LittleBitOfBreadNoCheese
Well-known member
All bundled in the one app but you'd need a microphone too..
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New AX Visio 10x32 binocular (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter John A Roberts
- Start date
It records video without sound?!
LittleBitOfBreadNoCheese
Well-known member
Well even in the full technical manual I can see no reference to microphone and yes you can record video without sound.
MiddleRiver
Well-known member
Merlin does visual ID from photo and I’ve found it to be quite good actually…
So it sounds like "no" to my question
Edit: but the possibilities are endless. You could be looking thru your binoculars and seeing waypoints of previous sightings! or Live bird news or weather forecasts scrolling by!
I'm not sure any of these features are particularly desirable, but all are possible
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tenex
reality-based
Ah, but we are forced to choose between the available options which at this level are not numerous.
Good thing, and may save having to complain to moderators about your maturity.
It seems some people really don't like complaints at all. That's curious itself.
Crex67
Well-known member
complain what you want, I couldn’t care less…
complaining about a product that isn’t even released….
Now that’s what I call curious… 🤣
dalat
...
I was thinking the same. Integrating sound ID would technically probably not be difficult.
However, it is probably of less value to have sound ID integrated in the binocular. I guess the phone with its touch screen and speaker will always be more convenient than a binocular for looking at sonograms, checking the proposed options and listing to the sounds of those to nail the ID.
However, for image ID I definitely see the advantage of the integration into the bin. Now, when I see a new bird, I need to switch from bin to camera (risking to get neither a good view, nor a usable shot), get a record shot, download the pic to the camera to take a photo from the camera screen, do the Merlin ID. All this can be replaced by a simple push on a button while continuing to observe the bird. Not bad.
My recent Costa Rica trip was the first time I really made use of the Merlin App for sound and photo ID and was pretty impressed. They really helped me to make ID of all the commoner species around easier and certainly accelerated my learning curve.
It's clear these tools are still limited for tricky IDs (bad views, difficult birds), but they are helpful for beginning birders or for birders new to a region (like me in CR).
So for me personally, I could see myself using the Visio when doing a first time trip to a new region, with lots of common and easy to see birds that need ID. In Costa Rica, I took tons of crappy record shots to help me ID all the new birds. The Visio would have made this much easier (if it works as promised). I also took pictures with the ambition to get nice photos. I guess here my camera would still trump the Visio by a lot.
So while I see a use case for my self, would I pay 4000 Euro for that? Certainly not. But among the people going regularly on foreign birding trips, there may be a few interested in this.
While this thing may also be useful for beginner birders., I doubt there will be many interested in this. Most start with cheap binoculars or cameras, and only move to more expensive gear once they already know all the common birds (for which the ID feature works).
So for this to get interesting for myself, it will need to be cheaper, IS integrated, and the camera quality needs to get close to what a Superzoom of MFT camera can do (so I can leave this behind). Maybe in 2-3 generations, it will be there.
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Yeah
To be honest, I go on overseas trips, don't often use a guide unless for access or safety reasons. I see many species, no doubt miss many species.
I think it is this obsession with seeing everything possible that we perhaps need to get beyond. But that's always been my approach, and I'm presumably not typical.
I'm sure there will be a day when you won't be able to buy binoculars without the smart feature, and yes the price will have dropped significantly!
MiddleRiver
Well-known member
This is step 2 (?) in what is inevitable... It will get better.
Birding is about leaving the house as a step to watch/find/discover birds. Or not?
Complaining is a natural feature of humans (needed for evolution), why the release date is significative?
Perfik!
Add the ability to self-deliver without my beloved noticing its flightpath and landing and a self-deploying camouflage net to keep it safe until I have built up enough courage to sneek out and retrieve it.
Crex67
Well-known member
Hmm, complaining as a need for evolution is a new one for me….
Indeed it is a natural feature for some of us…
complain - "to say that something is wrong or not satisfactory"
All is good or (at least) satisfactory for you? Please do not answer.
Here is the definition: complain
Crex67
Well-known member
Still strange when some people can say that something is wrong/not satisfactory about things that aren’t there yet. Well, evolution I guess…
Specifications are released, including the price.
The price is not satisfactory to me. Can I complain? Please do not answer, I know already the answer is 'yes'.
I am not saying the price is wrong. It is not wrong, in my opinion.
Crex67
Well-known member
Maybe some people have to complain all the time about everything.
If one can’t effort something, buy something cheaper and get on with your life…
Complaining is not evolutionary, it is boring….
Your simply statement stated so much....'digitally assisted birding era....' or is that 'digital birding era' as the 'assist' part , is the birding part.
And thus the potential demise of knowing how to bird, using your own birding knowledge, skill etc.... Yes, a step that was bound to occur as I predicted this years back. But just take a moment to think of how birding 'used to be' and how far we have come ....good or bad as there are both sides of the debate.
- Just think when my dad was a bird watcher in college in the 1950's.... he used a Peterson book in Black and White and learned to bird by habitat, general feel, mannerisms of the bird etc... And yes, he had that field guide and yes he had a binocular of sorts based upon 1950 technology. So that in itself was an improvement of others prior to him.
- When I came along as a birder I had better binoculars, a colored and more up-to-date field guide and like my dad, I learned how to bird. That means I learned how to creep up on a bird, walk slowly and silently and pause often, not walking with the wind...slowly drawing my binoculars up etc. So, a skill. As I progressed into birding, I turned to my Canon Rebel with a 300mm lens and eventually a 400mm. Wow.... good stuff. But I still used the same skills for birding. I went into digiscoping with a 80mm lens and improvised my attachments and used cheap point and shoots....Wow....I enjoyed it. But I still used the same skills to bird.
- Binoculars, prior to this 'new digital' ....got about as far as physics took them. Nice bins...the NL, SF...the Leica's.... But they still had birding skills built within.
- But wait...what happened....? Cameras that had some form of AI that followed birds in flight....long 600-800 lens which were easy to use... large digiscoping scopes that had pre-made attachments and now full frame camera's attached etc... A loss of birding skills in my thinking started to occur.
- Now with digital bins....what skills will even be needed....? Essentially 'point and shoot'.... aim bins, press some button, have the binocular focus, name the bird from a distance.... take a picture (this will improve thru time I am sure) .... ..... what skills I ask.....what skills....?
