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Meade CaptureView 8x22 Digital Camera Binocular (Compact)

Meade CaptureView 8x22 Digital Camera Binocular (Compact)

List Price: $79.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Fun as a toy, but not for serious photographs
Review: Considering that 8x22 binoculars cost $20-$30 you are paying $70 for a digital camera. That's about what you get. A good deal of light is required and the 640x480 is not enough resolution for serious pictures. Unlike other USB cameras, the software provided must be used to download pictures. The PhotoExpress software that ships with the binocularss is very good. For $100 the technology just isn't quite there yet.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Nice at the price
Review: Good binoculars, so-so camera. Decent setup, but takes practice getting the shots you want. Requires experimenting in different light levels. Not for shots closer than 30 feet. Steadiness must be maintained for all pictures. Most shots I take are later processed with PhotoShop. Not the camera I grab for photos but when using binoculars is a nice accessory to have camera ready.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: The Meade Capture View just doesn't work
Review: I bought the capture view very recently. I can't get my computer to recognize the camera. I have an extremely high speed/high end new Dell computer. I use my Dell all the time to download and edit photos from my digital cameras with no problems at all. I'm also pretty computer literate. The Meade Capture View would not work out of the box. I went online, but no info there helped my situation. I attempted multiple fixes, including driver updates, reinstallations, and every combination you can imagine. I have called Meade over and over, but get no answer! The Capture View requires more effort than its worth. I imagine I purchased an inoperative camera or have a bad cable. However, I can't solve the issue because I can't get through to Meade.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: BEWARE OF THIS PRODUCT !
Review: I bought this camera from Radio Shack and it has serious software problems with newer computers. I COULD NOT DOWNLOAD A SINGLE PICTURE AND HAD TO RETURN THE UNIT !

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Piece of ...! Don't even think about gettin' it
Review: I bought this piece of .... from a retail store. I saw this it this afternoon and then I thought it wasn't a great purchase. So I came back home and researched it on the internet and found that for $.., it was a great price at the store. I went back to the store and bought it immediately. Guess what? As soon as I came home, I took couple of snapshots. Installed the software on my computer and uploaded the images. Yikes! All my images are so perfectly plain!!!! I coulnd't understand what was goin' on. So then I noticed that something was loose inside the binocular. I shook it and it did make some noise , as if something has fallen off inside. Guess what? Its the camera lens (not the binaculars lenses) in the front middle. That plastic junk (3 pieces of it) has fallen off inside. Its not even set properly. If you try to push it inside from the front, it will come off (falling inside), and thats the end of it. You can never put them in place and will never remain intact. And about a little water and stuff into the binocular, thats it. End of story. However I tried opening it and putting it back in place. But no hope. I'm really so frustrated that a company like Meade would sell some worthless junk like this. I had great hopes on this company and it is really dissappointing.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: It all depends on you.
Review: I enjoyed this camera exactly for what it was intended to be. A simple inexpensive way to take distance shots linked to a binoc. When used with the bundled software it becomes a very good camera. Yes, there are some limitations but remember you paid under $100 not $1000.

The things I like are:
Small size, lightweight.
Good viewing via the binocular.
A high number of shots per its 8 Meg of storage when on LO. .
I would rather take this with me hiking than my professional digital equipment.
If lose it down a mountain slope, I'm not in trouble with my business partner (wife).
When I get home I sit down with the computer and off load the stills and do what enhancing is needed.
My kids can use the provided software on their PC to enhance images.

To insure you get good shots each time, here are several things you should watch out for.
Shoot in good light.
Watch the battery icon, If it gets close to ¾ white change batteries. The manual says that if you do this within 90 seconds you will not lose images. I have never had a problem as I always put fresh batteries in just as I leave the trailhead.
Brace yourself well for each shot.
Do the above, download the files; pick the ones you want, enhance them and you'll be good to go.

I like this camera, It's fun!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: It's just OK
Review: I got one for Christmas (my friend saw the ads on Discovery Channel). The binoculars actually do work well (I was skeptical) and picture quality does leave something to be desired, but again I was skeptical, so I wasn't surprised. A little tweaking in my photo editor, and everything was fine.

The battery drain problem is very annoying - and for this one reason alone I may still opt to return it and save my $$ for something better.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: software download bad
Review: I just bought the captureview binoculars. While downloadind the supplied cd my cd rom drive my d:\ drive would not read this disc. I put my disc drive to a test and put another disc in my d:\ slot and this disc was read by my system so evidently I have been able to determine the problem is not of my system, but a bad disc supplied by meade. I then tried to find a download on the world wide web for my captureview binoculars. Where I could only find a download for windows xp which is not compatible for windows 98. I have nearly spent 8 hours trying to have my system read the capture view device. I am assuming that the disc supplied by meade is bad. Being a 100 mile round trip to the store where I purchased the captureview binoculars and your tech support is only available during the work week I have been dimayed by your service. I am a land surveyor with some experience with software down loades. I was excited to find a product that would do what these binoculars are suppose to do. To bad this process is this dificult.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Not sure I like it yet
Review: I opened the box and installed (or tried to install) the software for this piece of equipment, and found that the software loaded ok, the driver installed properly, but the Tutorial WOULD NOT RUN. I am VERY disappointed in the documentation (instructions for the software and technical info for the camera/binocs)! As another reviewer stated, the thing shuts off after 10 seconds of non-use - a pain in the neck when you are out 'birding' and trying to catch the perfect shot - and that is NOT DOCUMENTED anywhere!

I will keep trying with this...I have a trip coming up and plan to take my REAL camera, too. I am sure the technology on these things will get better. I hope to contact Meade and let them know how disappointed I am.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Flawed design
Review: I recieved this item as a gift, but soon returned it. The camera part of the binoculars is too close to the eye pieces. I was not able to get the eye pieces close enough to my eyes because the camera was so close. (I have a rather ordinary nose.) I had to raise the binoculars higher on my nose bridge and this obstructed my view, not allowing me to properly focus the lenses in order to capture pictures. Don't waste your money on this item.


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