- The Portal ADN7 is a new screen-free compact from outdoor specialists Nocs Provisions
- It uses a 16MP 1/3.06-inch CMOS sensor and shoots 4K video
- It’s weatherproof and can attach to binoculars and monoculars
Screen-free digital cameras are all the rage at the moment, but the new Portal AFN7 stands out from the crowd. For one, it’s made by Nocs Provisions, a company better known for its outdoor gear and binoculars than it is for cameras. And — well, just look at it. I’ve certainly never used a camera that looks like this before.
Essentially, Nocs is billing the Portal AFN7 as the ultimate camera for hiking and other outdoor adventures. It’s super-lightweight at 140g and features IP56-level weather sealing — meaning it’s fine in the rain, but shouldn’t be submerged in water. Its lens is a fixed-focus 28mm equivalent wide-angle, which is pretty standard for cheap compacts.
However, the Portal AFN7 can be attached to any Nocs-made binoculars and monoculars, via the included NocDoc accessory, allowing it to capture close-up imagery over long distances.
And sure, a binocular or monocular isn’t going to give you the same degree of quality as a dedicated telephoto lens, but when you’re already shooting on a small 1/3.06-inch CMOS sensor, you’re already not sweating image quality too much.
Instead, like many screen-free compacts (your Camp Snaps, your RewindPixes), the Portal AFN7 is clearly all about vibes, and features a selection of built-in digital filters to give your shots film-style looks. And yes, it's technically not completely screen-free — as you can see in the preview shots, there is a small LCD on the front that looks to be used for settings readout and menu navigation.
It features a digital viewfinder, giving you a through-the-lens view of your composition, rather than the approximate view provided by the optical viewfinders on most cheap compacts — it also previews your chosen digital filter, and provides framing lines for composition.
The ultimate hiking camera?
As someone who loves a good hike, I can see how the Portal AFN7 is tailor-made for outdoor walking trips.
It uses the same rubberized armor as Nocs Provisions’ binoculars and monoculars, meaning it can handle bumps and drops as well as rain and wind. The dedicated grip gives it better ergonomics on the trail than a standard cheap compact (or indeed a phone), and the combo of a 4GB card and a 2,000-shot rechargeable Li-ion 1100 mAh battery is easily enough for a full day’s hike.
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I’ve been wondering if we’ve been in danger of reaching a cheap-compact saturation point recently, with a raft of Camp Snap imitators hitting the market in the past couple of years, but the Portal AFN7 looks like something refreshingly different, in terms of both form and functionality.
The Portal AFN7 is available from Nocs Provisions directly, in three colorways — Galapagos Grey, Moonwalk White and Lassen Black. It's priced at $179.95 (about £136 / AU$259), and ships internationally.
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