Paultricounty
Well-known member
We talk a lot about what equipment people are carrying and what the commonality is , if any.
Many members talk about what birders are using in the field. Over the last few months I’ve taken notice of what the casual man and woman are carrying. I spend about an hour or so a day , three to four times a week in varying locations on the upper east coast of New York as well as the west and east coast of Florida. I visit parks, bay areas, wildlife preserves as well as beaches and parks that have areas of animal habitat.
Here’s my observations. I put them into groups, the first is the largest. The majority of the people ,75-80% give or take are carrying full frame DSLRs with large telephoto lenses, and most them don’t have binoculars.
The next group are people with smaller cameras and lenses, a good amount carry a pair of binoculars, generally an inexpensive optic.
The next group are the ones that are carrying binoculars of varying degrees of quality and sizes mostly 42mm. In this group there are 20-25% that are using spotting scopes. We could say this is the spotting scope group , who are using binoculars as their scanning optic, then moving to the spotter.
Here is where it gets interesting to me , of all the people with binoculars, the majority (80% +/-) are carrying entry level to mid grade binoculars, probably under $500 and many much less. The remaining 20% of people who are using premium binoculars are using older (15-20 year old glass) Swarovski and Zeiss binoculars are the most popular in this group, rarely do I see anybody carrying a Leica. Many of people in this group are the ones that are using spotting scopes. Not surprisingly the smallest group are the ones using the most current premium binoculars, and the Zeiss SF clearly are the most popular with Swarovski EL’s a close second. There are a lot of Nikon binoculars in the less expensive group and surprisingly lots of Vortex optics , binoculars and spotters.
I could break down what equipment is being used by age group , but to summarize in general older people are the ones with all the expensive equipment.
Paul
Many members talk about what birders are using in the field. Over the last few months I’ve taken notice of what the casual man and woman are carrying. I spend about an hour or so a day , three to four times a week in varying locations on the upper east coast of New York as well as the west and east coast of Florida. I visit parks, bay areas, wildlife preserves as well as beaches and parks that have areas of animal habitat.
Here’s my observations. I put them into groups, the first is the largest. The majority of the people ,75-80% give or take are carrying full frame DSLRs with large telephoto lenses, and most them don’t have binoculars.
The next group are people with smaller cameras and lenses, a good amount carry a pair of binoculars, generally an inexpensive optic.
The next group are the ones that are carrying binoculars of varying degrees of quality and sizes mostly 42mm. In this group there are 20-25% that are using spotting scopes. We could say this is the spotting scope group , who are using binoculars as their scanning optic, then moving to the spotter.
Here is where it gets interesting to me , of all the people with binoculars, the majority (80% +/-) are carrying entry level to mid grade binoculars, probably under $500 and many much less. The remaining 20% of people who are using premium binoculars are using older (15-20 year old glass) Swarovski and Zeiss binoculars are the most popular in this group, rarely do I see anybody carrying a Leica. Many of people in this group are the ones that are using spotting scopes. Not surprisingly the smallest group are the ones using the most current premium binoculars, and the Zeiss SF clearly are the most popular with Swarovski EL’s a close second. There are a lot of Nikon binoculars in the less expensive group and surprisingly lots of Vortex optics , binoculars and spotters.
I could break down what equipment is being used by age group , but to summarize in general older people are the ones with all the expensive equipment.
Paul
. Of whatever is left, I see a Leica or two, perhaps a bit more Zeiss (Mainly Conquests and and equal amount of SF and older HT). I see Vortex and Nikon Monarchs (never seen any other model), and toss in some oldie / goody now and then. But clearly, Swaro. I am guessing the newbies on board either have cheaper bins as they get into the hobby, and once they look around, they see everyone has a Swaro so they continue to purchase them. 
