[Kevin Purcell]

I was watching a BBC documentary recently "James May on the Moon"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_May_on_the_Moon

For part of the show they go to Beale Air Force Base in California (because that's where the U2 fly from). There is a sequence that shows a U2 landing and in amongst that there are lot of shots in the control tower with carious controllers squinting through various porros at aircraft around the airfield.

Most of them use a conventional fingertip grip (the "usual porro" grip with a seagull stance) but one USAF controller uses the US Armed Forces approved Military (or "Thumbs Up") Grip. This is the first time I've seen someone (other than me) doing this.

I had to grab a screenshot

[elkcub]

Originally Posted by Kevin Purcell

...This is the first time I've seen someone (other than me) doing this...

Only if you were looking in the mirror.

[dalat]

Hi, after reading about this grip somewhere in the Forum, I tried it a couple of times (with my roof bin).
What I like about it is that the thumbs can be used to block off sunlight from the side between eyepiece and eye and that it is indeed somewhat more stable. However as the index is not ideally placed on the focus wheel, quick and precise focusing does not work with this grip (not an issue for military use I guess).
So I only use it sometimes when haveing a prolonged look on a bird that is so kind not to fly away too quickly...

[elkcub]

Precisely so!

[Kevin Conville]

Originally Posted by dalat

However as the index is not ideally placed on the focus wheel, quick and precise focusing does not work with this grip (not an issue for military use I guess).

This is true about the index finger but (for me) it doesn't slow me down a bit, with roof prism bins, using middle and ring fingers to focus. It certainly is more of an issue potentially with porro bins. Hey, to each their own

[BinoBoy]

Thanks for posting the photo Kevin. I finally grasped the concept. I tried it with my porros and it works great!

[John Russell]

Both Kevins,

Thanks for the posts. This works even when wearing glasses and seems to reduce an irritating reflection I get off the (convex) outer ocular lens element of my 12x45 Zeiss Conquests.

John

[clschmalz]

Military users typically are handling IF glasses prefocused at distant objects. Index finger focusing is not a issue here.

[Kevin Purcell]

Originally Posted by clschmalz

Military users typically are handling IF glasses prefocused at distant objects. Index finger focusing is not a issue here.

I guess if you can reach the focus with this grip depends on a few parameters: the bin type and the size of your hands.

I have decent sized male hands and I can reach the focus knob on pocket and compacts with no problem. But full size roofs or porros are more problematic but I can reach the focus knob with the tips of my fingers.

Even if you can reach the focus knob then the force required to turn the knob can be an issue with some bins (or not with others).

I find I use two fingers in push-pull (one left and one right) to move the focus back and forth whilst using a miltary grip.

Works very nicely and really does reduce the shake mostly by removing shake from the muscles that give your fingers the grip. As the bins now rest on your palms the only shake left is in your arms.

[Kevin Conville]

Originally Posted by clschmalz

Military users typically are handling IF glasses prefocused at distant objects. Index finger focusing is not a issue here.

Yep.

Two of the three porro bins I have are IF and therefore the grip is not an issue.
The third are reverse porros and the grip is not a problem there either.
I use the grip successfully with all my roof prism bins, finding focus easy.

This topic received pretty good coverage in this thread in Feb.

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=134090