NOTE: IT IS BEST TO VIEW THESE IMAGES AT 16K COLORS OR HIGHER
I mounted a cheap ($15 dollars at Kmart or Walmart) 8x21 monocular to my Nikon by using a part of a film canister. This jumps the zoom up to 3x8=24X. Given the Nikon at 3X is the equivalent of a 115mm 35mm lens, with the monocular it becomes a 920mm lens. This is just too much lens for handholding. I cherry-picked the best of the results which aren't very impressive (except from an James Bond sort of way.) All the pictures were taken with the camera at full 3X zoom. This is necessary to limit the vignetting which still exists but seems to be less when using the macro setting. You can get similar results by just holding the camera up against the eyepiece of a pair of binoculars. You will also find that you need lots of light with this setup. It's best for shots in direct sunlight. Besides the loss of sharpness, I noticed a loss of color as well. I think next I'll try purchasing the 28 to 37mm adapter and mounting a quality 4X video camera tele-extender lens. That should cut down on the vignetting and be almost handholdable (460mm 35mm equivalent.) Another possibility might be a 6X30 finder for a telescope. You can sometimes find people selling these for $30 dollars or so. They usually have pretty good eye relief which should eliminate vignetting.
Here what the scope looks like and the piece of 35mm film canister I used to hold it on (which mostly works to center it.)
shutterspeed = 1/96, aperature = f6
shutterspeed = 1/43, aperature = f3.6
My wife weeding. Camera braced on my deck railing.
shutterspeed = 1/724, aperature = f6.6
shutterspeed = 1/30, aperature = f3.6
Handheld using macro setting to get as close as the camera would let me. This might be useful for taking a picture of a small creature without spooking it.
shutterspeed = 1/141, aperature = f6
shutterspeed = 1/18, aperature = f3.6
Speaking of small creatures......Handheld of chipmunk critter. This is more representative of most shots. It is very difficult to handhold this much lens. Additionally, it is too easy to move within the infinite range of lens and this requires using the diopter adjuster on the monoscope to focus. I'm not sure if this is camera shake or poor focus adjustment. This shot might have worked better if I had used the camera's macro setting.
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