Canon Powershot Zoom monocular (1 Viewer)

[pshute]

This was discussed recently in the Cameras and Photography forum: https://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?p=4076263

I thought people here might also be interested, given that it's marketed as a monocular, not a camera.

 

[fazalmajid]

I received mine, here's a quick review with samples:

Canon Powershot Zoom review · Fazal Majid's low-intensity blog

blog.majid.info

It doesn't include a lens cap, so I designed and 3D-printed one (links to the model in the review).

 

[[email protected]]

I received mine, here's a quick review with samples:

Canon Powershot Zoom review · Fazal Majid's low-intensity blog

blog.majid.info

It doesn't include a lens cap, so I designed and 3D-printed one (links to the model in the review).

You didn't sound too excited about it in your review. Is it worth the money?

 

[pshute]

I received mine, here's a quick review with samples:

Canon Powershot Zoom review · Fazal Majid's low-intensity blog

blog.majid.info

It doesn't include a lens cap, so I designed and 3D-printed one (links to the model in the review).

How would you rate the amount of detail you can see and use for id compared to your binoculars? Ie is it worth carrying around for id when you can't carry binoculars?

The sample shots look ok for id, but I don't know how far away they were taken from.

How did you find the AF? It doesn't let you focus manually, does it? Does that matter in practice?

In your review, you said "...and a 800mm-e digital zoom setting that is best ignored". Does that mean you saw no increase in detail at that zoom level? If the sensor resolution is higher than the viewfinder resolution then I would have thought you should. It's just cropping, isn't it, not really doing a digital zoom.

 

[fazalmajid]

Dennis, It depends what your purpose is. It’s great for recording bird sightings or when you are not sure of the identification. The so-so image quality means it’s not a replacement for a proper camera with telephoto lens. It’s a little bit like my smartphone, I only use it to capture price tags or flyers in stores, or scan documents I don’t need to archive permanently, but for any serious photography I have a Ricoh GRIII in my jacket pocket or a Nikon in my backpack.

AF is good for the most part, but BIF are hit-or-miss (it’s got center-point AF and eye-detection but I haven’t tried the latter). The digital zoom will fill the EVF frame, but it’s not an immersive experience and I don’t plan on replacing my Zeiss Victory Pocket 8x25 as my EDC binoculars. In this respetc it’s like the Swarovski dG, without the Merlin integration, and from the samples I’ve seen image quality is similar.

The bird shots were about 30m away for the magpie and about 15 for the pigeons.

 

[pshute]

How does the size compare to your optical monoculars? It looks bigger, but perhaps a little thinner.

 

[fazalmajid]

It’s definitely larger in all dimensions.