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="Alexis Powell" data-source="post: 1399156" data-attributes="member: 5327">I think "" is going a bit far, but I'm no proponent of using nonIS 15x handheld, at least for birding.  For checking the occasional small detail, especially of stationary objects, 15x can be employed productively by most people.  Sometimes all you need is a glimpse, which can be achievable during a moment of relative steadiness.  But for general birding, the loss of FOV and DOF are not worth the gain in magnification, especially since most birds can be identified with 8 or 10x at the distances at which they usually initially attract attention.  The conventional wisdom is that the pleasingly steady view of 8 and 10x binos compensates for their lower maginification, such that a birder can acquire as much or more usable detail as they can through a shaky 15x view.  I think that is true, but I've met a very few birders who still prefer the visual experience of a big shaky image over a steady lower mag one, even after we've established that they can't see birds any better for ID than I can with 8x.--AP</blockquote>