Question Need Binocular camera help (1 Viewer)

Greetings! Apologies for the cross post. Didn't see this one.

I'm a newbie to this sort of specialized equipment. I'm looking for binoculars that double as a camera.

I know they're out there, but what I'm looking for is one that photographs...

Hi R. and welcome.

There have been quite a few binoculars with a camera or a camera with binoculars over many years.
From 110 film size or even earlier to digital.

So far as I know, none have been very successful.
Perhaps someone knows of a useful one.

In my opinion it is much better to have a binocular and a separate camera.
I use a variety of binoculars plus a 2007 Canon A720IS, G15 or Canon SX730 HS 40x optical zoom camera.
The Canon A720IS gives about as much detail as a 10x binocular and has an optical viewfinder and is very fast to get a picture.

A more adventurous camera would be a bridge camera but these are larger.

Regards,
B.

Rickenbacker said:

Greetings! Apologies for the cross post. Didn't see this one.

I'm a newbie to this sort of specialized equipment. I'm looking for binoculars that double as a camera.

I know they're out there, but what I'm looking for is one that photographs...

Click to expand...

Hi Rickenbacker,

You may note that a binocular with a camera built-in will usually cost less than a cheap bino and cheap camera sold separately. There's a reason for that.

Rickenbacker or Schecter ... your choice. :cat:

Bill

Hi Rickenbacker,

As Binastro indicates in post #2, the history of combined binoculars and cameras is not a happy one
While seemingly an attractive combination of technology, it invariably results in both a mediocre binocular and a mediocre camera in a clumsy package
Gijs van Ginkel has illustrated various attempts. See pages 35 through 51 of ‘Multi-functional binoculars and telescopes in the past four centuries: a global overview’
at: https://www.houseofoutdoor.com/verrekijkers/verrekijkers-testen-en-vergelijken/


Some current options are:
A) Smart phone attached to a binocular
The modern equivalent of the combined binocular/camera. It’s workable but clumsy for hand held use e.g. see: https://www.bestbinocularsreviews.com/blog/snapzoom-universal-digiscoping-adapter-review-07/
And you just don't see a lot of good bird images taken with this combination while hand held


B) Smart phone attached to a binocular or telescope, on a tripod
Good images are possible but with nothing like spontaneous use as you move about
For some tips and inspirational images using telescopes see: https://www.audubon.org/magazine/may-june-2016/how-photograph-birds-smartphone
And there’s a whole digiscoping forum to explore on this site at: https://www.birdforum.net/forumdisplay.php?f=243


C) Dedicated camera
The best results, most easily attained, with a wide variety of choices - see Binastro’s comments above
Though of course ‘easily’ is a very slippery term when it comes to taking good shots of birds in the wild!
And there’s also a seperate camera forum to explore at: https://www.birdforum.net/forumdisplay.php?f=111


John