Brady's thoughts after using the Ollin digiscope system the past year
View of the Ollin adapter that attaches to your spotting scope.
Protective cover of the Ollin that goes over the adapter to keep dirt and debris out of your spotter.
Screengrab from my Marco polo hunt of the ram I took using the Ollin digiscoping system
Digiscoping some rams using the Ollin digiscoping system
Fast, simple, and perfect. That’s how I’d describe the Ollin digiscope system in a nutshell.
I’ve used lots and lots of digiscoping setups in my life. From crazy contraptions with lots of brackets, arms, and knobs that were designed to hold old point-and-shoot cameras, to systems to hold bigger cameras, all the way up to the top-of-the-line offerings available to us hunters today. Before I go further, there are several other amazing digiscope options currently on the market, but after using Ollin the entire 2022 season and a bunch already in 2023, I’m sold on their design.
Ollin uses a simple magnet system that literally makes going from glassing an animal to digiscoping in less than a second. Why does that matter? There are definitely times when you see an animal, and you want to toss your phone on your spotting scope to record it either for future reference, or you want to see if that is your target animal, etc., and having an extremely fast system is very handy.
An area I’ve grown to love is the fast target acquisition I get with this setup. What I mean by that is the time it takes me when I glass up an animal, to capturing some video or photos. This digiscope system is buttery smooth. All you need to do is set your phone on the Ollin adapter (that is already attached to your spotting scope), and you’ll experience little to no movement of your spotter. There are times with other systems where you'd have to slightly screw your phone into the adapter, and if you had your tripod head a little loose on the windage, you would accidentally rotate your spotter when attaching your phone, and then you would have to painstakingly acquire the animal again which caused you precious seconds.
Back to the system, all you have to do is order the correct Ollin Phone Case for your exact cell phone model and then order the correct Ollin Adapter for the spotting scope you use. Install the case on your phone and the adapter on your spotter and that is it. Then, just let the magnets do the rest!
Another great point to mention is the way the magnets are situated, it actually helps align the phone to the adapter. If you try to put the phone on slightly crooked, the magnets will work against each other to sort of self align the setup, and the phone will snap on perfectly either in a vertical position or a horizontal position.
If you’re the type of person who loves to record vertical video, Ollin allows you to do that without needing to index your adapter a certain way. If you place the adapter the standard way on your spotting scope (logo up), you can utilize every phone position. And at the same time, you can also swap between vertical or horizontal video just by snapping the phone on the adapter in the position you want. In total, you can place the phone on the adapter in a total of four different positions (normal vertical with the phone hanging off the bottom, horizontal with the phone sticking out to the right, horizontal with the phone to the left, and you could even place the phone vertical on top of the adapter).
The Ollin system also comes with a protective cover that also has a magnet built in. So after you’re glassing or digiscoping, just snap the cover on, and your expensive glass is protected from the elements.
One of the highlights of several lifetimes is being able to watch the footage the rest of my life of the Marco polo ram I shot in Tajikistan in 2022. The Ollin system was so simple to the use, that even with a little language barrier with the people I was hunting with, they easily understood how it worked and one of the guys captured a video of my shot that I can watch over and over again. It could be a hunt of a lifetime, or a dream animal in your home state, but these are the moments you are glad that you captured because of a digiscoping system!
This is another one of those products that when you use it, you’re like, “Why didn’t someone create this system sooner?” because it is that dailed! Again, while there are a lot of great digisicope systems on the market, I’ve really grown to love this design. The adapter is the right size, shape, and smoothness that allows you to easily glass with the adapter attached to the spotter. If you’re in the market for a new digiscope system, I can say with confidence that this is a system you need to look at picking up for this upcoming season. Also, we are the exclusive retailer for Ollin!
If you have any questions, feel free to let me know. I digiscope all the time on the range shooting my rifle, scouting, and hunting, and this system, again, is super fast and extremely easy to use.
Best of luck this season!
