If you’re a big fan of James Bond movies keep reading. Today we
review the Bushnell ImageView, a combination digital camera and binocular
device which seems to have been taken straight out of 007 spy flick. The
neighbors might want to close their blinds right about now.
The Bushnell ImageView is nicely designed with clean lines in a sleek
contemporary shape. The compact sliver body is reinforced with black
rubber handles and controls. A spy would feel aesthetically comfortable
storing it in his Armani suit. The digital camera, mounted in the center
of the unit, has its own lens and works independently of the optics.
The Bushnell ImageView comes with a USB cable for downloading those
top-secret pictures to your computer. Some nice features include the
ability to take 3 continuous shots in a row automatically, a 10 second
timer in case you want to run across a field to be in the shot, the
ability to change the quality of the picture from high to low, and the
ability to record short AVI movies of your neighbors in the shower.
The ImageView’s LCD display tells you how many pictures you’ve
taken, how much AAA battery life you have left, and what mode you are
in.
A trial run with the Bushnell ImageView yielded the following results:
The ImageView works great as a pair of binoculars. This is no surprise
since Bushnell has been making high quality binoculars and telescopes
for years. Although the resolution is only 640x 480, the digital camera
worked reasonably well during daylight, provided you hold the binoculars
very still when snapping a picture. At night though, when spies like
to party, the camera is rendered unusable. Bushnell should make an infared
version of this device for turbo dorks like me.
A CD-Rom with all the software you need to download pictures is included
with the ImageView. This is the one area where Bushnell got too ambitious.
I have a real problem with manufacturers creating their own image manipulation
software because in their rush to get the product to market they often
overlook the usablity of the software. Since most users are accustomed
to using the very well designed Windows XP tools to download and manipulate
their photos, additional software is often unnecessary and becomes a
burden to users when they are forced to use it.
All in all, this product is fun and cool for someone who is looking
for a new toy. It seems as though Bushnell did a great job on what they
know how to do such as the optics and design, but areas which are new
to them such as the digital cameral camera and software could use improvement.
Let’s hope they catch up in those areas before an established
digital camera maker decides to compete in this area.
