Sony digital binocular rumour? (1 Viewer)

[JPAC]

Saw this on the interweb today;

The digital binocular will be able to capture images and video (2D & 3D) and will have a built-in GPS. The rest of the specs are:

EVF
Image stabilization
10x optical zoom
4.2MP sensor
HD video
priced between $1000-$2000

 

[JPAC]

Details
http://www.dpreview.com/news/1108/11081910hdbinoculars.asp

 

[etudiant]

Digital binoculars, did we not have a thread on that some time ago?

Interesting design, there is no direct view, but rather an electronic image, which can be zoomed in or out. So image quality is fixed and limited to what the display can resolve, HD in this case.
The glass could be used as a 0.9x area scan gadget that zooms in up to 20x onto targets of opportunity.
Minute objective lenses, look about 20-25mm, so presumably the sensor will be very light sensitive.
Given that it is an all electronic instrument, the need for two separate lens trains is not clear to me. It is essentially 2 camcorders in one housing.
The focus range is down to an inch, so it should be great for butterfly watching.

 

[birdazzLED]

The new digital night vision binoculars (CCD based) can be used night or day - no camera though, has outputs for recording.

 

[dipped]

Saw these at the birdfair. An interesting development. They wouldn't replace my Bins but for being instantly available to record a bird you're viewing could be useful. It's strange to see a rectangular image of the bird rather than a circle when you pick them up. Autofocus worked well but at high zoom mags possibly struggled on foliage. I only had a brief view. The image seemed rather dim and grainy especially when you expect them to act like bins initially.

No idea what the recordings would look like.

 

[Geoff Brown]

Seen at Birdfair;_
Over priced, over hyped and soon to be over here from November apparently. If you like gloomy poor moving 3d images supposedly in hi def then they will be for you if you have two grand to spare!:-C

 

[typo]

An interview with a Sony guy at the show is near the bottom.
http://www.birdfair.org.uk/birdfair-tv/#all

 

[edwincjones]

the person a few years ago who reportedly spotted the ivory billed woodpecker needed one of there

edj

 

[henry link]

Check the post by "ccs hello" in this thread from Cloudynights.com:

http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/4761814/Main/4756940#Post4761814

I'm not sure why this device is being described as a binocular. It's more accurate to call it a 3D video camera with a stereo electronic viewfinder. The EV has low resolution and a tiny apparent field. Anybody who has looked through a mono version of this kind of viewfinder will know what to expect.

 

[Squonk]

If anyone has not read Holger Merlitz's prediction of our future with digital binoculars, which may be what etudiant alludes to above, it is worth a read:
http://www.holgermerlitz.de/digitalbino.html

I have my doubts, however: not that the image quality will eventually match that of glass (I assume that it will), but rather, I wonder, if the light entering my eyes is not the light reflected off the bird, won't I be nagged by the feeling that I am not actually looking at the bird?!

 

[michael23]

I saw these at the birdfair too. Surprisingly light weight for what looked like a beast. The evf view was a little dark and grainy, although I thought the image was rendered quite smoothly. Af was quite good but did have a little difficulty on foliage at high zoom. There is a manual focus wheel but I say it is in totally the wrong place, it really should be on top near the zoom buttons, I found it awkward in the position it was in. I think 2k is a lot of money for them, and I certainly wouldn't pod out that cash on them. It will be interesting to see the quality of the video produced and how well they sell.

 

[Robert Wallace]

How long before the digital image observed, can be cross-referenced with a built in field guide and the name of the bird species displayed?

 

[seaspirit]

the person a few years ago who reportedly spotted the ivory billed woodpecker needed one of there

edj

Judged by the quaility of the video footage used to "document" the sighting he may have used an early prototype o

Would be interesting to see what video and photo quality is possible. I am not too impressed with some of the electronic viewfinders used in cameras but the image quality of the captured images is a different league .....

Ulli

 

[Hermann]

The thread in the German forum is anything but encouraging:

http://www.juelich-bonn.com/jForum/read.php?9,388176,388176#msg-388176

Hermann