Although now retired I was employed for over thirty years as a countryside ranger, in the course of this work I regularly met keen birders. One day I was observing a couple of snipe probing in marshy ground, they were about eighty yards away and I was watching through my work issue binocular, these were pretty awful and I really didn't like using them at all. I had them resting on my rucksack which in turn was perched on the bonnet of the Land- Rover.
I was approached by a man who asked me what I was looking at, he was a keen birder, equipped with the almost ubiquitous Swarovski 8x42s, he trained them onto the area I had described - "just to the left of that boulder, the one with the moss on top". After peering for some time he told me that he couldn't see a thing. I stood aside and invited him to look through mine as they were still perfectly aligned, he saw the birds immediately, but on returning to his own binocular, lost them again.
It was obvious that he was unable to hand hold binoculars steady, but he was under the misapprehension that my binoculars were superior to his. This idea was quickly dispelled when I placed the Swarovski onto my rucksack and he could instantly make out every detail of those beautifully camouflaged birds.
I was reminded of this today when I was watching the bird feeder for a prolonged period to see what was about. My arms soon tired so I sat on a chair and balanced the binocular on a mono-pod. The 30 year old Zeiss Dialyt 8x30B, which had long ago been relegated to a 'window sill bin', suddenly became absolutely superb once again!
So in truth, old or cheap binoculars won't usually match expensive modern ones, but a little bit of support will certainly close the gap.
Petroc.
I was approached by a man who asked me what I was looking at, he was a keen birder, equipped with the almost ubiquitous Swarovski 8x42s, he trained them onto the area I had described - "just to the left of that boulder, the one with the moss on top". After peering for some time he told me that he couldn't see a thing. I stood aside and invited him to look through mine as they were still perfectly aligned, he saw the birds immediately, but on returning to his own binocular, lost them again.
It was obvious that he was unable to hand hold binoculars steady, but he was under the misapprehension that my binoculars were superior to his. This idea was quickly dispelled when I placed the Swarovski onto my rucksack and he could instantly make out every detail of those beautifully camouflaged birds.
I was reminded of this today when I was watching the bird feeder for a prolonged period to see what was about. My arms soon tired so I sat on a chair and balanced the binocular on a mono-pod. The 30 year old Zeiss Dialyt 8x30B, which had long ago been relegated to a 'window sill bin', suddenly became absolutely superb once again!
So in truth, old or cheap binoculars won't usually match expensive modern ones, but a little bit of support will certainly close the gap.
Petroc.
