I bought low end ($50) binoculars with a built in digital camera yesterday, and after test-driving them from the back row of the Mavs-Rockets game last night, I'll be heading back to Best Buy to return them.

They are Bushnell 11-1025C's. As binoculars (10x25), they are fine, but as a camera, they suck. I took 70 shots (capacity), and 69 were so blurry as to be worthless. I think part of the problem may be that the shutter button is not over the center of balance, so as you press it, it's darn near impossible to hold still. That said, at the equivilent of high zoom (8x) and no tripod, I guess any camera may have blurring issues.

Anyway, does anyone have recommendations for image capturing binocs that might fare better? I have a regular digital with a 3x optical, so I'm just looking for something for distance shots, mostly for concerts and festivals. I don't need super-high-quality or resolution; these shots will be mostly posted on the web only. So 640x480 is fine, and if the color is a bit off, I can live with that too. But excessive blurriness is a deal-breaker.

I purchased a Panasonic FZ-3 camera (no binoculars) with 12x stabilized zoom lens, and have been very impressed with how good the stabilization is. I can hand-hold an indoor photo at full zoom and the result is usually sharp. If it's not sharp it's terrible, and you can see that in the viewfinder during the automatic image review...so just shoot another one if needed.

The Panasonic FZ-5, which is the new 5-megapixel version of the forementioned camera, has received a very good review from DPreview.com (considered by many as one of the leading authorities of camera reviews).

Not that the FZ-3 had many issues in the first place, but apparently the new FZ-5 irons out practically all the little wrinkles found on the FZ-3. Definitely worth looking at, in my opinion. It has a 12x optical zoom lens, again with Image Stabilisation.