No black ring please (1 Viewer)

[MikeRottier]

When looking through binoculars, I like a big, fat image circle and and a black ring around it that is very thin. This in opposite to the 'looking through a tunnel' effect. A while ago I made the mistake of looking through a pair of 8x42 Meopta Meostar B1's, and what a wonderfull view it was. I enjoyed the ease of view of it almost even more than my girlfriends NL Pure.
When reading about binoculars you get bombarded with FOV's, AFOV's and what not all, but I find this very unuseful. Wat good is an image with a very big FOV projected at the end of a black tunnel ? I just want the binocular to dissapear when I'm looking through it. Unfortunately most shops don't have all the models of every producer of bino's in stock, and the stores that do have a lot of bino's are far and away.
So my question is: what binoculars in the 1000 euro price range (or less) do give this feeling that you are sticking your head out of a window and have this immersive view ?

 

[wllmspd]

Tricky one, even wide field s like the Nikon 8x30E2 have a surrounding black field stop visible. You can add a bino bandit that will block out straylight and distractions out the corner of your eye. You’re not going to get a wider apparent field than the NL pure you mention without

• Buying a Nikon WX (£££££££)
• Getting an old 7x35 porro (old coatings, poor edges and tiny eye relief)

- Getting a binoscope and using wide angle astro eyepieces. Eg apm 70mm with Baader Morpheus eyepieces (££)
I find you can always see a black field edge, though sometimes it’s not the real field stop, but the edge your eye can detect. One issue is that you want to look around the field and this can lead to annoying blackouts as your pupils aren’t centred anymore.
Apparent fields beyond around 75degrees don’t seem to really help much. I picked up some very nice binos with only 64degree field of view recently, but the quality of the view is amazing and I don’t feel that I need a little wider. I’d look through as many different pairs of binos as you can and pick one that gives you the “best” view - best being personal to you.

Peter

 

[MikeRottier]

Tricky one, even wide field s like the Nikon 8x30E2 have a surrounding black field stop visible. You can add a bino bandit that will block out straylight and distractions out the corner of your eye. You’re not going to get a wider apparent field than the NL pure you mention without

• Buying a Nikon WX (£££££££)
• Getting an old 7x35 porro (old coatings, poor edges and tiny eye relief)

- Getting a binoscope and using wide angle astro eyepieces. Eg apm 70mm with Baader Morpheus eyepieces (££)
I find you can always see a black field edge, though sometimes it’s not the real field stop, but the edge your eye can detect. One issue is that you want to look around the field and this can lead to annoying blackouts as your pupils aren’t centred anymore.
Apparent fields beyond around 75degrees don’t seem to really help much. I picked up some very nice binos with only 64degree field of view recently, but the quality of the view is amazing and I don’t feel that I need a little wider. I’d look through as many different pairs of binos as you can and pick one that gives you the “best” view - best being personal to you.

Peter

I understand that there will always be a black field stop, but the Meostar and the Pure opened my eyes so to speak, so now I'm looking for a binoculair with a similar 'big' view. I tried different bino's already but you have to visit different places and try to remember how every bino looked like. I'm looking for an 8 times 30/32 or 40/42.

 

[Viraj]

I understand what you mean. My preference is the same. When I bought NL 8x42 I expected to see a very big field without noticing much of a black background. However my expectations didn’t come to reality. There is a trick to get that view with NL together with the forehead rest. You can fold down eyecups to the max and use the forehead rest as the only support to get that magical view. I think it is possible with any binoculars with eyecups fully folded down position however you have to float them in front if you eyes. Sometimes I do that trick with my monarch 7 8x30 to get that magical view since it is not that heavy to float in front of my eye sockets. Furthermore I get this view with binoculars having comparatively less eye relief (which are not proven to blackouts at lower eye cup positions) such as UV 10x32.

 

[wllmspd]

Can you elaborate, as if I get the eye spacing wrong then I get blackouts. I often rest the eyecups on my eyebrows to help fix the spacing optimally.
I find adding a bino bandit helps remove distractions and I pull the two tubes apart as far as I can (without starting to get a black gap in the middle), gives you a little more field width.

Peter

 

[Viraj]

Can you elaborate, as if I get the eye spacing wrong then I get blackouts. I often rest the eyecups on my eyebrows to help fix the spacing optimally.
I find adding a bino bandit helps remove distractions and I pull the two tubes apart as far as I can (without starting to get a black gap in the middle), gives you a little more field width.

Peter

I hope your question is for me.

It is not about the IPD change but about changing the eyecups position. If you fold down eyecups fully and float the eyepiece in front of your eye sockets, you will get an illusion of a wide field as you see the outside of the view from eyepiece as well. You have to try it doing if not already done before.

As you do, I also change the IPD sometimes to get a bit of wider view.

 

[wllmspd]

Will give it a try, never done that before:

Peter

 

[Patudo]

The only bino I've noticed a thin black ring around the image was the Leica 7x35 Retrovid, which is a very slim binocular with thin eyecups - and to be honest, I didn't really like it. I actually feel that when the image circle is surrounded by black as much as possible it makes for a more immersive experience (like being in a cinema with the lights off). Binoculars with rubber eyecups that block side-light, used straight to my eyes (no glasses) give me the most satisfying view.

From what I've seen, I think the following things help with the "open window" view:

• larger exit pupil
• wide apparent field of view does help, although not essential if you can move the field stop "out", which seems to depend on
• shorter eye relief, letting you move the binocular physically closer to your eyes (if you don't need or use glasses)

if the OP doesn't wear glasses he might find a short eye relief porro like a Habicht maybe, or even an old Zeiss, interesting to try...

 

[Binocollector]

It works for me on the Kite 8x56 Cervus HD but only when I use it with glasses. Must be the 7mm exit pupil.
Or on old EWA porros with around 80° AFoV. Then the field stop is so far outside the center that you have to roll your eyes around to actually see it.

 

[MikeRottier]

I understand what you mean. My preference is the same. When I bought NL 8x42 I expected to see a very big field without noticing much of a black background. However my expectations didn’t come to reality. There is a trick to get that view with NL together with the forehead rest. You can fold down eyecups to the max and use the forehead rest as the only support to get that magical view. I think it is possible with any binoculars with eyecups fully folded down position however you have to float them in front if you eyes. Sometimes I do that trick with my monarch 7 8x30 to get that magical view since it is not that heavy to float in front of my eye sockets. Furthermore I get this view with binoculars having comparatively less eye relief (which are not proven to blackouts at lower eye cup positions) such as UV 10x32.

I do this all the time with any binocular. I start with the eye-cups in the retracted position. When I get blackouts in the view I extend them one click, and try again.

 

[BOKEH]

All you need is an afov of 70 dgrees, removing of eyecup is a plus.