Swarovski dG (1 Viewer)

[Rotherbirder]

Thanks John. Not a really an 'in depth' review but the best available to date and enough to confirm that the first iteration won't be of great use to experienced birders - except perhaps those with money to burn! Some of the criticisms (lack of shutter speed readout & general slowness and apparent 'awkwardness' of operation) suggest that it's main intended use - achieving an accurate identification - will be very difficult given that birds move, as highlighted by the reviewer. Still doesn't tempt me to even consider looking at it, even out of interest.

RB

 

[jan van daalen]

Thanks John. Not a really an 'in depth' review but the best available to date and enough to confirm that the first iteration won't be of great use to experienced birders - except perhaps those with money to burn! Some of the criticisms (lack of shutter speed readout & general slowness and apparent 'awkwardness' of operation) suggest that it's main intended use - achieving an accurate identification - will be very difficult given that birds move, as highlighted by the reviewer. Still doesn't tempt me to even consider looking at it, even out of interest.

RB

Not quite right. We had professional birders with us with ATX and every identification in our group was confirmed by them as correct.

Jan

 

[Steve O4B]

Well here’s an ‘in-depth review’ of a production unit at: https://www.leanderkhil.com/2020/02/17/in-depth-review-swarovski-optik-dg-digital-guide/
...
It makes the point that the 8x25 optics are from the CL (though obviously the Pocket version - not the Compact as the author indicates)


John

John,


The CL Pocket binoculars are compact binoculars, usually defined as those with 20mm to 25mm objectives. To me, what makes a compact binocular a pocket binocular is a hinge arrangement like a double hinge on the CL Pockets or the asymmetric hinge on the Zeiss Victory compacts that let the binocular get small enough to fit in a pocket. Center hinge pockets are usually too large to do that.

 

[Steve O4B]

I got my first look at the dG yesterday at the San Diego Bird Festival.



One of my concerns was that the dG would not have advantages over a camera connected to a smart phone by Bluetooth or WiFi, but it does. The main advantage is speed. When the dG is on, it automatically connects to your smart phone (once initial setup is complete) and the dG has its own menu choice in the Merlin app so you don't need to go through a half-dozen or more extra clicks to get to the ID.



I did find out that the Austrians exaggerated the magnification of the camera. It is 8x, not 10x, so equal to the monocular and equivalent to a 400mm lens, not a 500mm.

The ability to share streaming video is another plus. Imagine being able to show 5 other birders where to look in the tree to find the target bird in real time. That is certainly an advantage for a trip leader.



Once more apps come out for leps, odes, herps, and mammals, it will have a much wider appeal as a learning/teaching device.

 

[Rotherbirder]

Not quite right. We had professional birders with us with ATX and every identification in our group was confirmed by them as correct.

Jan

That may be OK for 'easy' species Jan (video examples I've seen include Mute Swan & drake Red-breasted Merganser!) but what about something a little more difficult, not seen side-on or for a split second when only 'jizz' and a birder's experience will help? Can you give any examples where it has pulled out something more challenging in less than ideal conditions? The dG will never be able to assess the jizz of a bird to make an identification - not for the foreseeable future at any rate I'll wager. Only then will it be a serious birding tool and that's when the skill and enjoyment of birding as we currently know it will disappear.

RB

 

[jan van daalen]

That may be OK for 'easy' species Jan (video examples I've seen include Mute Swan & drake Red-breasted Merganser!) but what about something a little more difficult, not seen side-on or for a split second when only 'jizz' and a birder's experience will help? Can you give any examples where it has pulled out something more challenging in less than ideal conditions? The dG will never be able to assess the jizz of a bird to make an identification - not for the foreseeable future at any rate I'll wager. Only then will it be a serious birding tool and that's when the skill and enjoyment of birding as we currently know it will disappear.

RB

Sorry mate, don't ask me for names but I can give you some examples.
A far black dot in the sunny blue sky.
In the top of a tree, behind branches a small bird.
A UFO (for me most birds are ufo's:-C:-C) we disturbed and flew away from us.
For me it is a serious birding tool, but I am everything but a birder.

Jan

 

[fazalmajid]

The photos have a remarkable amount of blooming (purple fringing) in high-contrast areas, like small-sensor digicams 15 years ago. That’s disappointing.

 

[Canip]

I have been reviewing Swarovski‘s „digital Guide“ for a few days and have written down my initial impressions here:

https://www.juelich-bonn.com/jForum/read.php?9,447152

posts # 1 and 2 (in German).

