Have you noticed how many older, and often experienced, birdwatchers use ancient binoculars, often in poor condition? I met one such elderly gentleman recently and after offering the use of my scope to view a distant flock of Avocet we got to discussing optics. He was using east German Zeiss 8x30 Jenoptem, nearly all the paint had worn away and he was regularly scrubbing at the eye glasses with his pocket handkerchief! He opined that he did'nt need new ones as he could see the birds well enough with the ones he had.
I thought it would be interesting to put his premise to the test as I have a similar binocular, a 30 year old Deltrintem which is used as a "windowsill bin" for grabbing quick views of garden birds.
Yesterday, in very dull light conditions, I spent some time in a hide which is ideal for comparing binoculars as it enjoys views in two directions, north across a marsh to a small village 1200 yards distant and south over an estuary to a boatyard and moorings on the far side.
To represent a modern binocular as favoured by most birdwatchers I used my Nikon HG 8x32, there are no scientific tests employed here, just a general impression of using these two glasses in a typical birding situation. The first thing I noticed was the difference in colour balance, the Zeiss image is yellow with a much reduced contrast while the Nikon gives a magnified image of exactly what my eyes see, secondly the Nikon image is sharp across most of the field while the Zeiss is only really clear over the central 25%.
To test absolute resolution I attempted to read the names on boats moored at 1400 yards, both binoculars could make out one with white lettering on a black background but only the Nikon could read one with red lettering against black. The centre sharpness of the old Zeiss is pretty good and improved greatly when the sun made an occasional appearance, the Nikon was consistently sharp in all light conditions (this demonstrates the importance of testing any potential optics purchase in poor light)
The Nikon focus although fast is always quick and easy to get optimum resolution, the Zeiss needed much "rocking" to find it, depth of field seemed much the same in either glass.
Birds looked better, sharper and "cleaner" at middle to far distance but at close range, particularly in bushes,, the Zeiss image was perfectly acceptable. So in a way the old gent was right, you won't really miss identifying birds with a reasonable older binocular, but I concluded that you do miss out on the pure viewing pleasure that a good quality modern glass offers. The old Zeiss is still a great "garden bin" though, and can be obtained for very little cash, a much better prospect than the typical plastic chainstore offering, and I bet it will still be in service in another 30 years!
Petroc.
I thought it would be interesting to put his premise to the test as I have a similar binocular, a 30 year old Deltrintem which is used as a "windowsill bin" for grabbing quick views of garden birds.
Yesterday, in very dull light conditions, I spent some time in a hide which is ideal for comparing binoculars as it enjoys views in two directions, north across a marsh to a small village 1200 yards distant and south over an estuary to a boatyard and moorings on the far side.
To represent a modern binocular as favoured by most birdwatchers I used my Nikon HG 8x32, there are no scientific tests employed here, just a general impression of using these two glasses in a typical birding situation. The first thing I noticed was the difference in colour balance, the Zeiss image is yellow with a much reduced contrast while the Nikon gives a magnified image of exactly what my eyes see, secondly the Nikon image is sharp across most of the field while the Zeiss is only really clear over the central 25%.
To test absolute resolution I attempted to read the names on boats moored at 1400 yards, both binoculars could make out one with white lettering on a black background but only the Nikon could read one with red lettering against black. The centre sharpness of the old Zeiss is pretty good and improved greatly when the sun made an occasional appearance, the Nikon was consistently sharp in all light conditions (this demonstrates the importance of testing any potential optics purchase in poor light)
The Nikon focus although fast is always quick and easy to get optimum resolution, the Zeiss needed much "rocking" to find it, depth of field seemed much the same in either glass.
Birds looked better, sharper and "cleaner" at middle to far distance but at close range, particularly in bushes,, the Zeiss image was perfectly acceptable. So in a way the old gent was right, you won't really miss identifying birds with a reasonable older binocular, but I concluded that you do miss out on the pure viewing pleasure that a good quality modern glass offers. The old Zeiss is still a great "garden bin" though, and can be obtained for very little cash, a much better prospect than the typical plastic chainstore offering, and I bet it will still be in service in another 30 years!
Petroc.