BirdForum is the net's largest birding community dedicated to wild birds and birding, and is absolutely FREE!

Register for an account to take part in lively discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="typo" data-source="post: 3342351" data-attributes="member: 83808">Welcome to the forum, that's a beautiful location you have there.Firstly the question about exit lenses. The firstnthing you need to look at is the exit pupil. Divide the objective diameter by the magnification, so a 10x50 would he 10/50=5mm. A bigger value means more low light capability. 3mm would probably be fine during the day in Cost Rica. Many birders would find an 8x32 with an 4mm meets all their needs in the tropics and 5mm will generally cover most needs for more northerly climates. Because a boat bounces around a 7x50 is popular. The low power is steadier and the big exit pupil makes eye alignment easier.Steve suggestion of a 15x56 (3.7mm) is a good one offering a reasonable level of magnification and field of view. If your pockets are deep enough the Kowa Highlander is excellent. It has 82mm objectives and with the 21x eyepieces you still get a 3.7mm EP. Other eyepieces will give higher magnification and smaller EPs. That would be a quite an expense. It might be better to get something more affordable to start with. These guys offer a some choices but  be warned the cheap 15x70 is rather infamous for getting knocked out of alignment in transit. bigbinoculars.comDavid</blockquote>