Digital-Camera Reviews

As a birder who has owned quality optics (i.e., Bausch & Lomb Elite, Swarovski, Kowa, and Leica), in my opinion the Celestron VistaPix pales in comparison. It feels and performs more like a toy than a quality binocular - which is not too surprising given the approx. $150 price tag.

First, the eyecups are not sufficiently deep so that I cannot rest the binoculars against my eyes to resolve the two circles of light into a single view; it is already difficult enough to hold them steady without having the benefit of steadying them against myself. Second, the focus wheel is unnecessarily small and the wheel does not rotate evenly, so that the binoculars jerk side to side while focusing. Third, the strap is nothing more than a cheap string reminiscent of a camera strap on a free give-a-way camera. Moreover, the strap is clumsily attached near the center-top of the binoculars which gets in the way of focusing the binoculars and navigating the camera controls. The strap length and placement also cause the binoculars to hang awkwardly, protruding forward and bouncing with every stride - it should have been apparent to the designers that the strap should be attached to the binocular's outer edges (as it is in ALL binoculars). To add insult to injury, the strap is permanently attached so that you cannot replace it with a quality neckstrap. The bottom line is that, in light of Celestron's better quality line of binoculars, Celestron clearly can do better.

Most limiting on the camera side for birding purposes, the VistaPix has a fixed focus so that only objects farther than 50 feet will be in focus. This minimum focus, at 8x, is practically useless for photographing birds other than pterodactyls (or ostriches, rheas, emus, cranes, storks, albatrosses, etc). Photographing sparrows or warblers yielded photos of unidentifiable blips. Also limiting is the fixed shutter speed with resulting blurry images when trying to photograph birds (which are typically moving). Given that even some disposable cameras have an optional setting to capture fast action, the VistaPix should give the photographer some flexibility. In addition, it is difficult to hold the camera steady enough to obtain sharp images - I cannot imagine how the 10x version can ever be hand-held for photography. The technological solution is probably image stabilization - even a rudimentary form of image stabilization would be immensely helpful. With image stabilization, 10x magnification would be preferable especially if the minimum focus remains no better than 50 feet.

Last, but not least, is there any excuse for a digital image of less than 3 megapixels in this day and age? In sum, I would prefer a product that is twice or thrice the price, and is commensurate in quality so that the end-result is truly useful for birding and photographing birds.

First off, these are a quality pair of binoculars. They fold up nice and small and fit into the included nylon pouch along with the USB cable and neck strap. They swing open to adjust for interpupilary distance, and then are focused using the barrel adjustment on the top of the unit. There is a diopter adjustment that would come in handy if your vision is different in each eye. Looking through the lenses shows nice full circles of light, belying the quality prisms within. The digital camera features seem to be a bit of an afterthought; 1.3 mega pix is a bit wimpy for a main camera by today's standards, but that said photos can come out pretty nice with some practice and understanding of the limitations. It is difficult to hold the binoculars steady enough to take a sharp photo over long distances, so you will have to brace yourself or lean on something. There is a screw adaptor on the base of the unit to accept any common camera tripod. The controls are very simple, and after a few minutes it is easy to learn to operate them without looking so you shouldn't have to fiddle with the camera while trying to focus on your subject. The camera will not pick up enough light to take good photos at night; that is to say that the resulting photo will not look as good as what you saw with your dark-adjusted eye. These should be perfect for daytime terrestrial photography however. The SD card and camera are mass-storage compliant, and came up without a hitch on Mac OS X, Win XP, and Redhat 9.
The camera includes a timer feature and a video capture feature, and a simple editor that will allow you to delete the last photo taken or format the memory card. There is no facility for previewing photos through the binocular unit itself.
There are a few annoying things about this unit. There is a 90 second timeout, after which it will beep and shut off power in order to save batteries (2-AAA's). These do seem to chew up batteries more than you would expect them to. Also they will beep for confirmation every time you turn them on, take a photo, or switch menus. It would be nice if it was possible to disable the beeping or at least turn down the volume. The camera does not seem to photograph at the same magnification as the main objective. There is a slightly larger field of view on the camera image, it seems more like 8x25 than 8x30. Overall a nice set of binoculars for nature or daytime terrestrial viewing, with the added gimmick of a rudimentary digital camera for impressing your geek friends and photographing birds / celebrities / neighbors for future recall. Hours of fun and entertainment. :)

I could not get my PCs to recognize the binoculars after connecting to the PC via the USB cable. I tried Windows 98 SE,
Windows XP Home Edition. Both have the latest Windows updates. I also tried installing the supplied drivers. But, still no
success.

I called tech support. I was forced to leave a message. The voice mail said it would take 48-72 hours for a response.

The only reason I gave 2 stars rather than 1 is because I like the design and feel while viewing.

