-
Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.
Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
Swarovski dG (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter John A Roberts
- Start date
I agree.
In principle, I hate the intrusion of electronics into my optical binocular world, but I also understand that binocular and scope manufacturers need to find new ways to develop their markets, or they will disappear.
People like me who get wild with excitement just by looking at a Retrovid or by holding a Victory FL in their hands are becoming extinct before long.
Also, having used flora identification software like PlantNet on my smartphone has allowed me to grow my very limited plant knowledge in a way that I did not anticipate.
So let's see how this goes (if Swaro isn't doing something like this, someone else probably will).
Canip
Paskman
Well-known member
Surely anything that makes life easier for new birders has to be welcomed. I also suspect that it is just the beginning of the use of technology that will soon revolutionise wildlife watching. The young generation of today are brought up on this type of technology, not books and old fashioned optics. To keep fresh blood coming in the optics industry head to adapt. Ironically I think that these are also targeted at the same wealthy market as the Retrovids. It will be cool to be seen with one and it will give you instant knowledge and hence credibility.
Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk
The amount of wildlife to see will diminish.
We had one tree blow down last week, and the very local bird numbers are probably down 70%.
There is one evergreen tree about 20 metres away, so they may have gone there, but it might have been a full house already.
The neighbour's car insurance is trying to decide whether it was a divine event or caused by humans.
The remains of the tree were cut up this morning.
The snapped off trunk was 16 inches diameter, but there seems to be a double trunk involved, with both parts breaking.
My friend is a glow worm specialist and it seems that light pollution has diminished these and also the numbers of moths.
B.
We had one tree blow down last week, and the very local bird numbers are probably down 70%.
There is one evergreen tree about 20 metres away, so they may have gone there, but it might have been a full house already.
The neighbour's car insurance is trying to decide whether it was a divine event or caused by humans.
The remains of the tree were cut up this morning.
The snapped off trunk was 16 inches diameter, but there seems to be a double trunk involved, with both parts breaking.
My friend is a glow worm specialist and it seems that light pollution has diminished these and also the numbers of moths.
B.
jan van daalen
Well-known member
I don't think it is right to profile the potential users as seen in the above posts.
Remember the days when it looked odd to see someone talking in public to his phone?
Now it looks odd if YOU don't talk/look at your phone while walking.
Remember the days (and the tightened atmosphere) where your "co-pilot" carried a thick city map to help you navigate through that city?
Now your phone does that job.
Remember the days that you brought your photo film to the shop and had to wait wether your pics were satisfying?
Now your phone does that job.
The future is digital.
A few months ago I came back from Namibia and looked at the waterholes in Etosha Park what kind of equipment the tourists used. 80% looked at their phonescreen pointed at the waterholes/wildlife. The 50+ age carried Swarovski and the other 10% carried El Cheapo 2.0 bins.
The future customer is so grownup with looking at screens/displays.....it is like breathing for them. Just normal behavior.
Again, what Swarovski does now is just the start of what's coming next. And the nice thing is.......you don't have to join, but don't label the users.
The best example I've witnessed regarding technical changings was a computer course where the instructor demonstrated the "find" modus and one of the class mates yelled: "Find modus, did you loose something? HA HA HA".
Can we now imagine a life without computers?
Jan
Remember the days when it looked odd to see someone talking in public to his phone?
Now it looks odd if YOU don't talk/look at your phone while walking.
Remember the days (and the tightened atmosphere) where your "co-pilot" carried a thick city map to help you navigate through that city?
Now your phone does that job.
Remember the days that you brought your photo film to the shop and had to wait wether your pics were satisfying?
Now your phone does that job.
The future is digital.
A few months ago I came back from Namibia and looked at the waterholes in Etosha Park what kind of equipment the tourists used. 80% looked at their phonescreen pointed at the waterholes/wildlife. The 50+ age carried Swarovski and the other 10% carried El Cheapo 2.0 bins.
The future customer is so grownup with looking at screens/displays.....it is like breathing for them. Just normal behavior.
Again, what Swarovski does now is just the start of what's coming next. And the nice thing is.......you don't have to join, but don't label the users.
The best example I've witnessed regarding technical changings was a computer course where the instructor demonstrated the "find" modus and one of the class mates yelled: "Find modus, did you loose something? HA HA HA".
Can we now imagine a life without computers?
Jan
Last edited:
dwatsonbirder
Well-known member
I'm afraid I strongly disagree. The person with hammered bins, muddy boots and a leaky raincoat will always have more credibility - they have spent years in the field accumulating knowledge and experience, not downloading it onto some app for instant gratification. There is no skill or craft and therefore should be no credibility. However, I guess at 32 I am a bit old to fall within their target market, quite happy to stick with my moleskine notebook and Zeiss bins.
