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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hermann" data-source="post: 1311644" data-attributes="member: 4925">Interesting topic. I don't think I can claim that I ever got an ID just because I used first class binoculars. All the birds I managed to identify through my binoculars I could also have identified through a good mid-range pair. Building good binoculars isn't rocket science, and many old porros are still very good binoculars, even by today's crazy standards.  Sure, modern binoculars may be (a lot) brighter and have (a lot) more contrast, some also have less CA than many old porros. Sure, the image provided by modern binoculars is often more pleasing, it looks nicer, but the difference in image quality is surely rarely critical to identication. Other aspects of binocular design (like waterproofing) may be far more critical, after all you won't be able to identify anything with half a pint of water in your binocular barrels. Scopes are a different matter. When I started birding, the drawtube Optolyth 30x75 was considered my many to be the best scope on the market, and many people still used the Nickel 15-60x60 or the Hertel & Reuss 25-60x60. I started out on a Nickel, then switched to a Kowa TS1 and a few years later to a Zeiss Jena 63/420 with orthoscopic eyepieces. The Zeiss was quite nice, but at 42x the image was dull and lacking in contrast. When you compare it to a modern scope the difference is quite staggering. I could go on, but I guess what I want to say is that even today the difference between the top makes and low-range and even mid-range scopes is big. So big, that it often means you can't identify a bird through a decent mid-range scope that you can easily identify through any of the top scopes. Modern coatings, modern eyepiece designs, the use of ED lenses and/or fluorite lenses make a huge difference. I don't upgrade my optics as often as many folks, but I've been in a couple of situations recently where I couldn't identify a bird in failing light through my Nikon EDIIIA that I could identify through one of the larger top scopes, in that case a Kowa 883. Even trough a Leica Apo those birds were "difficult" to identify. Hermann</blockquote>

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