Turn the big binos around, pretend you're out in the open looking at distant feeders.Problem with the 16x when sitting at home is not shake, but distance; my garden bird feeders are too close
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Turn the big binos around, pretend you're out in the open looking at distant feeders.Problem with the 16x when sitting at home is not shake, but distance; my garden bird feeders are too close
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Meaning the 8's were better in low light? I sometimes wonder if comparisons like this depend more on each pair's optics rather than just the magnification. Eg better coatings, leading to higher contrast, etc.Roosting Serendib Scops Owl in deep shade. With 8s you could see the spots. With 10s, you couldn’t.
Same reason?Pechora Pipit creeping through a dense patch of overgrown garden on Shetland. Mate with 10s couldn’t get on it, but ok with 8s. (he’d already seen it well by the way)
Meaning the 8's were better in low light? I sometimes wonder if comparisons like this depend more on each pair's optics rather than just the magnification. Eg better coatings, leading to higher contrast, etc.
Same reason?
One night a friend and I compared my 8x42's with his 10x50's looking at kangaroos in the near dark. We couldn't really tell the difference.
As I consider adding a pair of 10x42 to my current single pair of 8x42, I am interested to hear about which birding situations best lend themselves to each magnification. When do you opt for the 10x and vice versa? Thanks.
HeadWest,
I use the Nikon 8x32 SE. The correct response to that should be, “Who bloody cares?” For birding, 8 to 10 power rules the roost. Most of it comes down to personal preference. I’ve seen “conscientious” shoppers look out my window at Captain’s with two or three binoculars for more than 2 hours, which would only tell an integrity-challenged salesperson that they are clueless and ripe for the picking. Good advertising need not be accurate or even meaningful. It has only to be believed.
If you do your homework BEFORE going shopping, you can go through a bevy of 20 binoculars in 20 minutes—30 if you’re slow of thought. One size does not fit all. Many, if not most, first or second-time binocular shoppers are unfamiliar with some of the more important aspects of a good image or physical attributes of the instrument. In addition, some folks blame every undesirable facet of a view on the instrument when the largest portion of the problem lies with our own physiological differences, shortcomings, and irrelevant conditions that are most useful for bragging sessions on binocular forums.
My first telescope was a Gilbert 3-inch reflector in a paper tube, with a built-in plastic focuser and EP combination. With it, I saw Venus, Saturn, Mars, and Jupiter in that order. As an adult, I’ve owned several of the finest amateur telescopes known to man. With them, I have seen Distortion, Chromatic Aberration, Coma, Astigmatism, Field Curvature, etc. When do you think I had the most pleasure under the stars? U betcha!
No, the above was NOT politically correct. Political correctness just trades COMMUNICATION for OBFUSCATION which hides facts and confuses the honest truth seeker.
The succinct bottom line:
Buy a 30 to 40 millimeter binocular with an 8 to 10 magnification and use it until YOU see a reason to NEED something else. I have it on solid authority that the birds ... don’t care!
Finally, 8 and 10 power are so close, it usually (though not always) takes a nitnoid to get spun up over the difference. :cat:
Good Hunting,
Bill
Let me summarise that for you Bill - the best binocular for birdwatching is the one you actually have with you
Edmund
Let me summarise that for you Bill - the best binocular for birdwatching is the one you actually have with you
On the other hand, I took my son up the Eiffel tower on a day with poor light. My 8x25 Zeiss Pocket let me observe planes taxying and taking off and landing at Roissy, 40 km away. My UV HD 7x42 Leica just couldnt resolve this as well. The LEica is usually the glass I much prefer using. In this case there was a real difference. Go figure ...
Edmund
The best thing about an 8X32 SE (dinky old porro) is that people do not take you seriously and, as a result, they leave you alone.HeadWest,
I use the Nikon 8x32 SE. The correct response to that should be, “Who bloody cares?” For birding, 8 to 10 power rules the roost. Most of it comes down to personal preference. I’ve seen “conscientious” shoppers look out my window at Captain’s with two or three binoculars for more than 2 hours, which would only tell an integrity-challenged salesperson that they are clueless and ripe for the picking. Good advertising need not be accurate or even meaningful. It has only to be believed.
If you do your homework BEFORE going shopping, you can go through a bevy of 20 binoculars in 20 minutes—30 if you’re slow of thought. One size does not fit all. Many, if not most, first or second-time binocular shoppers are unfamiliar with some of the more important aspects of a good image or physical attributes of the instrument. In addition, some folks blame every undesirable facet of a view on the instrument when the largest portion of the problem lies with our own physiological differences, shortcomings, and irrelevant conditions that are most useful for bragging sessions on binocular forums.
My first telescope was a Gilbert 3-inch reflector in a paper tube, with a built-in plastic focuser and EP combination. With it, I saw Venus, Saturn, Mars, and Jupiter in that order. As an adult, I’ve owned several of the finest amateur telescopes known to man. With them, I have seen Distortion, Chromatic Aberration, Coma, Astigmatism, Field Curvature, etc. When do you think I had the most pleasure under the stars? U betcha!
No, the above was NOT politically correct. Political correctness just trades COMMUNICATION for OBFUSCATION which hides facts and confuses the honest truth seeker.
The succinct bottom line:
Buy a 30 to 40 millimeter binocular with an 8 to 10 magnification and use it until YOU see a reason to NEED something else. I have it on solid authority that the birds ... don’t care!
Finally, 8 and 10 power are so close, it usually (though not always) takes a nitnoid to get spun up over the difference. :cat:
Good Hunting,
Bill
I’ve seen “conscientious” shoppers look out my window at Captain’s with two or three binoculars for more than 2 hours, which would only tell an integrity-challenged salesperson that they are clueless and ripe for the picking.
As I consider adding a pair of 10x42 to my current single pair of 8x42, I am interested to hear about which birding situations best lend themselves to each magnification. When do you opt for the 10x and vice versa? Thanks.
I also own 10x bins.
Since I could use them if I wanted to, I am free to choose not to use them, which is what I do.
--AP
You're a dealer? I've spent ages in shops comparing binoculars, not to work out which is best, but to see if I can see ANY difference, in order to convince myself to buy them. Haven't been very successful.**
I suspect what would be needed to convince people like me would be a special test range that could simulate the marginal conditions where there is a useful difference. Eg, at what distance can I see the lighter margin of a test target feather? Or at what light level can I not see it with pair A, but can see it with pair B?
Instead we make do with pigeons in the park that we can id with the naked eye anyway, and it's not till we've bought them (not the pigeons) and used them a lot that we start to think, yes, I'm doing better with these.
** I once came home near convinced that a pair of Swarovskis was for me because when I'd tried them in the shop that day, my eyes just relaxed and they felt great. Then I discovered my glasses were twisted out of alignment, making all binoculars appear to be out of collimation. So what was wrong with that pair of Swarovskis?