Our review:Item Description:A good binocular can enhance your view; Image View binoculars will do the same for your memories. Bushnell Performance Optics has combined the high magnification and powerful performance of a Bushnell binocular with the advanced technical wizardry of a compact digital camera, giving you the option to capture and save any sight you experience. The Image View is ideal for sports fans, outdoor enthusiasts, adventure travelers, anyone with a desire to view and record whatever experiences come their way. Why settle for magnifying life when you can remember it for all time?
Amazon.com Review:Combining a pair of binoculars with a digital camera is a brilliant idea with endless possibilities, with useful applications from birdwatchers documenting their greatest 'catches' to parents zooming in on their kids on the playing field. Unfortunately, Bushnell’s Imageview digital binoculars, which integrate digital imaging into a pair of 10x25 binoculars, may be ahead of their time.
The image quality of the binoculars isn’t a problem, as they employ clear optics that allow for sharp focusing at the fixed 10x zoom level. Build quality also is good, with thick rubber coating on the sides to ensure a good grip and fold-down rubber eyecups to accommodate eyeglass wearers. The small 25mm objective lenses, however, don’t provide substantial light-gathering but do keep the design as small and light as possible
The built-in camera will be the real problem for most users. It uses a low-resolution CCD that snaps pictures at a fixed resolution of 640 x 480, which is fine for e-mail but not adequate for making prints. To make matters worse, most of the shots we took were grainy, with lots of compression artifacts and subpar color.
If you can live with those limitations, the camera does have the benefits of ease of use and plenty of image-storaging capacity. With 8 MB of built-in memory, we snapped nearly 150 pictures before connecting the camera to a PC. No image preview is available, but a basic black-and-white LCD display on top of the camera tells you how many pictures you’ve snapped and the selected mode.
With a better digital camera and removable memory slots, this idea of a high-quality camera-binocular hybrid could realize its full potential. However, the image quality compromises imposed by the Imageview will be too much for many to bear, regardless of the low price.
--T. Byrl Baker Pros: - Compact binoculars
- Camera is easy to use and doesn’t require two hands
- Stores nearly 150 pictures in internal memory
Cons: - Low picture quality
- No direct image preview or management
- 25mm objective lens means you need a lot of light to get the most out of the binoculars
Check out these accessories for this item:
click for more
Check out these accessories for this item:
Some related products we found for you:
click for more
Some related products we found for you:
Buyer Testimonials
Average Buyer's Review:
-
No driver or software download available, BEWARE
The driver disk that I have will not work anymore, so I figured that I could download it online. However, it is not available anywhere for download. Now I am stuck with a product that is useless to me. Do not waste your money on this or any other Bushnell product, customer support is non-existent!
Buyer's review: 
-
Basic binocu-camera toy
Does your digicam give you 10x optical magnification? Do your binoculars store the images you are viewing? Likely the answer is no to both questions. Along comes the Bushnell 10 x 25 VGA Digital Camera Binocular. Now it is quite possible to buy a high-power spotting scope and put your camera lens right on the viewfinder and snap the image. I first saw a demo in Costa Rica by a nature guide pointing out a huge iguana sunning on a log 50-60 ft from us. But the spotting scope isn't nearly as portable. This binocu-camera combo does a reasonable job. The original software installed readily in my PC with Win XP Pro and those original software drivers work just fine. When it asks about the editing program, I simply asked it to use my Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0. and import the images after doing the transfer with no difficulty. Detailed editing proceeds normally. Are these National Geographic images suitable for framing? No way! Even with manual adjustments, you simply cannot correct them like a normal digicam shot. Colors are not true unfortunately. It's just a great little device for carrying in your backpack or pocket. For the price, it's just fine. Don't expect mind-blowing images folks. And don't forget to use a monopod to steady the device. It does NOT come with VR (vibration reduction). Telephoto shots are notoriously fuzzy because you simply can't hold the camera & lens that steady without VR built-in or something like a stump, tree, or monopod to make it rock-steady. My Nikon VR telephoto lens does an outstanding job even hand-held so I know that it is feasible with the right equipment. Maybe Bushnell will come up with a VR feature in the future. 3.5-4.0 stars (good to very-good)
Buyer's review: -
A wonderful idea...
These binoculars are good, but they do have their limitations.
1. The camera DOES NOT adjust focus with the binoculars! It has a set focus range of 30 feet, which means that unless you are at least that distance away, your target will not be in focus in the photograph. I found this a particular problem as I wanted to use them for backyard bird spotting/photographing, but a lot of the time the birds were just too close. If they were further away, they were still out of focus because the camera would focus on leaves and trees that were at the 30 feet marker.
2. With the extra equipment between the two eye pieces, I couldn't look through both lenses at the same time... the binoculars wouldn't close in narrow enough for my skinny nose!
3. I felt that they also drained the batteries quite heavily.
The binoculars themselves are good enough. They focus like normal binoculars and I didn't have a problem with them (other than not being able to see through both lenses at the same time!)
The extra buttons and the on-screen menu for the camera were easy to understand. The little preview screen was very useful - I would search for my target through the binoculars, then center it on the screen before I took my picture.
I'm not sure why other people are having trouble previewing their pictures. I was able to do this. I was also able to turn off the beeps that some have mentioned. The on-screen menu also allows you to go through your pictures to preview and delete if you wish. I wonder if this is because I was using an SD card? Perhaps the people having trouble with this were just using the camera memory...
Overall, I would say think very carefully about what you need them for before you go ahead and buy this particular set. I imagine they will suit some purposes well - like racing tracks where your target is over 30 feet away and there is nothing between you and the target for them to focus on - but the fact that you can't adjust the focus on the camera was a huge problem for me.
I'll be happy to answer any questions in the comments.
Buyer's review: -
Not a bad gadget
I would give this 3 and half stars. I received one of these as a free gift, so free is good. I wouldn't advise paying full retail price else you may be disappointed. After reading the horrible reviews, I debated opening the box when it arrived. What I found best for all software which comes in the box, never open the CD! If you have any other OS, other than Win98, then just plug it in to a USB port and the camera memory will appear as a disk drive. You do NOT need and do not want the software which comes in the box. This is true for any digital camera.
As binoculars go, this pair isn't bad. It's small, rubberized, has a focus and rubber eye cups. Chromatic distortion is slight, good sharpness and detail, although there is some fogginess around the outside of the field of view. The built-in camera is a toy by all accounts. Bird watching? I think not. My suggested use is to collect evidence of the neighbor's dog going through your garbage or of a suspicious car parked across the street. It's good for what I use it for.
Buyer's review: -
Really fun to own!
This camera binocular is great! Good magnification, light weight, with fantastically fun software! Comes with everything you need to take, save and edit photos.
Would have given it 5 stars but it is a little hard to hold the camera still while snapping a picture because the button is on top. Same with focusing, a little difficult for the same reason. All in all, it was a great buy, shipped fast to Hawaii, and a welcomed addition to our camera/binocular collection. Can't wait to use it in Yellowstone!