I can see the merit for use at a bird feeder on a reserve to encourage very young people to the natural world, however the price (and build?) are probably too prohibitive for this use.
tenex
reality-based
Does this device at least give you an optical view when you aren't pressing the digibutton, or are you staring at an LED screen all the time instead, like the kids with their phones in the photo? (Presumably they would stop in their tracks if no one was watching them over the Internet, like Mommy. This is why we have to have thousands of satellites polluting the night sky?) Curious that the webpage doesn't bother to explain this.
I don't want one. I really don't. Really. But... I think Lee is onto the one situation where I might be willing to try it, going to another continent facing an entirely new suite of birds. Except I would consider it a way of learning those I actually see more quickly, without having to study them all in advance. And if successful, future models will no doubt become more affordable.
Edit: No, having thought about it, the dG would be more appealing as a binocular itself than a monocular, and in any case I'd really rather be carrying a proper camera for ID (and other) photos, and a proper bino, than this cute gadget.
Last edited:
Torchepot
Well-known member
Having just looked at the Huawei p30 pro with a remarkable zoom - it occurs to me if someone really wanted to go down this route why use two devices - cut out the middle man and just go birding with the smart phone!
I would have been more interested in a Swaro version of the Canon stabilised binoculars.
I would have been more interested in a Swaro version of the Canon stabilised binoculars.
PYRTLE
Old Berkshire Boy
As an old timer, the attraction, fun and ecstasy came from studying books, searching looking and listening and then identifying a new species - both at home and abroad. As did disappointment, subsequent knowledge and social gathering.
I'm ecstatic that I will never own or use such a thing in my lifetime but go the way of the old fashioned birders.... field guides and bins. I will remember names such as Peter Scott, Tony Soper, John Gooders and many others I have met or listened to but never the latest Gizmo 2020 or the owners using the latest version.
I'm ecstatic that I will never own or use such a thing in my lifetime but go the way of the old fashioned birders.... field guides and bins. I will remember names such as Peter Scott, Tony Soper, John Gooders and many others I have met or listened to but never the latest Gizmo 2020 or the owners using the latest version.
MandoBear
Well-known member
The thing with "connected" products like these, is that, in a few years' time, the technology will have moved on, the website/servers will no longer be maintained, or the communications protocols will have changed and this will become a "legacy" product that is no longer supported. Sorry, but I'm not about to shell out that kind of money on a product that is likely to become a "paperweight" in ten years' time. My Swaro SV's and Nikon EIIs will keep on truckin'. All they need is a decent field guide or two as a "user upgrade"!
Rotherbirder
Well-known member
I echo the opinions of (most) others in this thread I'm afraid. For me - a staunch Swaro adherent - its a total non-starter! I would never be even tempted to look through one, let alone buy one! An expensive, frivolous toy, not really associated with birding per se, that will quickly become obsolete a la Remembird.
RB
RB
It is an 8x25 monocular with a 13MP camera that can wifi video or stills to your phone. They are selling it via the identification route but that is all via a third party app. If they sold it as the monocular/camera hybrid that it actually is they would people be throwing their hands in the air decrying the end of birding as we know it?
There are plenty of cameras out there that will wifi your photos to your phone, they have been around for years as has the Merlin app, but folk haven't got that upset about it.
There are plenty of cameras out there that will wifi your photos to your phone, they have been around for years as has the Merlin app, but folk haven't got that upset about it.
Perhaps the 'identification route' is being used because the product isn't particularly ground-breaking without it. Or at least that is perhaps why attention is focused on the identification angle.
And I keep remembering Zeiss's Photoscope with a built-in camera that was obsolete soon after it went on sale.
I am sure useful and affordable digital enhancements are coming but I am not convinced this is it.
Lee
Paskman
Well-known member
The credibility isn't amongst the experienced birders, but those with no birding knowledge.
Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk
Steve O4B
Optics4Birding.com
The Swarovski dG digital Guide is now available for pre-order, shipping in April. Description, images, video, and specs are now published on https://www.optics4birding.com/swarovski-dg.html
I got it to run on the iPhone, but the available selection of birds appears somewhat limited.
I downloaded the area of Western Europe, but few of the large birds of prey I recently spotted in the Swiss mountains are included, e.g. the red kite is there, but not the black kite. The ultra large birds of prey (e.g., golden eagle „Steinadler“ or bearded vulture „Bartgeier“) seem to be missing entirely.
I also have the Collins Bird Guide on iPhone, which features all these species.
But maybe I first have to learn how to properly operate the Merlin app?
EDIT: I have to correct myself, the bearded vulture IS included. You only find it if you search by the proper location where you can actually spot the bird, in my first search the app picked my current location (North Switzerland) where there are no vultures.
Last edited:
