Regarding stimpacks, does it use them itself or do I need to heal manually in hardcoe mode?

If the follower heals by itself do I need to equip it with stimpacks in its inventory or will it just use them out of my own?

Also one other question, when using binoculars is there any way to zoom in farther other than using the right mouse button or is that their max zoom?

As far as binoculars go, sadly that's their max range.