WJC
Well-known member
Even though tens of thousands of words have been posted—on at least the 4 bino forums I frequent—about the dangers of the 15x70 SkyMaster being out of collimation right out of the box or about going out of collimation if you look at it wrong, there are still some who seem to feel they’re the one person on the planet who has one or two that have remained in collimation over the years. And I have been asked to make the lamb lie down with the lion, why some people have such a different story in the face of a preponderance of evidence to the contrary from all over the world.
This is my take:
1) The observer may not know what “collimation” means—some don’t.
2) The observer has a greater than normal range of spatial accommodation, although no set of human eyes can compensate for the error illustrated.
3) The observer may be new to binoculars and thinks the double-image is just the nature of the beast. I have been asked why, “my binocular doesn’t offer the ‘PROPER’ figure 8 image?”
4) The likely answer:
When I take in a binocular for repair, the first thing I do is work the hinge for tightness and smoothness. The second thing is to check for alignment issues.
While at Captain’s, an older lady brought her binocular in for “cleaning.” Seeing the image of a van in the parking lot with its tires in one telescope over the top of the van in the other telescope, I had to point out what I was seeing (graphic recreated). She took the binocular, looked through it, and said: “It looks okay to me.”
Was she using only one eye? Did she not understand what the image SHOULD have looked like? Or, being on a fixed income, was she just trying to avoid paying some young upstart to have the binocular collimated? It didn’t need cleaning.
The similar is true with much younger people; their opinions on what is and is not right is often not based on honesty but, rather, what they can afford. But really, should honesty be based on the size of your wallet? :cat:
Bill
This is my take:
1) The observer may not know what “collimation” means—some don’t.
2) The observer has a greater than normal range of spatial accommodation, although no set of human eyes can compensate for the error illustrated.
3) The observer may be new to binoculars and thinks the double-image is just the nature of the beast. I have been asked why, “my binocular doesn’t offer the ‘PROPER’ figure 8 image?”
4) The likely answer:
When I take in a binocular for repair, the first thing I do is work the hinge for tightness and smoothness. The second thing is to check for alignment issues.
While at Captain’s, an older lady brought her binocular in for “cleaning.” Seeing the image of a van in the parking lot with its tires in one telescope over the top of the van in the other telescope, I had to point out what I was seeing (graphic recreated). She took the binocular, looked through it, and said: “It looks okay to me.”
Was she using only one eye? Did she not understand what the image SHOULD have looked like? Or, being on a fixed income, was she just trying to avoid paying some young upstart to have the binocular collimated? It didn’t need cleaning.
The similar is true with much younger people; their opinions on what is and is not right is often not based on honesty but, rather, what they can afford. But really, should honesty be based on the size of your wallet? :cat:
Bill
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