Digibino DB 100 Digital Camera/Binoculars

Pentax DB100 Binocular Camera

Strengths: Very fast photography, good low light performance, small size, quiet

Weaknesses: Fixed image storage, Binocular-to-camera focus problems

Summary: I am on my second DB100. The first one stopped mounting so images couldn't be downloaded. A mercifully brief experience with another model showed that DB100 speed and quiet operation are must have features for me that can't be determined from specification lists that may be missing from other binocular cameras. The speed is rated at 5 shots per second! When set for continuous (10 shots while holding down button) I rarely could release it without taking 2 shots. So, it's great for action as you can take images as fast as you can press the button as there is ZERO delay to move images to a storage card as in most digital cameras. Though the objective lens is small, it performs surprisingly well in low light conditions.

My major complaint: The link between binocular and camera focus slipped so pictures were fuzzy when the binocular image was sharp. I could set the camera focus with the LCD (you can zoom in for fine focus) and deal with fuzzy images in the binocular. I had my first one fixed by Pentax under warranty, but it went bad again. I continued to use it for over a year, then sent it to Pentax service who gave me a repair quote for $192. Instead, I found a seller of a new one for $100, but the replacement has now slipped :^(

Also, the camera is limited to the hard-wired 16 MB storage. It takes more than 95 1024 x 768 pixel shots at "Best" setting and more than 140 same size shots at "Better", i.e. more JPEG compression, setting (specs were 100 and 150 respectively). I found a device that I could take with me to download to a thumb drive so I could take more than these, but I'd prefer to have a capability to use storage cards. It can take up to 300 640 x 480 images, and perhaps I could try to use these low resolution images, but I never have.

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This is an exciting new product category that is s ...

Strengths: 1024x768 resolution, LCD screen, 16MB memory, variable shutter speeds for low light and action shots.

Weaknesses: Only 7x magnification, digital zoom.

Summary: This is an exciting new product category that is slowly gaining mass appeal. I purchased this as a gift for my friend’s 11-year-old son. He loves to go on camping and hiking field trips. When he emailed me his first few pictures, I knew I had bought the right gift for him. He now has an exciting new hobby of nature photography. I purchased it for $249.

Other similar products currently available are:

- Meade CaptureView CVB1002

- Carson Photo Viewer PV-825 (1.3MP camera, expandable memory).

The Bottom Line.

In spite of some minor quirks, Pentax has again lived up to its high quality standards in the DigiBino. This is a truly successful convergence of binocular functions into a 0.8 Megapixel digital camera. It’s a solid digital camera that uses an LCD screen and the binocular as its viewfinders. However, it will not replace my 3.2MP Canon S230.

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