DIGISCOPING is taking pictures through a spotting scope with a digital camera -- in my case, with my Nikon Fieldscope 60 ED scope. I found I could hold my digital point-and-shoot camera up to it and fire away; the camera lens fit snugly against the scope eyepiece and I could pinch them together with my left hand. I took most of the digiscopes on this website with an Olympus 550, a long-since obsolete three megapixel camera.
DIGITAL SLR BIRD PHOTOGRAPHY. In Fall 2003, Canon introduced their Digital Rebel (300D), the first digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera to sell for less than $1000, and I was hooked. I had done some SLR black-and-white photography back in the 70s, including my own darkroom work. It was a lot of fun and still have some of the pictures I took, but it was time-consuming and I was too busy; I gave it up long before I got into birding. Still, it left me with faint memories of some basic photographic skills and techniques, and I found I could revive some of these, while working on new ones.
I started with a basic consumer zoom lens (Tamron 70-300) for my first DSLR bird pictures, but once I knew I was into SLR photography to stay, I bought a Canon 300mm f/4 IS in January 2004, which I mostly used with a Canon 1.4x extender to make a 420mm f/5.6.
In February 2005 I upgraded my camera to the Canon 20D, and added a Canon 500 mm f/4 IS lens, which fully lives up to its great reputation. Since then, I've successively upgraded to the 30D, the 40D after that was stolen, and most recently (March 2008) the ID Mark III. I normally use the Mark III, with a 1.4x or 2x extender, on my Gitzo 3530 tripod with a Wimberley II head, and a 580EX flash when that is called for. My car makes a good blind, and when I shoot from it I use a beanbag for support. I also own the Canon 400 f/5.6 and 400/4 DO lenses, both excellent for mobility and for flight shots. The DO with a 1.4x extender makes a lightweight 560 f/5.6 combo that works well for walkaround birding, either handheld or with a monopod (my usual one is a Manfrotto 685.)
For non-bird photography, I have other Canon lenses: 10-22, 28-135, 35 f2, 50 f/1.8, 85 f/1.8, and 70-200/4 (last one occasionally used for birds).
FORMAT AND PROCESSING. I edited my early digiscopes with the Olympus Camedia 4.0 software. When I first took up SLR photography, I switched to Photoshop Elements, and later I upgraded to Photoshop CS2. I shot in jpeg large fine until March 2005, when I shifted over to RAW, which I convert with Breezebrowser Pro.