While using the SO Outdoor app with the Swarovski AX VISIO smart binoculars, I tried changing the unit’s displayed name to replace the default serial number. However, the change wouldn’t save. Swarovski Customer Services explained that this feature had caused technical issues, so it will be deactivated in a future update to prevent connection and image transfer bugs. For now, renaming the device in the app simply won’t work.
One detail I’ve confirmed from field use of the Swarovski AX VISIO is that it always shoots photographs at a fixed aperture of f/2.2. This doesn’t vary depending on lighting conditions or subject matter. The user has no aperture control, and this fixed setting appears to be part of the unit’s internal design.
At face value, f/2.2 might seem fairly standard. It’s a wide aperture, and it allows a generous amount of light into the camera system. This is good in low light or shadowed conditions, where higher light sensitivity is needed to keep shutter speeds short. But there are several photographic consequences of locking all images to this setting, and some of them come with compromises.
The most immediate is that depth of field is shallow. At f/2.2, only a narrow slice of the scene is sharply in focus, particularly at close or mid-range distances. This can be useful for isolating a subject like a perched bird, but it can also mean that the tail, wings or background drift out of clarity. When more of the scene needs to be in focus (a moving subject), the fixed aperture becomes a constraint rather than a benefit.
Another side effect of shooting wide open all the time is that edge sharpness may suffer. Most small lens systems, especially those built into compact digital devices, are optically weaker at their maximum aperture. You may notice softness or blur at the corners of the frame. Chromatic aberration, where light splits into coloured fringes around hard edges, can also be more pronounced at f/2.2.
A third issue is exposure. Because the aperture is fixed, the camera must rely on ISO and shutter speed alone to balance exposure. In very bright conditions, especially with light subjects such as white birds or pale flowers, the sensor can struggle to avoid overexposure. There’s no option to stop the lens down and reduce light entering the system. This limits your control, and it can reduce image quality in high contrast scenes.
There may be good reasons why Swarovski chose this design. Simplicity is one — fewer moving parts, fewer exposure variables. It also helps ensure fast shutter speeds and consistent image handling, especially when the Bird ID features are in use. Still, the inability to control the aperture limits creative flexibility, and it may come as a surprise to users who expect more traditional photographic behaviour.
The AX VISIO is first and foremost a smart binocular. Its photographic abilities are perhaps secondary to many but still significant, and for many users, image quality matters. Understanding the implications of a fixed f/2.2 aperture helps to manage expectations — and may explain why some images feel slightly different to what one might expect from a full-featured digital camera.
Britain is now gripped by a crimewave unlike anything in recent history. According to shocking new figures, shoplifting, fraud, and muggings have soared to record levels. A theft is now committed every minute in the UK, with shoplifting alone up 20% in a year and muggings rising by 15%. Fraud has surged by an unprecedented 31%, with more than 4 million cases annually. The response from our political leaders? Weak, ineffective, and devoid of any real deterrent.
It is no wonder that public confidence in the police and justice system is plummeting. When thieves can walk free with little more than a caution - or no consequences at all - what incentive do they have to stop?
This is why the recent announcement that Colin Sutton, the highly respected former detective who led the Levi Bellfield and other high profile investigations, is joining Reform UK as Police and Crime Adviser, is so significant. With a pledge to halve crime in five years, Reform proposes real, practical steps: reopening 300 police stations, giving every frontline officer a Taser, ending the wasteful pursuit of online speech crimes, and recruiting 30,000 more officers.
But even these positive steps must go further. As a nation, we must decide that crime will always have consequences. All crime - not just the violent or high-profile cases. The current soft-touch approach sends entirely the wrong message.
We need a new social contract: if someone chooses to steal, defraud, or harm others, they forfeit the support of the state. Offenders should lose access to benefits - they have breached the trust that underpins those entitlements. Theft - whether £250 from a shop or millions through fraud - should lead to assets being confiscated and returned to the victim. Restitution must come before rehabilitation.
Carrying a knife must never result in a mere caution. It should mean prison, full stop. The same for firearms - at least a decade behind bars, no exceptions. And when it comes to murder, a 30-year minimum sentence should be the absolute baseline. Anything less is an insult to the victims and their families.
Only through certainty of punishment and meaningful consequences will we begin to restore order. It’s not about vengeance - it’s about justice, deterrence, and protecting the law-abiding majority. We must also remember that many offences are committed by repeat offenders - and when those offenders are behind bars, they are not out committing more crimes. The public is protected. If a murderer is locked away for a whole life term, he or she never reoffends - and innocent lives are saved.
For too long, we have tolerated a system where criminals operate with impunity and victims are left picking up the pieces. The tide must turn. Reform UK’s crime strategy, under Colin Sutton’s guidance, offers at least a step in the right direction. But the nation must go further still if we are to reclaim our streets and rebuild a safer society.