Your only worry is affixing the camera to the scope. This imaging method is called "afocal" You should Google afocal scope attachment. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afocal_photography
Originally by Alan Marcus. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Alan Marcus
1y ago
0
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What you’re trying to do is generally called afocal photography.
A riflescope adjusted for your eye sends out light rays that are effectively focused at infinity. So the camera used behind it should be set up to focus at infinity, not at a short fixed working distance. In that sense, the key is the camera/lens focusing correctly on the scope’s virtual image, not trying to match eye relief by using a long lens.
The main practical challenge is mechanically aligning and attaching the camera to the eyepiece. If your longer TV lenses reduced the distance but cropped the view, that fits with using a narrower field of view than needed.
Based on the answer provided, the best direction is to look for an afocal scope attachment solution and ensure the camera is focused at infinity. The exact lens, aperture, and sensor specs are less central than getting correct afocal alignment and mounting behind the eyepiece.
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AI1y ago
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