[TN-Bird] Camera-binoculars/ NY TIMES article-review

Just in case you might be interested in what "they" think, here's an article 
on binocular/digital cameras from today's NY TIMES.
Dee Thompson
Nashville, TN
 
March 24, 2005STATE OF THE ART 

Sizing Up a New Species: Camera-Binoculars

By DAVID POGUE 
    
HY do bird-watchers get up so early? 

Yeah, yeah - that's when the birds are the most active, sure. But there may 
be another reason: if the bird-watchers in your family are the only ones in the 
field by 5 a.m., who could doubt their claim to have seen the elusive 
bittern, siskin, shrike or blue-footed booby?

After all, bird-watching is an intensely private affair. It's just you and 
your binoculars. Nobody else sees what you're seeing. And once you've seen it, 
nobody else ever will.

Or at least that's how it used to be, before the invention of binoculars with 
built-in digital cameras. The appeal to bird-watchers should be obvious: not 
only can you prove your sightings, but you can also bring home photos or 
digital movies in search of second opinions or comparisons with your stack of 
field 
guides. And it's not just bird-watching; these hybrid gadgets should also 
appeal to anyone who takes binoculars to sporting events, concerts, the opera 
and 
so on.

(Apparently, the proper term is binocular, singular, as in, "Congratulations 
on the purchase of your new digital binocular." But frankly, that's just as 
pretentious as barbers who refer to a "quality scissor" or sales clerks at 
department stores who praise khakis as "a superior pant.")

Now, the idea of camera-binoculars makes obvious, satisfying sense; as hybrid 
gadgets go, they rank right up there with the clock radio and the toaster 
oven. You should be warned, though, that the majority of digital binocs sold 
through catalogs in the $50 to $80 range are no-name models that take 
camera-phone-quality 640-by-480-pixel photos. If you really did see a 
buff-bellied pipit 
on your roof, you'd be better off drawing it with crayons.

Fortunately, some of the big-name binocular makers have taken this category 
more seriously. The four models they submitted for review - the Bushnell 
Instant Replay and Compact Instant Replay, the Celestron VistaPix and the Meade 
CaptureView CV-4 - are excellent binoculars in the $160 to $425 range.

As for the digital photo part - well, you get the distinct impression that 
these sporting equipment companies are still a little new at the game. The 
photo 
resolution is fairly low: two or three megapixels, suitable for 8-by-10 
prints at best. A lot of typical digital camera features are missing, too, 
including optical zoom, rechargeable batteries and flash (not that a flash 
would be 
useful at 100 feet). These are fixed-focus cameras, too.

Most alarming of all, the photo quality on some of these models ranges from 
mediocre - too many shots wind up blurry, a casualty of the camera shake that 
results from such powerful magnification - to worthless, especially when 
indoors and in twilight. If you're used to real digital cameras, your 
disappointment 
in the results will range from mild to hysterical. More on this topic in a 
moment (and at http://www.nytimes.com/circuits, where you can see some sample 
shots).

All four models are ruggedly built and offer 8X magnification. All four let 
you turn on the camera portion independently (the binocs always work). All four 
take AA or AAA batteries, and munch through them in less than an afternoon. 
All four come with a carrying case, straps and a cable for showing your photos 
on a TV. All can easily transfer photos and movies to a Windows computer 
(described in the manuals) and Mac OS X (not mentioned).

All but the Celestron can also film away as you watch, then store a digital 
movie - at the touch of a button - of only the last 10 or 20 seconds. This 
feature, called Instant Replay or Flashback, is so useful that it ought to make 
its way into digital cameras and camcorders.

What's so smart about the idea is that it perfectly suits the kinds of 
situations for which you use binoculars. Waiting for that dark-eyed junco to 
emerge 
from its hole? Instant Replay throws away all the boring waiting-around 
footage and retains only the magic moment. Tracking your child on the soccer 
field? 
Tap the button to retain only the goal-making part. Not sure when your 
youngster's name will be called to collect the diploma or karate trophy? Start 
filming when the last names approach yours alphabetically; you'll store only 
the 
truly important one. 

This is a new product category, so there's no standard definition of a 
digi-binoc. It's downright charming to see how differently these companies have 
dreamed up their takes on the same task. 

