Atomic Chicken
Registered with the D.O.E.
Greetings!
I was thinking about high-end binoculars today (gee... what a surprise! ). I was considering what would be the "be-all, end-all" binocular that would cause me to leave all others at home... all the time... similar to what my current Nikon 8X32 HG is for me. I was thinking "future" here, and didn't try and constrain it to currently available technology... although I'm sure that the features I'm after aren't unrealistic and could probably be built today with the right design team using current technology, materials, and enough $$$.
My dream binocular would be something like the Leica Duovid, with 2 selectable magnifications. I would want 7X and 12X as the two selections, but I would want to be able to select them with a single lever in the same area as the focus wheel, not on the eyepieces like the Duovid. I would want 43mm objective lenses with FL elements for low CA. I would want equivalent image quality to my Nikon HG 8X32 or better. I would want a built-in laser rangefinder like the Leica Geovid, combined with an electronic compass to give the bearing along with the range. Finally, I would want a 4-5MP digital camera built in that would capture stills or moving video of whatever I'm looking at. I would want it to play back the images or video through the eyepieces, no stupid pop-up LCD screens or other such nonsense. I would want it to weight under 30 Oz., preferably in the 25 Oz. range. Other than that, the usual roof prism things - waterproof, dustproof, fogproof, rugged rubber armored, etc.
If I had this set of binoculars, I would sell all my others (with the exception of my Zeiss 8X20 Compact binoculars for the glove box of my car) and finally be happy with a single pair for all-around use. I would finally be happy with one instrument, and not be drooling over a vast multitude of different binocular options currently available. Right now, to get everything I want, I would have to buy a set of Leica Duovids, a Leica Geovid, a Zeiss 7X42 FL, and wait a few years for a decent digital camera binocular to become available.
Any thoughts on this? What are the rest of you thinking would be your ultimate "dream binocular"? What features would/wouldn't be desirable for you?
Best wishes,
Bawko
I was thinking about high-end binoculars today (gee... what a surprise! ). I was considering what would be the "be-all, end-all" binocular that would cause me to leave all others at home... all the time... similar to what my current Nikon 8X32 HG is for me. I was thinking "future" here, and didn't try and constrain it to currently available technology... although I'm sure that the features I'm after aren't unrealistic and could probably be built today with the right design team using current technology, materials, and enough $$$.
My dream binocular would be something like the Leica Duovid, with 2 selectable magnifications. I would want 7X and 12X as the two selections, but I would want to be able to select them with a single lever in the same area as the focus wheel, not on the eyepieces like the Duovid. I would want 43mm objective lenses with FL elements for low CA. I would want equivalent image quality to my Nikon HG 8X32 or better. I would want a built-in laser rangefinder like the Leica Geovid, combined with an electronic compass to give the bearing along with the range. Finally, I would want a 4-5MP digital camera built in that would capture stills or moving video of whatever I'm looking at. I would want it to play back the images or video through the eyepieces, no stupid pop-up LCD screens or other such nonsense. I would want it to weight under 30 Oz., preferably in the 25 Oz. range. Other than that, the usual roof prism things - waterproof, dustproof, fogproof, rugged rubber armored, etc.
If I had this set of binoculars, I would sell all my others (with the exception of my Zeiss 8X20 Compact binoculars for the glove box of my car) and finally be happy with a single pair for all-around use. I would finally be happy with one instrument, and not be drooling over a vast multitude of different binocular options currently available. Right now, to get everything I want, I would have to buy a set of Leica Duovids, a Leica Geovid, a Zeiss 7X42 FL, and wait a few years for a decent digital camera binocular to become available.
Any thoughts on this? What are the rest of you thinking would be your ultimate "dream binocular"? What features would/wouldn't be desirable for you?
Best wishes,
Bawko
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