Pros: Better than anticipated; will open up new worlds of fun.
Cons: Clarity at 20'+; camera lens could be better protected. (Removable A-1 filter, maybe?)
The Bottom Line: For long-distance viewing and photography, these are up to the job for most amateurs and semi-pros. As a pro shutterbug, I'm impressed!
ricevillage's Full Review: Bushnell ImageView¿ 11-8313 Binocular
I shoot 150-250 car photos per week for four websites my employer, www.onlynicecars.com, sells their cars on, and they all have to be better than anyone else does. It keeps me busy and all that work has helped me get the technique for taking any photos with any camera, and do it instantly, once I learn the feel for the camera.
And that's the key to this item.
My wife and I saw reviews for a few binocular cameras online and were not impressed, but thought that perhaps some of the limited success had to do with not understanding what could and could not be done with them, and how to wring the best out of what you have up to your eyeballs.
She saw his among a number of prizes her employer was giving out for years of service, and we reluctantly selected these out of all the other items.
Maybe Bushnell got the word, or maybe the reviews were for more basic models, or maybe the reviewers weren't up to the task of getting the full use of theirs.
I'm not saying that my enjoyment of these has much to do with some sort of skill I've developed. I found the binoculars easy to focus and adjust to the width of my eyes. I did better keeping a scene steady by bracing them, or putting them on a steady surface. There is a tripod mount on the underside that I'm sure will do the job. that's the binocular part.
I followed the manual for camera setup and adjustment, and while I was confused trying to figure out how to reduce the size and quality of the images, I refuse to call that a problem. The camera was parked on 1600X1200 size and only 22 shots stored in the built-in memory for my first few experiments, but... so? I can't imagine shooting 22 shots without having the urge to download them; this is not a garden-variety digital camera you want to shoot the world with because it just doesn't have the versatility. The flash card slot allows storage of more images, if you so decide.
Image quality? Right up there with what I work with every day. Understanding I had to hold this as steady as I could even hand-held, it shot a few highly-detailed car photos with crisp clarity and near-natural colors. This was at the largest size under full sun. A test shot at 800X600 in low-light was not very good quality; very grainy, fuzzy, and nowhere near natural colors of the floor lamp. I suspect that full sun will improve the quality, and if it doesn't at 800X600, maybe just readjusting to the largest size will do it... which will just give you the ability to shoot a few very large good-looking prints, darn it all.
Downloading was an intuitive snap. The included USB cable allowed my laptop and a desktop to immediately recognize it (although XP gave me a questionable error message), download the images, and delete them when saved. Light gain was dead-on, even trying it out on a television image in a dark room. I couldn't assume good results when shooting low-lit images because even fairly expensive digital cameras often have their work cut out for them in low light.
Two AAA batteries run the camera and the small LCD screen you can use to aim instead of sighting through the binocular lenses. I couldn't tell you how long they last because this is the first day I've used it and I can't vouch for the durability of the rechargeables I'm using. I suspect any undesirable battery use would have to do with the horsepower built into the batteries themselves. I can't see how the small (but useful enough) LCD screen would eat much juice, but it may be best to have spare batteries for your field trials, just in case.
Simply because of the combination of binoculars and long-range digital camera, the necessity of a tripod is doubled, and therefore a helpful accessory.
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