tenex
reality-based
Well, I just returned the Ultravid HD+ 8x32 that I had for the last week. Not because it wasn't a lovely little thing, although the focusing knob had an annoying click in it. (What's that about?) Not because the view wasn't bright and beautiful, although I would prefer less pincushion distortion. And not because I don't like the idea of small binoculars; I used a 10x32 BN for years and thought highly of it. But it seems that finicky eyepieces must just go with that form factor (not to mention 25mm or 20!). So if I do ever get another glass this small for convenience, I don't want to spend alpha money on it.
People generally say that exit pupil is the issue, and sure enough my Trinovid 10x42 BR gives a more accommodating view. So I expected stepping back to 8x to do likewise for a 32mm glass, but it didn't. I'm starting to suspect that the sheer physical diameter of the ocular is the limiting factor. After a couple of days of readjustment because something about the HD+ (including its shallow eyecups) was different from the BN, I could use it well enough, but it continued to strike me as even more sensitive to eye positioning than the BN was.
I'm aware that eyepiece design has always been a major compromise even in alpha binos, because really good ones (wide and sharp etc) would be prohibitively large and expensive. Does the problem get even worse on smaller binos, just because the (already barely adequate) eyepieces have to be smaller too? The advantages of larger binos are commonly described in terms of objective size (brightness, resolution), but I'm starting to believe that ocular size can be at least as important. And it begins to feel comfortable to me somewhere around the form factor of a 42mm glass, so the 10x42 will be my usual choice now.
People generally say that exit pupil is the issue, and sure enough my Trinovid 10x42 BR gives a more accommodating view. So I expected stepping back to 8x to do likewise for a 32mm glass, but it didn't. I'm starting to suspect that the sheer physical diameter of the ocular is the limiting factor. After a couple of days of readjustment because something about the HD+ (including its shallow eyecups) was different from the BN, I could use it well enough, but it continued to strike me as even more sensitive to eye positioning than the BN was.
I'm aware that eyepiece design has always been a major compromise even in alpha binos, because really good ones (wide and sharp etc) would be prohibitively large and expensive. Does the problem get even worse on smaller binos, just because the (already barely adequate) eyepieces have to be smaller too? The advantages of larger binos are commonly described in terms of objective size (brightness, resolution), but I'm starting to believe that ocular size can be at least as important. And it begins to feel comfortable to me somewhere around the form factor of a 42mm glass, so the 10x42 will be my usual choice now.
