Digital Camera Binoculars are a great concept, combining binoculars with a digital camera to record the images seen, what a great idea for nature lovers, particularly the birding fraternity, imagine being able to take some pictures or video clips of what you’re enjoying at the moment to enjoy again later. So what is really to these types of binoculars and how are they performing?

They are produced by several well known brands, Bushnell have their Imageview range, Celestron their Vistapix range, the Captureview comes from Meade and another of the same name from Simmons, and brands like Barska and Vivitar are also represented in the field of digital camera binoculars.

Generally speaking they are available in the smaller apertures from 21mm to 32mm, probably in order to keep the weight and therefore the image shake at acceptable levels.

I guess when you have to allow for the weight of the electronics and batteries you start to push the envelope on how much weight can be allowed for the optics while making the overall unit light enough to use comfortably.

But there is the catch in the concept. Limiting the aperture and therefore the amount of light to these low resolution CCD chips is not exactly going to help you catch a good image. In fact quite the opposite. This has not gone unnoticed by consumers who time and again report the optical quality of the binoculars to be fine but the picture and video capture to be poor.

The general opinion seems to be that the concept is perhaps a little bit ahead of its time and future developments will be more promising. Personally I prefer pics taken through a spotting scope any day, they are more built for the job and their large apertures allow plenty of light to make its way to your digital camera coupled to the business end.

Overall opinion - a nice concept which needs more work!

Aidan James writes for BinocularChoice.com, a free site helping folk understand binoculars and spot the bargains. He also writes at TelescopeChoice.com which does a similar job for folks looking to buy telescopes. Go grab the Bargains!