Interesting new camera, possibly of interest for birdwatchers (1 Viewer)

[pshute]

Thinking more about this device, while it might not be a particularly good camera or monocular, it's an interesting change in form factor that could be useful.

Pocket sized long zoom cameras achieve their size by extending the lens when turned on, which is a nuisance and makes them vulnerable to lens barrel damage. This device is the save thing, but turned sideways so that the lens can be long, but fully internal. If they added some normal camera controls on the side, it could potentially work quite well.

 

[fazalmajid]

The photographer, my wife, got a EF 100-400 IS II USM for Christmas and it is wonderful

Yes, and Canon now has a inexpensive 600/11 and 800/11 lenses for RF mirrorless cameras. I myself favor the Nikon 500/5.6 PF.

 

[DRodrigues]

How compares the image quality of the viewfinder to the view of the ocular image of a binocular/monocular?

 

[buck mulligan]

Hi David

I think of it as a camera
as you are looking through a (small) viewfinder and what you see like the rest of it ; small


Its so small that you can always have with you

hope this helps

BM

 

[fazalmajid]

Nowhere near as good. Resolution is actually OK (XGA 1024x768, which we considered great in the 90s), but the AFOV is abysmal at around 23º by my calculations.

If I want to observe with a minimum size package, the Nikon 7x15M CF reverse porro binoculars are tiny but have a surprisingly expansive AFOV of 46º. Not NL Pure or even MHG caliber, but usable.

 

[DRodrigues]

Thank you both.
I can forget it...

 

[lmans66]

So more a travel camera or Bird ID'er than much else. But a good price. I imagine at 400 and being a mono and pretty small, it is hard to prevent shaking? jim

 

[fazalmajid]

The image stabilization is actually quite effective.

 

[LittleGreyCat]

Interesting.
Not a straight swap for a decent quality monocular, then, if you want to mainly look at stuff and a few times take a photo.

 

[fazalmajid]

No indeed, but it's unrealistic to expect something like that at this price. A 1" sensor, a proper 2–4 MP EVF and decent optics (both for the objective and the EVF) would push this into at least $1000–2000 territory, and it's a fairly niche market. I'm not even sure the technology to miniaturize this to a size smaller than a Coke can exists yet, just look at the Swarovski dG.

 

[buck mulligan]

Of course it is a compromise, cf Fazal

BUT I have got used to having it very quickly

Usage :

mine has stopped charging

It works fine from an external Anker charger but that rather defeats the purpose
Canon France have promised me a repair / replacement in 5 working days but

if I had had it with me yesterday I would of taken a photo of a Sprawk / Gos taking a Garganey (Spatula querquedula ) on the flood meadows in Angers


By the time I had set up my digiscope...



hth

Have fun and stay safe

 

[LittleGreyCat]

By the time I had set up my digiscope...

That perfectly sums up the problem that I am trying to solve.

 

[buck mulligan]

Update

I got my Powershot back from Canon in 4 working days and they said they could find no problem with the camera
And as it now works fine....
With the same cable / charger that I tried before
ho hum

stay safe​

 

[fazalmajid]

USB-C charging is a very complicated spec, with lots of things that can go wrong in the device or even the cable. Charging cables have to have e-markers, i.e. an actual microprocessor on both ends of the cable, and most cables are non-compliant in one way or another.

 

[buck mulligan]

well the good news is that since it came back I have charged it several times without any problem

another advantage of the Powershot is being so small it is easier to use in windy conditions