What are your priorities in binoculars? (2 Viewers)

[glennd]

I could go on and on all night but I would like to hear what others opinions are. What optical abberations bother you? What matters most to you when deciding if you like an optic?

i have a pair of docter nobilem 8x 56's with a 50ish afov that i absolutely love. narrow? yes, but it's a near perfect fov and wonderful in low light and the night sky. nearly every star is a point of light, if a little skewed towards yellow. i aslo have a pair of astroluxe 18x 70's with an expansive 70ish afov that is just as wonderful for different reasons. the field edges are not sharp. it has a fair amount of false color but the sweet spot is large and very sharp. they are a joy to use on the night sky and at the ocean. i don't even mind the i.f. at distance as the refocusing needed is minimal if at all. i really enjoy 8x 42 meopta b1+ because it does so many things well.

so i guess i'm a binocular chameleon when it comes to priorities. i want to be able to appreciate the designers intent. my uses are varied so a wide variety of instruments appeal to me. for some time i could never imagine how a 10x 50 binocular could offer a $5000 view. then i looked through a friend's pair of wx's. nikon seems to have prioritized every optical parameter and threw cost and size to the wind. and it shows! holy smokes!! it was like naked eye viewing with the world 10x closer! i could sit on my friend's porch and look though those wx's forever. at night i pass my $280 oberwerk 10x 50 ultra's around to my astronomy students with a little less anxiety than i would a pair of wx's. they offer wonderfully sharp views in an incredibly reliable package. my daughter refuses to carry binoculars unless they are the size of an altoids box. so her binocular of choice is the curio. i really like them too. so my priorities are somewhere between expensive to not so expensive, huge to tiny, color free flat field to a mix of aberations, porro and roof, i.f. or c.f., ... . but i do want them all to have a pretty sharp sweet spot. hmmm, unless they are really inexpensive and give good enough views to hold a person's interest. so yeah, those are my priorities.

 

[Troubador]

Thanks for your response and patience Lee, i will try to explain. This whole “experiment” started when one of my Swarovski Habicht’s, the 10x40 GA misted/fogged up and somebody here suggested to put the eyecups down. This helped a lot and i was surprised how close i could get my eye to the eyepiece without getting blackouts while at the same time getting a wider fov. So i tried it with all my bino’s, removing even the eyecups and see what happened. Wider fov! Then i got my Leica 7x42 UV and i needed some “click-stops” with the eyecups to see well. So this made me think that if you wear glasses your distance to the lense is bigger and the fov is smaller. But i might be wrong here I’m afraid, even my wife tells me know….

OK now I understand. So you are basically asking the question "does wearing glasses reduce the size of the fov that you can see through your binoculars?" And I think the answer is "it all depends" as in, it depends on the design of your spectacles, how high or low you have them on your nose, and on the binoculars and their eyecups.

I wear spectacles all the time (vari-focals) and use Zeiss SF 8x32, Zeiss SF 10x32, Leica Trinovid HD 8x32, Meopta MeoStar 7x42 and Meopta MeoStar 8x32 and I can see the full field of view through all of them., but other people, wearing different spectacles, might have a different experience.

Lee

 

[albie...]

My priorities are at least 18mm of ER (20mm or more is better) and at the very least a 60° AFOV . I find that 20mm or more ER allows me to comfortably take in the entire fov without too much fiddling around getting my eyeglasses lined up . Having to wear glasses has changed the way I look at binoculars and what is important for me to be comfortable with them . I see that some members don't seem to have problems with having to wear glasses while using binoculars , I'm not in that camp . I sold off my much loved Nikon E2's (8x30,10x35) because I couldn't see the entire fov with my glasses on yet other people have said that they are fine using them with glasses . I replaced them with an 8x42 Monarch HG . I have a hard time seeing the entire fov with the Monarch's 17.8mm of ER but I am seeing more of it than I was with the E2's fov and 13.8mm of ER .
A few years back a fellow CN member told me I wouldn't be happy with anything less than 20mm of ER , he went through what I've been learning over the last 4 years .

 

[Robert Moore]

I have had a lot of different binoculars and the best I have found if you wear glasses is the 8x42 Noctivid. I screw out the eye cups two clicks and can still see the full field of view. No fiddling with adjustments. Just bring them up to your eyes and it’s perfect.

 

[Robert Moore]

The 12xNL is a lot more finicky. It has to be just right and the slightest movement of IPD will throw it out. I have learned to use it but it took time. I love them both and if I had to choose between them I don’t think I could.

 

[Will K]

The 12xNL is a lot more finicky.

That’s curious, because I have the opposite experience. The NLs can go up to my eyes (with glasses) and find the perfect position instantly. The Noctivids that I have tried in the shops, however, require a bit more adjustment. I can use the NLs with eyecups all the way down, but the Nocs need to be raised a stop or two, as you suggest. That speedy positioning for glasses with a 12x was one of the (several) reasons I chose the NLs.

I’ve had more experience using one rather than the other, however. So that will be a factor, too. And the whole affinity might change if I replace my glasses!

