Meade CaptureView Generation II (8x42) Binocular

Pros: A great second generation camera/binocular combo that meets my expectations.
Cons: Could use stabilization for camera alone or both bino/camera. Also, better battery holder.

The optics of the binoculars are superb (what else would you expect from Meade?). The overall feel of the binoculars is heavy, but not too heavy. In other words, it is built like you would want your car built--like a tank. This is a very easy devise ...

Pros: The binoculars and camera match or exceed any competitive product.
Cons: Battery cap is flawed and will break.

Binocular quality is excellent. Camera resolution is excellent. Camera was not intuitive and instruction manual was weak. Batteries are held in place with a cheap plastic part that is pressed in on both sides to remove batteries. When I first saw the part I though it looked weak and would break. The part broke the second time I tried to remove batteries. I believe this part is flawed and I returned the device due to this flaw. Part needs to be re-engineered.

Pros: True 2 MP sensor. Capable of some good shots. Excellent PC I/O
Cons: Poor light handling. Very sensitive to shake. Not stable.

This second generation integrated binocular digital camera does make some firsts: It is a true 2 megapixel camera which can interpolate up to 3 megapixels. Now there's enough resolution to see something and have enough pixels to work with in a photo editor. If you are running XP on your PC, it is a pleasure to work with this camera. In some respects, it's better than the Olympus, Canon and Panasonic digitals I have.

What's unfortunate is that's it's not a great camera for taking pictures. It has a lot of trouble with glare and other lighting imperfections. Much more than any of my other cameras. And then there's the problem of camera shake they warn about in the very terse manual. Even slight shaking results in warped images, not blurred as you expect, but it's as if it transfers the digital image so slowly, parts of it have moved before it's done.

And it's not stable. Without expensive lithium AA batteries, it will just shut off for no reason though it shows full battery state with good photo AA.

Pros: It looks interesting. Acceptable optics.
Cons: Cheap Quality, Impossible to Hold Steady.

Don't waste your money, buy a digital SLR camera or a zoom lens point and shoot instead. Although it might look cool, the casing is cheap plastic. The battery door pops off and on, and the LCD screen is flimsy.The whole thing is entirely too bulky and heavy. The distance between the lenses is ridiculously wide unless your a mongoloid. The controls are hard to reach while trying to steady the binoculars. I am a semi-professional photographer and could not stabilze the camera in good lighting well enough for the camera to take a close up of birds. This is seriously a bad product.

Pros: WHY in God's name they didn't put in a tripod mounting hole!
Cons: I figured almost everthing out without reading the manual

Views are crisp and sharp,edges are soft,but overall ,Great views! Both in daytime and nightime views. The digital capture device and images are Remarkable! Picture quality is TOP-NOTCH! Views at night with a full moon were as follows, M13,M92,M15,M31 ANDROMEDA GALAXY and M27,not bad for night time viewing of deep space objects. Overall test results = REMARKABLE ,SEEING IS BELIEVING. A WINNER!!!