Seeking to see up close

February 21, 2012 7:35 AM

Can you guys recommend an app that will let me use my iphone as a set of binoculars?

There seem to be a few in the app store, but some to most of the reviews seem spammy and I can't find any decent info online. Your suggestions would be much appreciated!

If it helps, the reason I'm looking for a binoculars app is because I'm going to go see the elephant seals at Ano Nuevo next week, and I recall that having a set was a real help.

Thanks!

posted by foxy_hedgehog to Technology (11 answers total)

Best answer: This isn't really possible. The camera on an iPhone is fixed-focal-length - it can't actually zoom in. The "digital zoom" in the camera just chops out the area around the part you want to "zoom" in on and blows up the rest, but it can't actually add any more detail than it had when "zoomed out." There's a reason I keep putting quotes there; it's because I don't consider a digital "zoom" to be a real one. You need an actual set of lenses that are built to take far-away things and closer, optically; you need actual binoculars or an actual long-focal-length camera lens or something of that sort. Your iPhone cannot be your binoculars, and there's a reason the apps claiming otherwise are so spammy.
posted by Tomorrowful at 7:40 AM on February 21, 2012 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I hope you realize that the iPhone can't actually function as binoculars. It doesn't have the lenses. To get get as good an effect as you can from your phone, you can simply go into the camera app and pinch to zoom in.
posted by drethelin at 7:42 AM on February 21, 2012

You're probably going to just want to get a pair of actual binoculars, you don't need to spend a lot, second hand works great. I would like an app for my iPhone that grinds coffee but that ain't gonna happen either.
posted by Cosine at 7:49 AM on February 21, 2012

Best answer: I'm assuming that you're looking for a way around buying a pair of binoculars, therefore buying a $35 ">zoom lens for your iphone is unappealing, but that's an option. I suspect that a pair of binoculars would be more ideal for this particular purpose (and would zoom to more than 8x) but if you like the idea of having a zoom lens for later phone-photography projects, this would be a great excuse to buy it. :)
posted by aimedwander at 7:52 AM on February 21, 2012

oops, ruined the link. here. And here.
posted by aimedwander at 7:54 AM on February 21, 2012

No, you can't zoom in without adding another lens. Here is a product that gives ok results, but I think you would be better off with a cheap pair of binoculars.

http://photojojo.com/store/awesomeness/iphone-telephoto-lens/
posted by randomgirl at 7:55 AM on February 21, 2012

Oops sorry aimedwander was typing at the same time
posted by randomgirl at 7:56 AM on February 21, 2012

Response by poster: Funny, there are all these binocular-y apps in the store- I'm wondering how they work or what they do or if they do anything at all- again, reviews are pretty spammy so it's entirely possible they are worthless.
posted by foxy_hedgehog at 8:21 AM on February 21, 2012

Best answer: As people state above, they use a 'digital zoom', which is the same as pinching in the camera app. It's crap, don't waste your money.
posted by defcom1 at 9:02 AM on February 21, 2012

May I also point out that there are lots of useless apps in the store. Most of which don't work or are just plain junk. The binocular apps probably just zoom in digitally giving you a really pixelated image the same as if you were to zoom in all the way in the camera app.
posted by randomgirl at 11:00 AM on February 21, 2012

Response by poster: This is helpful! Investing in a pair of actual binoculars is probably worth it. Thanks.
posted by foxy_hedgehog at 11:09 AM on February 21, 2012