The most oddball model, for sure, is the Meade CaptureView CV-4 8x30 (about 
$180), a two-megapixel model that in May will be joined by the 3.2-megapixel 
CV-6 with what the company says is improved low-light sensitivity. (The first 
number of specs for binoculars, the 8 here, indicates the degree of 
magnification. The second, 30, is the diameter of each lens; higher numbers 
mean a 
brighter image. As for the prices cited here: they come from Amazon.com, 
shopper.com 
and www.bhphoto.com. Cam-binocs are such a new category that it's hard to find 
them all on any one price-comparison site.)

Some of the Meade's eccentricities are extremely desirable. For example, it's 
the only waterproof model in this roundup. And when you connect the U.S.B. 
cable to your Mac or PC, the camera draws all its power from the computer 
instead of draining the batteries. (How do you know this? Because the flap that 
reveals the U.S.B. connector is also the top of the battery compartment, and 
opening it pulls the upper contacts away from the batteries.)

Other quirks are less delightful. The Meade's binocular focus knob, for 
example, is on the underside, where it's difficult to reach. All four models 
feature a tiny (1.5 inches) liquid-crystal display screen that lets you frame 
and 
play back your photos, but the Meade's screen is the only one that doesn't pop 
up. It lies flat on the upper surface of the binoculars (for waterproofness, 
says the company). To see the screen, you have to turn the binocs 90 degrees, 
pointing at the sky. So much for the yellow-rumped warbler you were trying to 
photograph on your suet feeder.

The two-megapixel Celestron VistaPix 8x32 (around $160) has its ups and 
downs, too. It has separate, dedicated Photo and Movie buttons, which is more 
important than you might imagine; as the rare red-flanked bluetail alights on a 
fence post, the last thing you want to do is waste time burrowing into the 
menus 
to switch from movie mode to photo mode. (The Bushnell Instant Replay offers 
this feature, too.)

On the other hand, the Celestron's eyecups extend only slightly behind the 
hard plastic body, meaning almost certain bruising for any but the most 
plastic-surged noses. And the Celestron's status as the least expensive model 
is 
clearly evident when you look at the fruits of its circuitry. The low-light 
photos 
are disastrous, and the movies have all the clarity of that old "Bigfoot in 
the forest" film. 

Bushnell's three-megapixel Instant Replay 8x32 model ($425) is big, black and 
military-looking. In the binocular department, it blows away its competition: 
the binocular image is the biggest and the brightest, focusing is easy and 
precise, and the controls are cleanly designed. 

Moreover, this is the only model whose camera sensor records exactly what the 
binoculars see; on the other models, the camera has its own separate lens, so 
the photos may not match exactly what you saw. 

Too bad about the photo and video part. The image quality is just so-so, both 
in the photos and on the pop-up screen; the manual's suggestion that you use 
the coarse, washed-out L.C.D. for focusing makes you mutter, "Easy for you to 
say."

Clearly, Bushnell is capable of doing better, though, because its newer, 
smaller Compact Instant Replay (also called the ImageView) gets almost 
everything 
right. The screen is bright and sharp, and the 3.1-megapixel photos are 
nothing to be ashamed of, tying the Meade for best of breed. 

These are also the only binoculars that can take TV-quality movies (640 by 
480 pixels, 30 frames per second), which is state of the art even by digital 
camera standards. Too bad you have to burrow into a menu to switch from movie 
to 
photo mode, but at least the menus are big, bold and easy to navigate. And the 
price - $220 from stores like cabelas.com - is right.

Now, camera enthusiasts may be snickering already. "Three megapixels? Grainy 
photos? 8X zoom? Why, my regular digital camera takes five-megapixel photos 
that look sensational - and it's got a 10X zoom lens! Why would I buy a wannabe 
like these binoculars?"

There's some merit in that argument (if you ignore the fact that digital 
cameras with 7X to 10X zooms cost a lot more). But just as you wouldn't want a 
pair of binoculars as your sole recording instrument at a family reunion, so 
you 
wouldn't want to use a digital camera for minutes-at-a-time watching. That's 
something that binoculars - with their big, bright, rubber-lined eyepieces - 
make comfortable and effective. 

And now, thanks to the integration of basic digital photo features, you can 
do more with these binocs than sit out in the bushes for hours at a time while 
the sun comes up. At last, you can bring home proof of what you've been up to.



E-mail: Pogue@xxxxxxxxxxx




    



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