If anybody is interested , I am happy to write a summary in English.

Canip

 

[John A Roberts]

For a quick and useable translation of Canip's post on the Juelich site:
a) copy the link that Canip has provided

b) open Google Translate

c) paste the link into the left side GT panel (and ensure that the selected language is German)

d) ensure that language set in the right side panel is English (or whatever you prefer), and click on the highlighted address in the right panel


John

 

[Canip]

:t: (but I think it depends on your computer setup whether the method described by John will work, it doesn‘t work on mine)

 

[Troubador]

This worked fine for me and is how I have used Google Translate for similar material for years. The only thing to remark on is that GT only accepts a certain quantity of words at one time, so I had to load Canip's review into GT in 3 amounts.

That was a great review Canip, thank you. My feeling is that experienced observers will not need it and many beginners will find it too expensive especially if they would like to buy a good quality pair of binoculars at the same time. However for teaching and possibly even for some research and protection projects it could be very useful.

Lee

 

[Canip]

Lee,
Maybe I read John‘s post too literally.
Of course, if you insert the review text (and not just the posted link itself) into GT, that will work fine.

 

[Troubador]

Lee,
Maybe I read John‘s post too literally.
Of course, if you insert the review text (and not just the posted link itself) into GT, that will work fine.

OK. This I can understand, I am very literal-minded too and Troubadoris does not always welcome this :eek!:.

Lee

 

[John A Roberts]

Hi Canip and Lee,

As I indicated, I do paste the URL/ the web address into GT to get a translation

I'm using a Mac along with the Safari browser . . . so maybe this makes a difference?


John

 

[Troubador]

I never even noticed the remark about the link. My bad. However the version of Google Translate I get via Windows/Firefox allows the insertion of the text or the selection of a document from your files. Pasting the link instead of text only gets the link repeated on the other side of the screen as if it is a translation.

Copying and pasting the text isn't too much trouble.

Lee

 

[tenex]

If anyone is interested, here's a javascript "bookmarklet" for Firefox. Right-click this and choose "Bookmark this link". Then just click on that bookmark in Firefox to translate any displayed web page into English without extra work.

{Translate}

 

[moyang_mm]

Separately, I don't understand why this is not integrated into a binocular, which would be much more comfortable to use and whose frame is inherently more accommodating to the extra electronics required.

The camera module in dG is separate from the monocular; their optical paths are completely separate. It's a bit like rangefinder cameras, the viewfinder and camera lenses use different paths. Integrating a camera into a binocular would significantly increase the size and weight, since you are adding another group of glasses, for a total of three.

 

[John A Roberts]

Spotted - an actual live dG!

Some regular production dG’s were shipped before Swarovski’s shutdown commenced
(until now I’ve been uncertain as all the listings that I’ve seen use the same stock images, and some of the solely on-line retailers have appalling feedback ratings)

There’s a listing on an Austrian sales site that shows photos of both a unit and the box label with the serial number
at: https://www.waffengebraucht.at/optik/feldstecher/swarovski-dg-sofort-verfuegbar--179526

The serial number R9005 50332 indicates that it’s:
- as expected 2020 production (add 1930 to the first 2 digits)
- from February (05 being the 5th week of the year)
- numbered 332 (the unit numbering sequence having started from 5000)

And production may recommence in a a relatively short time as Austria is currently in the process of easing restrictions


John

 

[Canip]

Thank you, Robert.

By the way: I have written down my personal conclusion about the dG here:

https://www.juelich-bonn.com/jForum/read.php?9,447152,447226#msg-447226

In short:
I consider the dG useful in the context of teaching and education in the format of group birding; for me as an individual birder, the disadvantages (only monocular, modest field of view, slow camera) clearly outweigh the advantages (integrated solution, digital connection to smartphone), so I will continue taking along both a good binocular and a faster camera (the Merlin bird identification app works even better with my Nikon photos).

Canip

 

[John A Roberts]

Hi Canip,

Somehow I skipped over your earlier post (#88) advising that you had reviewed the dG on the Juelich website
I was to eager to read it as so far there has been little detailed analysis posted

I used Google Translate to get an English version - and to save others the trouble of doing the same - I’ve taken the liberty of posting the English version below

The most convenient way that I could come up with was by taking a series of screen shots
So below is:
- Part 1 in 4 clips
- then the 3 images that go with Part 1, and
- Part 2

. . . as usual, good info and analysis from Canip!


John