Digital zoom on the DEV-50V model allows a total magnification range from 0.8x up to 25x, rivalling traditional high-powered binoculars.

ENGADGET: Sony's Digital Recording Binoculars score a huge boost with $2,000 DEV-50V

The grubby, high-ISO 1080i video above can't transmit this experience -- all we could do is zoom in on a detail and then zoom out again to show how small a proportion it was of the total image.

ENGADGET: BBC shows off 33-megapixel Super Hi-Vision Olympic footage, we ask: why?