A binocular company making a camera is the most obvious good idea nobody had. Nocs Provisions, the outdoor optics brand behind those compact colorful binoculars, just released its first camera, the Portal AFN7, and it docks with their binoculars. A NocDoc alignment shroud lets you bolt Nocs glass onto the camera for magnified stills and video, which makes the wildlife-watching use case click instantly.
It takes a different bet than GoPro’s MISSION 1 line: where GoPro went bigger with a 1-inch sensor, Nocs went simpler. There is no rear screen, just a small OLED panel for settings and a digital viewfinder for composing, which Nocs says is about staying in the moment instead of checking every frame. The specs are modest but honest for the money: a 16MP sensor, 4K/30 video, a 22.5mm equivalent lens at F2.2 with 8x digital zoom, IP56 weather sealing, and a 140g body that weighs less than most phones. Six film-inspired presets include Kodachrome 64 and Kodak Gold 200, plus a Lomo option or no filter. The honest catch is battery life: 30 to 35 minutes of 4K per charge, so this is a day-hike camera, not an expedition one. It is available now for $179 through Nocs and REI.
