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Message: <blockquote data-quote="WJC" data-source="post: 3417519" data-attributes="member: 25191">Thanks Ed; I try. You can ask Steve. I'm sure he will tell you I am very trying. Those in need or understand something about optics, tend to appreciate my approach. Still, there are nameless whiners behind every bush, these days. I think it all revolves around each person's perceived purpose for the Bino Section of BirdForum.One who recently seemed not to be able to get his head around the principles of bino functioning, has called Conditional Alignment a “theory.” Actually, it is no more a “theory” than gravity, magnetism, or electricity. Although it’s true, some would rather spend their time on foolish notions of alignment; I can’t be blamed for that. I’ve done the best I could to raise the bar for the betterment of all who care.Conditional Alignment was born with the creation of the world’s first binocular. All I did was give a name to it, that it might be differentiated from “Collimation” for those who give more than lip service to wanting to know more.And it’s not restricted to amateurs! One bino mega Mogul used to tell Cory and me: “I don’t need a collimator; I can eyeball collimation to 100 power.” Cory and I would just roll our eyes, knowing he couldn’t. Do you think this man had ever heard of “Spatial Accommodation,” or “ciliary muscles,” or knew what part they played in alignment!?Fortunately, after many years of selling and repairing binoculars, he took one of Cory’s seminars. Alas, this man now has a collimator and has had some of his long-standing, but faulty, philosophies tweaked.Cory was also with me the day I took a call from a fellow who had been a repair manager at his company for more than 10 years. His call went something like this: “Bill, I don’t understand it; I’ll get the binocular collimated, but when I move one of the barrels, it’s off again!” This fellow was very helpful and conscientious. But, not understanding the basics of 3-axis collimation and following the ever so flawed techniques described in certain literature and on the Internet, he had been selling conditional alignment as collimation all those years, with his repair customers having to use their spatial accommodation to do much of the job they had paid him to do. It was this experience that caused me to first suggest: “There’s a big difference between 20 years of experience and one year of experience 20 times.”I get in trouble every time I say it, but I will do so again: most of the guys who were really qualified to do serious work on binoculars, are pushing up daises these days. Cory and I want others to carry on. Still, so many think they already know all they need to know. As Master Birder, Pete Dunn, once told me concerning magazine editors: “... they don’t know what they don’t know.” :cat:Cheers,BillPS And Arthur, collimation is not hard at all. It’s just that so many who will spend DAYS every year discussing collimation, are loath to spend MINUTES trying to understand what they’re talking about. Pontification is much less taxing than research.</blockquote>

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