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I called Bushnell & was told that there were no available updates. The drivers provided on the CD would not work with any of these. So unless you have a very old computer, I wouldn't buy this model. The binoculars worked fine, but I have no idea how the cameral worked. We have 3 computers (laptops) with 3 different operating systems - windows 2000, vista & windows 7.
There is absolutely NO DOCUMENTATION on how to get the pictures off the camera so I opened Photoshop and used import and sure enough Bushnell was there. Once transferred, I checked image size and it was 640x480 at 1mp per inch, so scenery is visible but I have my doubts as to small animals etc.Another thing that irritated me was that I couldn't get the 2 sides of the binoculars close enough together to get a good view, in other words I had to look through 1 lens at a time. Excellent idea but Bushnell really fell down on the job with this one. I clicked on it and the Bushnell software came up but it's a "by guess and by gosh" process to figure out how to transfer the pictures from the camera into Photoshop. I've never had that problem with a pair of binoculars before.Bushnell has always been a good name but they sure couldn't prove it with this product.Buyer BEWARE. My fiance bought this used for $10.00 and now I'm glad she didn't pay anymore for them.It's my job to figure out any new gadgets she gets so I went to Bushnell's site first and after some browsing, I found the binoculars and there was a manual available in PDF (it shows the camera functions only) but no drivers to be found. Luckily the disc she got with the purchase worked.She has Photoshop already so all I installed were the drivers from the CD onto her XP Pro computer.
Do not waste your money on this or any other Bushnell product, customer support is non-existent. Now I am stuck with a product that is useless to me. 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.
Along comes the Bushnell 10 x 25 VGA Digital Camera Binocular. The original software installed readily in my PC with Win XP Pro and those original software drivers work just fine. 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. Even with manual adjustments, you simply cannot correct them like a normal digicam shot. Does your digicam give you 10x optical magnification.
Maybe Bushnell will come up with a VR feature in the future. 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. But the spotting scope isn't nearly as portable.
This binocu-camera combo does a reasonable job. Do your binoculars store the images you are viewing. For the price, it's just fine. Colors are not true unfortunately. Are these National Geographic images suitable for framing. No way.
Don't expect mind-blowing images folks. and import the images after doing the transfer with no difficulty.
It does NOT come with VR (vibration reduction). 3.5-4.0 stars (good to very-good)
And don't forget to use a monopod to steady the device. Likely the answer is no to both questions.
It's just a great little device for carrying in your backpack or pocket. Detailed editing proceeds normally.
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. When it asks about the editing program, I simply asked it to use my Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0.
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. 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. These binoculars are good, but they do have their limitations.1. 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 wonder if this is because I was using an SD card. With the extra equipment between the two eye pieces, I couldn't look through both lenses at the same time. I felt that they also drained the batteries quite heavily.The binoculars themselves are good enough.
The on-screen menu also allows you to go through your pictures to preview and delete if you wish. I was also able to turn off the beeps that some have mentioned.
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. I was able to do this.
The camera DOES NOT adjust focus with the binoculars. 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 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. 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.
the binoculars wouldn't close in narrow enough for my skinny nose.3.
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