David in NC
Well-known member
I appreciate good gear and admit that I have an affinity for good binocs. I still like the birds and one interest compliments the other.
Planes, trains, boats, insects, elephants, stars..
Imagine birding without a bin, or with a 50 year old one. Would you enjoy it as much?
I still have and I still occasionally use a 1982 Leitz 7x42 Trinovid BA. It is 35 years old and counting and it is still in excellent condition. You can still bird with it all day and you may miss something but you won't be able to blame it on the binocular.
Bob
Bob...
I meant to post this over a week ago...so this is for YOU....
I went birding down at Flint Creek carrying the OLDEST Leica binocular I have and the NEWEST Leica binocular I have. I'm really kind of amazed at how good of a birding binocular the 7X42 BN actually IS! It really IS! I haven't used it a WHOLE lot...a couple of trips. I found it NIB and ordered it from Italy. What a GREAT binocular!
Re. post 28.
There are or were actually much larger and more expensive camera lenses than the $2m Leica 1600mm f/5.6.
For me it was the birds first and foremost. My real introduction was taking Ornithology en route to a Biology degree. Not surprisingly the idea was first and foremost the identification and learning field markings. I was maybe fortunate in that I pretty much lucked into a good binocular in the Swift Nighthawk. But lots of binoculars in that class were pretty poor. It took me years before I went looking for another binocular. The driver was the sad aged condition of the original Nighthawk and the Swift Trilyte I had got to complement it.
That search for what to get got me started on looking more seriously at the optics themselves. That continues today. So for me birds first, binoculars second. We get to a point where identification becomes more or less second nature. A really good birder likely has the ID made before the binocular hits the eye balls. AT that point the view becomes increasingly important I think. However a really good birder uses the eye balls much more than the binocular.