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Swarovski auto-ID Monoc (1 Viewer)

temmie

Well-known member
Is there any official release about the monocular that automatically ID the bird your are looking at?
 
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A monocular along with a camera, and it can ID a bird species. And on top of that you can send
the photo to your friends or social media.

It seems to be a social media type of thing, instant gratification, competition, and the need to be liked.

What will they think of next.

Jerry
 
Auto exposure, auto focus, MLB's instant replay rule, and now this. The risk, the fun, the credit, and the accountability are being drained from worthy processes. You see, a degree of uncertainty makes one strive to be better.
 
Auto exposure, auto focus, MLB's instant replay rule, and now this. The risk, the fun, the credit, and the accountability are being drained from worthy processes. You see, a degree of uncertainty makes one strive to be better.

In general, I agree. However there are exceptions. I used to spend a lot of time on astronomy, even making my own charts for tracking down objects within objects, like HII regions in a galaxy. I did not have a tracking, go to, scope, so pushed it where it was supposed to be, then used local star positions, to navigate by. I enjoyed the challenge and the hunt. That was part of the fun for me.

On the flip side, an observing companion of mine who was far more experienced and knowledgable, used a go to, tracking scope, and got plenty out of it. He would locate exceedingly dim objects and galaxy clusters, and carefully note his impressions. One of his goals was to revisit all the objects that the Herschel's had recorded optically, which formed the foundation of the NGC catalog, still in use today.. In response to why he used such mechanisms, he said he just wanted to get to the object, to see what he could see. For his purposes, it was more efficient, allowing him to spend more time observing the objects than looking for them. He was one of the best observers I knew at the time, and held a fairly comprehensive map of the sky in his head, able to call out objects and catalog numbers that were in the field one might be observing.

So, some of these enabling devices or processes are not just designed for the lazy and ignorant consumer. They may actually benefit very skilled individuals in ways we don't always consider.

-Bill
 
Hello,

The concept of integrating an ID app with an optical device strikes me as an interesting merger of electronics and optics. It makes more sense than digitizing the view of an optical device, which some think is the future. I am disappointed that this relatively large, and perhaps unhandy device, provides monocular viewing. I am uncertain whether the digital camera is a worthwhile addition. Apparently, the camera is using the second lens, which may not be a good trade off for true binocular vision.

Happy bird watching,
Arthur Pinewood :hi:
 
Mount the thing on some kind of pre-programmed treaded mini-vehicle and you wouldn't even have to leave the house (or be conscious).
 
Astro photographers routinely use telescopes the other side of the Earth where it is very dark, to take magnificent photos.
They may win prizes with these photos, even though they may have been asleep at the time.

I suppose I could benefit from auto bird identification as I am not proficient at this.

B.
 
A bino that takes a pic of what I'm looking at = awesome.....

.....the iD app thing, no thanks, that's supposed to be my contribution to the observation equation. The current iNaturalist ID app does the same - snap a pic of any taxa, submit, then ID engine spits out the answer - the latest group of dilettante
naturalists have no field skills but have a powerful ally in their phones and they get to skip the two decades it takes to be truly field proficient.
 
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Hello All,

In the modern world we have truly lost our sense of wonder.

Whatever happened to:-

"OOOOOH-------Look at that pretty bird before it flies away"

And just leave it at that ?.

3:) 3:) 3:)

Cheers.
 
I'm over 60, no idea about birds, but since I have had the binoculars I occasionally have the fun of looking one up.

I don't know whether smart bins would be more fun or less fun.

I would certainly like to have a camera integrated in my binoculars.

Edmund
 
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naturalists have no field skills but have a powerful ally in their phones and they get to skip the two decades it takes to be truly field proficient.

Just a thought. I know quite a lot about birds. It took me many years to have a good feeling for about ALL birds in the world: show me a picture of a bird anywhere in the world, and I can ID about 95% of species, even close to 99% if I know in what location the picture was taken.

But show me a picture of a mushroom, a moth, a beetle or a fly close to home, and I am quite lost! Thanks to my observation ID app, I get in most cases at least a direction of what species is most likely, and if I have a clear picture, the app can sometimes ID it with 100% certainty (which ofcourse is not 100% correct all the time).

Anyways, I am starting to notice (and input) many more species groups now than before, when I entered birds, birds, birds and the occasional mammal, snake or other reptile. So I feel it's a good development. It not only gets more people into birding, it also gets people who don't know about certain species groups more interested in those groups. You cannot be a specialist in all species groups all over the world, so it really helps to get more knowledge even for the more 'advanced' naturalists.

You can be nostalgic about the good old days where you went out in nature with a backpack full of field guides, an old porro binocular and no online world to share all the beauty except for your notebook and maybe some companions, but I feel there isn't too much of a good reason to look down on technological advancements that enables us to know more about the natural world. Ofcourse you see an increase of badly ID'd species on the internet because people rely on apps too much, but if the app wouldn't be there, many of those people wouldn't show interest as a start, and thus not share anything at all.
 