 

[Bentley03]

That’s curious, because I have the opposite experience. The NLs can go up to my eyes (with glasses) and find the perfect position instantly. The Noctivids that I have tried in the shops, however, require a bit more adjustment. I can use the NLs with eyecups all the way down, but the Nocs need to be raised a stop or two, as you suggest. That speedy positioning for glasses with a 12x was one of the (several) reasons I chose the NLs.

I’ve had more experience using one rather than the other, however. So that will be a factor, too. And the whole affinity might change if I replace my glasses!

There is no 'one size fits all' with binoculars. I use two different pairs of glasses with binoculars, and find some binoculars to be a perfect fit and supremely comfortable with one pair and irritatingly unfriendly (and in some cases virtually unusable) with the other pair. My 8x32 NL's, for example, work exceptionally well with my thicker framed glasses, yet become annoying in use with my thinner framed glasses. I choose which glasses I wear based on which binoculars I plan to hang around my neck.

 

[murmeltier]

I have had a lot of different binoculars and the best I have found if you wear glasses is the 8x42 Noctivid. I screw out the eye cups two clicks and can still see the full field of view. No fiddling with adjustments. Just bring them up to your eyes and it’s perfect.

I do the same with NL 10x42 and these glasses. I find that at temperatures below 0 C the glasses (not the eyepieces) fog up a bit. I have no previous experience using glasses with binoculars.

 

[Robert Moore]

It’s not so much the eyecups on the 12x42 NL but the IPD is more finicky because of the smaller exit pupil. I use o ring under eyecup that raises it between the first stop and it works perfectly. I could probably use them screwed all the way down but I like that little bit of clearance so I don’t have to worry about scratching the lens.

 

[Robert Moore]

Here is the o rings

 

[GrampaTom]

Here is the o rings

Do you have specs on those O rings Robert?

 

[Robert Moore]

Here they are. They are 1.7mm thick and approximately 34 mm ID.

 

[Robert Moore]

These are a tight to get on so you could go with a mm or two bigger in diameter. McMaster Carr has them all different sizes and a lot cheaper than that caterpillar part number I sent you

 

[Conndomat]

I could probably use them screwed all the way down but I like that little bit of clearance so I don’t have to worry about scratching the lens.

I come in the lowest position on the metal frame. Unfortunately, the NL are not so good for long-sighted people, I find the view rather suboptimal, the Noctivids are actually much more comfortable.

Andreas

 

[Robert Moore]

I just ordered some more that are 1.5mm thick that will give me a little more eye relief and keep the eyecup up a .9 mm off the black ring on outside of eye lens which is actually part of the eyecup. The 1.7mm raises it 1.05mm from that ring.

 

[Robert Moore]

The first screwed out position is 2.7 mm above that ring just for reference.

 

[Robert Moore]

Yes the Noctivid has huge amount of eye relief. The best for sure with glasses.

 

[has530]

Following this whole thread it has become all the more clear to me how fortunate I am to not need glasses! I think when that day comes there will be quite the reckoning for my collection.

 

[Bentley03]

Following this whole thread it has become all the more clear to me how fortunate I am to not need glasses! I think when that day comes there will be quite the reckoning for my collection.

Your post could spawn a whole new thread. I suspect you might be quite surprised by some of the replies from glasses wearers.

🤓

 

[avidopticguy]

I will make my list, in order of most important to least:

1. Can use without my glasses (overdrives past infinity sufficiently to correct for my vision)
2. IPD starting at 54mm -55mm my IPD is ~55mm
3. Low to No CA - hate color fringing on birds against the sky
4. Perfect center Sharpness (less sharp binos always feel out of focus to me once I became spoiled with top tier glass)
5. Good depth of field - I hate focus hunting
6. Good field of view (min 7.6 deg +)
7. Good edge to edge sharpness
8. Repairability, warranty, support
9. Mg construction/ good build quality
10. Country of manufacture (I am ok with china, but there is a reason my 3 keepers are: MIA, MIG, and MIJ)
11. Appropriate size for intended use. Hikes/travel small and light. Extended big with nice easy viewing.

Not as important to me:

• Brightness - but by the time I got to alpha territory they are are all within few % of each other and negligible
• Focus wheel speed - I get used to it when I am using it
• Field flattener - ehhh, all my binos have it so maybe if one didn't I would feel differently? 🤷
• Brand- couldn't care less about the name on it - most glass is sourced from different manufactures and countries anyways. Ex: MIG ziess binos may have glass elements made from 2 or 3 different locations/countries to meet the particualr bino's specifications, then made sold as MIG Ziess...... I just care about the end product.
• Colors - sligh cast doesn't bother me. I enjoy cool colors of my Ziess SF (slight green tint would rather not have but not deal breaker) and warm of my swaro but neither bother me either way

What did I end up with:
Ziess SF 8X42 (love these )
Swaro CL 8X30 B (use these way more than I expected awesome size)
Nikon HG 8X42 (least used back up)