Difference between 200- and 800-€ binoculars (6 Viewers)

[Maljunulo]

There is so much else in the world to view, with binoculars, and when you have a pair that feel perfect in your hands, fit and function wonderfully with your face and eyes, focus practically effortlessly, and present an image that amazes you with it's clarity, sharpness, and color quality... that alone provides a wonderfully gratifying experience. Even if you're looking at cacti in the desert, whales in the ocean, race cars on a track, architecture, night time vistas in the heart of NYC, or the moon on a full moon night like tonight.

As you step up to binoculars made with greater mechanical precision and incrementally finer image quality, the point of diminishing returns definitely sets in... but even the relatively small diminished returns can be quite sublime.

I am in no way encouraging anyone to spend what they can't afford. But for those who are able to afford near-alpha, or alpha grade binoculars... yes, they are quite an enjoyable treat - even if you could identify the same bird with a $300 pair of 10x42s.

Very well said.

 

[LucaPCP]

Hi,

I am thinking of buying new binoculars because I am getting more and more interested in birdwatching.
At the moment, I own some Nikon Prostaff 7s and I'd like to know wether more expensive binoculars, say 800€, would help me to indentify birds better.

What do you think?

I really value your opinion.

In my opinion, generally better/more expensive binoculars help make their use more enjoyable, rather than allowing better bird identification, with ONE exception: flare.
Binoculars with less flare will enable you to look at birds against bright backgrounds and still discern their colors, which are necessary for identification if you don't know the birds well already (and can ID them by habitat, shape, motion, etc). Many times, this has been crucial to me (bird in canopies, bird against bright sky, bright water, etc).
So I value very much binoculars with low flare.
If I had to rank binocular attributes:
Flare would be first.
Good contrast would be second.
Central sharpness third.
Field of vision, and peripheral sharpness are not all that important for ID.
A cheapish one that is very very good is the Terra 8x25. Very sharp, very little flare. Others may be good as well.

 

[ZDHart]

A cheapish one that is very very good is the Terra 8x25. Very sharp, very little flare. Others may be good as well.

While I have an appreciative view of Zeiss Terra bins, there is far more to excellent binocular views than just having excellent sharpness and low flare.

For anything other than occasional, limited use of binoculars, I would suggest at least stepping up to 32mm objectives. If pushing up to Conquest HD 8x32 is totally out of the question, Terra 8x32 is an excellent, lower-priced binocular.

Seriously, 25mm objective binoculars are a huge compromise in many ways, especially if you don't go Leica, Victory, or Swaro... and even then, they don't offer near the enjoyable, quality viewing experience you can have with a fine quality pair of 8x32s.