ImageView couples binoculars, digital

Coupling binoculars with a digital camera is one of those ideas that is long overdue. Bushnell, which has produced many a hard-working set of binoculars, has made this idea a reality with the ImageView ($100).

Created for those who like to watch wildlife and sporting events, the ImageView handles its dual task admirably. The binoculars, at 10X strength, have been augmented with a digital camera located in a module between the two lens barrels. The camera does not shoot photographs through the binocular lenses but has its own 8X lens for pictures with focus at 40 feet to infinity.

Two buttons sit on top of the module. The Mode button turns the camera on and off as well as selecting several different shooting modes -- such as being able to take multiple shots so that all you need to do is hit the shutter button rapidly to get three continuous shots.

High-resolution mode creates photographs of only 640-by-480 pixels, so you won't be blowing up any images to 8-by-10 inches for your walls. But you will be able to e-mail and display images on the Internet. The pictures are accurately colorful but could use sharpening.

Although just two AAA batteries provide the juice, I had no problems shooting scores of photographs before the batteries died.