Abstract: A digital video telescope to support a person with vision impairment, due to adjacent target objects being too small, too distant, or too poorly contrasted to be adequately perceived. The user of the telescope provides real-time image processing with a variable zoom control to locate and magnify the target object and use a contrast enhancement feature to clarify and therefore identify the object. The telescope has additional features that facilitate the real-time processing of object images in adverse viewing situations, such as low light conditions and high levels of background light conditions. The telescope allows the user to dynamically tune out distracting information present in the image and concentrate on desirable feature of the object represented by the image, so as to facilitate object perception and recognition.