The VistaPix IS70 Spotting Scope, a Redundant and Expensive Gadget

With the advent of digital imaging, manufacturers have started to blend two popular devices into a more advanced contraption. If you take a closer look at these devices, you'll notice that they are in fact nothing more than cameras fitted with a telephoto lens. Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I don't see the point in buying a scope and not buying a bridge camera with a long telephoto lens (you might get a slightly smaller focal length, but there's much more control). Olympus, for instance, has reached 18x optical zoom. That's a lot of telephoto.

But hey, if you do prefer a spotting scope to a simple digital camera, you might want to take a look at the VistaPix IS70 Digital Spotting Scope from Celestron.

For something close to $500, you get a 3.1 megapixel camera, powered by a CMOS sensor, that is able to record both pictures and movies. The built-in memory is only 32MB, so you'll definitely want an extra SD card. The VistaPix IS70 accepts capacities up to 2GB, which is quite enough for the 3.1 megapixel images.

Regarding optics, the scope comes with a 70mm objective lens that provides 14X magnification, and a field of view of 210' at 1,000 yards.

You can preview the images on the 2" LCD, which flips up to reveal the control buttons. Other features borrowed from photography are the shutter release cable for blur-free shots and the rotating tripod adapter.

Unfortunately, there is no manual exposure or compensation, so I am curious what happens if the scope gets the values all wrong. What can you do to convince it to expose for the bird, not the sky?

In conclusion, if you desperately want the extra focal length at the expense of control, go pay $500 for the VistaPix IS70. If you are a serious hobbyist, go buy yourself a DSLR and a powerful telephoto!

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