Unfortunately, what seemed to be such a great combination package turned out to not produce what was promised. Our trip to the Canadian Rockies had some incredible picture opportunities, and seeing the results after returning home was very disappointing. The binocular function was fine, but the only pictures that worked well were those in very bright light. The camera indicated full at 63 pictures, well short of the 160 indicated on the box or the 120 in the description. There was no camera/tv cable as described. Someone will come up with a combination that eguals our separate digital camera and binoculars, but the Celestron is not yet to that point.

As binoculars, it focuses fine but the only way it would ever be comfortable to hold to your face is if you had No nose! Handling is very awkward and your nose gets in the way because of the way the camera is positioned in the center of the binoculars. As a camera, it's not!! Your pictures do NOT focus in on what you are seeing through the binoculars. It produces blurry pictures no matter what the distance. It also does not auto-balance the light, your pictures will also have unnatural shadowing unless you are in very bright sunlight. The enclosed instructions are also very little help in picture taking and troubleshooting...

This works great indeed if you didn't have a nose. Pics are blurry unless U have VERY bright sunlight, otherwise..dont' take pics. Not what I expected.
Would not recommend.

Good binoculars, poor camera. The camera takes all pictures at 1/30 of a second at f2.8, which is too slow for the magnification of the lens. The pictures are soft,dull and without a tripod mount fuzzy. Mine is going back...

This product has a very specific role. It makes the perfect gift for someone who is not very computer saavy. If the person has easy email and internet access, it makes more sense (and is much cheaper) to send pictures to them through other means.

My husband and I purchased this frame for his mom. We had previously tried to give her a computer but it collected dust. Since she loves pictures of the grandkids and we live several hours away, we thought this would be a good gift.

The first step--plugging it in--was simple. The frame needs to have a location with easy access to both phone and electricity, or you'll have cords all over the place. Once attached, it starts displaying the Ceiva company information, including the customer service phone number.

Getting the frame to properly connect and load pictures was more involved. First, it needs to be registered at the Ceiva site (that had to happen "off-site" since my mother-in-law doesn't have a computer). The website is where you load the pictures and set the guidelines for the frame (what times to turn it on and off and what number for the frame to call to load new pictures, etc) Then you need to purchase a subscription which costs almost as much as the frame on a yearly basis. Once that's done, it's supposed to be as easy as someone pushing a button (the big one on the base of the frame) and the pictures would load.

Unfortunately, it didn't work at first. Our frame took a few calls to customer service (luckily a circulating pre-loaded picture on the frame) and emails from us to correct the problem. Telephone customer service was courteous and gracious to my mother-in-law. Email customer service was slow and sometimes didn't respond directly, though they did take care of a separate problem eventually.

From my mother-in-law's perspective, the solution was just pushing that big button multiple times, intermittently over the course of the day, until it finally connected. I'm not sure it was the same solution from Ceiva's point of view.

Once that was resolved, EVERYTHING has worked like a dream. The frame revolves 30 different pictures. On the website, I keep everything in an album so I know which ones she's seen. My brother-in-law several states away can upload pictures onto her frame as well. We can also send captions with the pictures or special greetings on Mother's Day etc. She is absolutely thrilled, and I will probably be buying one for my grandmother (who is in a board and care home) this year.

PROS: Fabulous gift for the computer-less, can be accessed (on invitation/with password) by other loved ones to load their photos, easy to plug in, seamless operation once working

CONS: Expensive cost of subscription (factor it into your gift giving), took some time and customer service input to get it connected, unable to edit/crop photos on website (do it before), cost of ordering prints of photographs for the receiver (we use a different company)

I purchased a Ceiva about a year ago, and it works very very well. However! And this is a WARNING: After the mandatory three-month "subscription," which one has to buy in order to purchase the product, they kept charging the monthly fee to my credit-card account -- even though I signed up for three months only (the minimum), and also told them to cancel, and also had my credit card company "charge back" the improper charges. Despite all that history -- they have attempted to sneak through ANOTHER unauthorized charge ... perhaps they hope that folks simply won't notice. (...). It is shame, because the product does work well.

Over the last four months, we've purchased five Ceiva receivers as birthday and Christmas gifts for family. Initially, we were nervous about purchasing even one after having read mixed reviews such as those posted here, but our personal experience with the product and company has been wholly positive.

Eight days before Christmas, we received our last receiver, only to find that several pixels on the frame face were orange. An email to the customer service brought a reply within 24 hours and within four days, I had a new receiver...even before the one I was returning had arrived back to Ceiva.

The set up and uploading of pictures is not difficult if you have some comfort working with computers, which is precisely why we did it all ahead of time (and so that when the gifts were opened, they could be plugged in automatically with photos ready, rather than having to wait for the daily dial in).

Now a few days past Christmas, all the receivers are out and our family loves them. No one has had any difficulty with the at home set up (plug in two cords, press a button) and they all agree that continued subscriptions to the site will make great Father's Day/Mother's Day/Birthday gifts in the future.