Pinewood
New York correspondent
The one point in which I think digital is a way forward, is as a means to replace the large and cumbersome spotting scope with some hand-held that can achieve a sharp 200 x image in as small package. After all, who wants to lug a scope and 'pod half-way round the world when you might be able to replace it with something that looks more like a palm-sized camcorder?
Hello James,
A 200x image from a device the size of a cucumber, say 16 cm would require:
Image stabilizationten times that used in a 20x current image stabilized binocular.
You would need a long focal length lens, whose optical path might be compressed with prisms, but that would add weight, perhaps combined with a digital zoom and a high resolution imaging screen. To avoid a wide and heavy objective the imager would have to be very sensitive to light as well having high resolution.
For all I know, there might be a military version of something like that but the price would be impractically high for most of us.
Happy bird watching,
Arthur :hi: