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.
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Bird or Bino? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Anthon
- Start date
Birds are the reason I use binoculars and I would still go birdwatching if binoculars were not available. But without a shadow of doubt the birdwatching experience is massively enhanced by the use of binoculars. A lot of the behaviour I most wish to see would be difficult if not impossible to observe without that 8x or 10x magnification and yes, if 50 year old binoculars were all that was available I'd gladly use them as not having binoculars would mean big changes to where, when and probably how often I'd want to go. There's also little doubt that quality optics are a pleasure to use and offer amazing performance. They increase the enjoyment of the whole experience. In my case what I see in my own area is more than compelling enough that if I had a couple of thousand disposable cash would rather put it towards a fantastic binocular to view it with rather than an exotic holiday, but that's me. Ultimately though I would much rather have my favourite birds to observe and no binoculars to observe them with than the opposite.
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iveljay
Well-known member
At about the age of 11 I was given a pair of 8x30s for a holiday on the Outer Hebrides in the late 1950s. We got there driving in a pre-war car that had to be craned onto the deck of the ferry. I suspect that it was a sort of shared present.
It was one of the better presents as we saw whales, many sea birds which in those days were subdivided into cormorants and gulls, and thousands of evil minded sheep. Alas the hoped for golden eagle was so far away even the binoculars were of no use.
Thus began a lifetime of owning one or more pairs of binoculars used for staring at all the wonders of the world including birds.
Birds vaguely came first as I was given a bird book, before then, when spending one of many extended stays on a farm. Probably to stop me asking what everything was, though I didn't actually go birdwatching - they were just there.
It was one of the better presents as we saw whales, many sea birds which in those days were subdivided into cormorants and gulls, and thousands of evil minded sheep. Alas the hoped for golden eagle was so far away even the binoculars were of no use.
Thus began a lifetime of owning one or more pairs of binoculars used for staring at all the wonders of the world including birds.
Birds vaguely came first as I was given a bird book, before then, when spending one of many extended stays on a farm. Probably to stop me asking what everything was, though I didn't actually go birdwatching - they were just there.
edwincjones
Well-known member
For me, bios first-I had the optics for astronomy,
so might as well watch birds
now watch birds > stars
binos-a duel purpose tool
edj
so might as well watch birds
now watch birds > stars
binos-a duel purpose tool
edj
salty
geordie birder
Birds came first for me, but binos have been a major part of my life ever since I was a kid, the fact you can see things your not meant to was fascinating to me, and still is....hence why I also own and love using binos, night vision and thermal imaging scopes.
I can literally look out the window or go to the local park and open a new world with nature, I love it.
I can literally look out the window or go to the local park and open a new world with nature, I love it.
Pinewood
New York correspondent
Hello Anthon.
A couple of weeks ago, I used a sixty year old binocular. I still had an enjoyable day.
Happy bird watching,
Arthur Pinewood :hi:
Have the members of the Binoculars sub-forum of BirdForum heard the neat term "gear addict"? I am not accusing anyone..well, not really...to come clean, I am getting back at you for your negative influence on me.
I guess it is excusable especially in a mild form (note that I am excusing me). It gets bad when it turns into brand loyalty (which is well dealt with in other threads) and that turns into aggression. This story is I think appropriate in this sub(-sub)-forum for Leicas. I have one and a week and a half ago a friend who chooses binoculars of another make (Arthur on here dares not speak its name) suddenly launched an attack on my binocular and the make in the presence of another friend who wishes to select an "alpha" binocular for the first time. It was in the guise of frivolity but went well beyond so I could see the intent and I am still a bit disturbed by it because that is unlike him.
This is a fine thread so please do not let that turn it away off topic.
I have now had binoculars in 6,7,8,10,12,16x and 24,25,30,32,40,42,43,50,56,70 mm, which I have given away or sold. But for years my only optics for bird watching, conservation and ornithology, day and night, in varied habitats, was a small 8x25 Nikon. It was very rarely felt to be inadequate. I now want to get down to just a small 8x and a 15x.
PS. On "gear addict" and the Leica theme, this is where I first read the term: https://pixsy.com/most-expensive-camera-lenses-ever/.
I guess it is excusable especially in a mild form (note that I am excusing me). It gets bad when it turns into brand loyalty (which is well dealt with in other threads) and that turns into aggression. This story is I think appropriate in this sub(-sub)-forum for Leicas. I have one and a week and a half ago a friend who chooses binoculars of another make (Arthur on here dares not speak its name) suddenly launched an attack on my binocular and the make in the presence of another friend who wishes to select an "alpha" binocular for the first time. It was in the guise of frivolity but went well beyond so I could see the intent and I am still a bit disturbed by it because that is unlike him.
This is a fine thread so please do not let that turn it away off topic.
I have now had binoculars in 6,7,8,10,12,16x and 24,25,30,32,40,42,43,50,56,70 mm, which I have given away or sold. But for years my only optics for bird watching, conservation and ornithology, day and night, in varied habitats, was a small 8x25 Nikon. It was very rarely felt to be inadequate. I now want to get down to just a small 8x and a 15x.
PS. On "gear addict" and the Leica theme, this is where I first read the term: https://pixsy.com/most-expensive-camera-lenses-ever/.
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Bloodstriker
Well-known member
I would say binoculars first for me. I am what adhoc calls a gear addict. I love to collect and compare gear. This ranges from optics, firearms, audio equipment, electronics, tactical gear, backpacks, toys...the list goes on.
While I do enjoy watching birds or other wildlife, I could easily sit for 30 minutes on my balcony in my highrise apartment using my binoculars to simply look at the scenery.
While I do enjoy watching birds or other wildlife, I could easily sit for 30 minutes on my balcony in my highrise apartment using my binoculars to simply look at the scenery.
Re. post 28.
There are or were actually much larger and more expensive camera lenses than the $2m Leica 1600mm f/5.6.
There was a Leica lens for photographing across the Chanel. From memory about 3500mm FL and big.
There is the 144 inch f/8 for 28 inch square film, now used for tracking asteroids to 1/50 arcsecond. I think designed by Baker.
A 32 inch aperture refractive surveillance lens that appeared once in a Finnish magazine but went back into hiding.
The Williamson Ross 6 inch f/5 survey lens weighs about 70 pounds? Cost about £85,000 in 1960s so cheap really. Unfortunately thorium glass.
70 inch aperture big bird lenses. Resolve about 4 inches from 200 miles. Cost? A lot.
Various large Itek lenses and similar. Used at around 80,000 ft. Clearly shows golf balls on the greens.
3 30cm Zeiss binoculars on altazimuth mounts weighing perhaps a ton. 1940s?
11inch approx. Japanese binocular still maybe in a Japanese museum.
APM 12 inch current binoculars, maybe around $300,000 dollars now? Without shelter, which costs extra.
There are others.
There are or were actually much larger and more expensive camera lenses than the $2m Leica 1600mm f/5.6.
There was a Leica lens for photographing across the Chanel. From memory about 3500mm FL and big.
There is the 144 inch f/8 for 28 inch square film, now used for tracking asteroids to 1/50 arcsecond. I think designed by Baker.
A 32 inch aperture refractive surveillance lens that appeared once in a Finnish magazine but went back into hiding.
The Williamson Ross 6 inch f/5 survey lens weighs about 70 pounds? Cost about £85,000 in 1960s so cheap really. Unfortunately thorium glass.
70 inch aperture big bird lenses. Resolve about 4 inches from 200 miles. Cost? A lot.
Various large Itek lenses and similar. Used at around 80,000 ft. Clearly shows golf balls on the greens.
3 30cm Zeiss binoculars on altazimuth mounts weighing perhaps a ton. 1940s?
11inch approx. Japanese binocular still maybe in a Japanese museum.
APM 12 inch current binoculars, maybe around $300,000 dollars now? Without shelter, which costs extra.
There are others.
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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!
Attachments
Hi Chuck,
I Also have that Leica 7x42 Trinovid BN you picture and I still use it with the little leather zip up combo carry case and lens cover that came with it. I used it heavily for years until I got a Zeiss Victory 7x42 FL T* after it was discontinued. I got mine NIB from Cabelas after it was discontinued when the Ultravids came out. Does yours have that neat little zip up leather case?
The 1982 Leitz 7x42 Trinovid BA I commented on in post #33 is older than the Leica Trinovid and it used Uppendahl roof prisms instead of SP prisms. Mine doesn't have phase coatings although some of the newest versions of them made in the late 1980's are supposed to have had them. The first thing I noticed when I used my new Leica 7x42 Trinovid BN was how much brighter it was than the older Leitz 7x42 Trinovid. I also noticed that the earlier Leitz had a yellow color caste to the view compared to the Leica's more neutral color. It has been speculated here that hunters preferred this yellowish caste.
I have always liked using 7x42 binoculars and I have a number of them including a Swarovski 7x42 SLC B along with the aforesaid Zeiss Victory. And I have a surprisingly good, lightweight, sturdy and handy, and low priced Leupold 7x42 BX-2 Cascade which is now sadly discontinued! I still use it often as a car binocular. It was replaced by the 7x42 Hawthorne which had FMC to the Cascades MC. The Hawthornes are now discontinued too.
Bob
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gunut
Registered Offender
Bino.....Bought my first bino for hunting....while spending time in the woods and fields hunting I found myself watching the birds and other non game animals....enjoyed it....now I use bins for viewing all kinds of local birds and small animals....I also like the optic/mechanical/artsy side of binoculars....I feel the same way about my guns and cameras.....
The catadioptric optics on the NRO's Keyhole KH-11 satellites, that outresolve Hubble (because Hubble was crippled to fit within the limitations of the Space Shuttle as a launcher), are surely in that category, but the price is classified...
http://www.americaspace.com/2012/06...revealed-by-nros-twin-telescope-gift-to-nasa/
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My answer is similar to Bruce's and Torview's.
When I am birding or more often 'nature observing' (look at almost anything from flowers and mushrooms and lichens to birds and mammals and insects etc etc) I don't think about my bins at all, unless I am testing them for a review. Normally I am so engrossed with the subject that the bins don't enter my consciousness).
However when I am back at home I am more often than not thinking about bins and their designs, capabilities and manufacturers for much of the time.
So for me the split is: when in the field its the subject that is most important, back home its the bins. Which means both are equally important but in different ways and at different times.
Lee
When I am birding or more often 'nature observing' (look at almost anything from flowers and mushrooms and lichens to birds and mammals and insects etc etc) I don't think about my bins at all, unless I am testing them for a review. Normally I am so engrossed with the subject that the bins don't enter my consciousness).
However when I am back at home I am more often than not thinking about bins and their designs, capabilities and manufacturers for much of the time.
So for me the split is: when in the field its the subject that is most important, back home its the bins. Which means both are equally important but in different ways and at different times.
Lee
Steve C
Well-known member
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.
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.
