Binoculars for forest birding (3 Viewers)

[elkcub]

Yes the 8x32 FOV is desirable. I loved my Leica 8x32BAs. However, they fell short in the light gathering ability in dark tropical forests. I've lost more than one lifer because of that issue. Folks with 40-42mm objectives were getting birds I couldn't. Which is why I got the noticeably brighter Ultravids 8x42s. Unfortunately they aren't as sharp. They did quite good in some Trinidad and Tobago forests.

Some folks have recently been touting 10x42-50 bins as provding a brighter image yet. I'm tempted to look into these as some of the tropical canopy flocks are waaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyy up there. Image stability and low FOV are the downside I'm concerned about.

Bill,

My personal experience favors a 10x40/42 as long as it has 330 ft. FOV and excellent depth of field. Many may disagree, but I also find its detail and color resolution better, both near and far. For me the extra mass stabilizes scene jitter, which I simply can't control well with typical 7x or 8x glasses. Hence, between image size and scene stability the experience is really satisfying. I don't think there's any way to get around the fact that larger objectives transmit more light.

-elk