Just a thought. I know quite a lot about birds. It took me many years to have a good feeling for about ALL birds in the world: show me a picture of a bird anywhere in the world, and I can ID about 95% of species, even close to 99% if I know in what location the picture was taken.

But show me a picture of a mushroom, a moth, a beetle or a fly close to home, and I am quite lost! Thanks to my observation ID app, I get in most cases at least a direction of what species is most likely, and if I have a clear picture, the app can sometimes ID it with 100% certainty (which ofcourse is not 100% correct all the time).

Anyways, I am starting to notice (and input) many more species groups now than before, when I entered birds, birds, birds and the occasional mammal, snake or other reptile. So I feel it's a good development. It not only gets more people into birding, it also gets people who don't know about certain species groups more interested in those groups. You cannot be a specialist in all species groups all over the world, so it really helps to get more knowledge even for the more 'advanced' naturalists.

You can be nostalgic about the good old days where you went out in nature with a backpack full of field guides, an old porro binocular and no online world to share all the beauty except for your notebook and maybe some companions, but I feel there isn't too much of a good reason to look down on technological advancements that enables us to know more about the natural world. Ofcourse you see an increase of badly ID'd species on the internet because people rely on apps too much, but if the app wouldn't be there, many of those people wouldn't show interest as a start, and thus not share anything at all.
One wonders how mankind will connect with the spirit of nature now if we are to be one step further removed via a technological interface .......... :cat:




Chosun :gh:
 
Hi Temmie,

This is all I could find. It's not coming out until 2020:

https://www.swarovskioptik.com/birding/blog/The_best_of_both_worlds_B
Thanks for the link Gigi :t:

Reading through some of that it's interesting that Swarovski is opening up the platform to third party app developers - very progressive ! :)

I don't think I will p** p** the whole thing as much as Jerry, but it's really not my cup of tea. Even the specialist digital camera manufacturers struggle to come up with lightweight equipment that can keep up with fast moving birds etc in all lighting conditions. I didn't see any specs readily available, but it might perform ok on static subjects in good light similar to the way that current bridge cameras do.

Interesting times :cat:




Chosun :gh:
 
No not my cup of tea either. Soon there will be more passive aggressive birders with the social media connection, arguing about an ID. Social medias new mantra,your facts VS my facts.

Andy W.
 
Clearly 2 sides, and perhaps an entire spectrum of opinions to be had on this topic.

The idea of 'racing on paper' i.e. comparing specs, and arguing over real world performance from a non-participating role has been a part of the discourse on this forum all along. If digitized bird I.D. becomes more common, then folks will be debating the merits of digital I.D. accuracy and speed, in addition to ongoing discussions of FOV, weight, price, resolution, eye relief, etc., whether they've even used specific products or not.

Temmie's well reasoned comments make a great deal of sense to me. We can't be deep experts on all things, and if a resource helps us to understand and appreciate aspects of the natural world we are curious about, then that's a positive.

Of course someone could use such a device in a shallow fashion, and perhaps even be more enamored with the tech than the information it is providing, but that doesn't apply to everyone.

Every summer I go backpacking in the Sierra with a group of artists to paint for about a week. While I'm up there, I also bird, and stargaze. Others are in love with wildflowers, and one of them on the last trip, had a plant ID program she used to learn the names of the flowers she saw, but could not identify. Seemed like a handy tool at the time.

-Bill
 
One wonders how mankind will connect with the spirit of nature now if we are to be one step further removed via a technological interface .......... :cat:




Chosun :gh:

Chosun, What are your thoughts about the Hubble Space Telescope? 8-P
 
..... Soon there will be more passive aggressive birders with the social media connection, arguing about an ID. Social medias new mantra,your facts VS my facts.

Andy W.
Sometime in the last year I saw a well respected current affairs TV program called "The Drum" on Australian ABC TV - hosted and moderated by professional journalists with different wide ranging, usually professional panel members (Phd's, respected journalists/political commentators, CEO's, ex-political 'elders', scientists, doctors, area specialists, advocates, etc, etc)

During one discussion this Gen Y or something pup piped up and dropped the phrase relative truth or personal truth or some such nonsense in relation to facts ....... immediately you could see all the professionals (especially the journalists, lawyers etc) physically sit up eyes wide and say Whoa ! since when did that become a thing ?! Truth /facts are absolute. Only the individual perception of them is open to individual interpretation, not they themselves.

You could see that this young whippersnapper had just had his world turned upside down and shaken to the core.

There are nuggets of quantum mechanics gold to be found in such 'progressive/deluded' (take your pick) ore, but by and large most in the younger generations are clueless as to how to navigate it all, while most older generations are barely aware of its existence, but at least realise that too much unsupported gravity makes them all go splat ! ....... :cat:




Chosun :gh:
 
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