Binocular vision
September 22, 2023 8:36 AM Subscribe
Can you recommend me a pair of binoculars that could cover the following three uses, with a budget of maybe 50-100 GBP?
1) Looking out my window at the sea approx. 1.5km away to view the sea state and occasional boat
2) Looking at birds in my neighbour's tree from my garden approx. 8-10m away
3) Looking at the stars/planets at night
Please assume I know nothing about lens/optics etc because I've taken a look and tried and failed to understand the jargon and the prices are all over the place! Thanks in advance
1) Looking out my window at the sea approx. 1.5km away to view the sea state and occasional boat
2) Looking at birds in my neighbour's tree from my garden approx. 8-10m away
3) Looking at the stars/planets at night
Please assume I know nothing about lens/optics etc because I've taken a look and tried and failed to understand the jargon and the prices are all over the place! Thanks in advance
For 1) and 2) Zeiss 8x30 Jenoptem, you can find used copies of these all day long on Ebay within your budget. They were made in the DDR up until the fall of the Berlin wall and sold cheap (mostly in europe) because they were desperate for foreign currency.
They don't have waterproofing and the multi-coating has a slight warm/yellow bias. They should come with a stiff leather case.
I once did a side by side comparison with some brand new west german binoculars which cost 20x as much and the battered old jenoptem was significantly better.
posted by Lanark at 10:51 AM on September 22, 2023
They don't have waterproofing and the multi-coating has a slight warm/yellow bias. They should come with a stiff leather case.
I once did a side by side comparison with some brand new west german binoculars which cost 20x as much and the battered old jenoptem was significantly better.
posted by Lanark at 10:51 AM on September 22, 2023
I have a pair of Orion Scenix 7x50 binoculars for general use that are fantastic (for me) and they cost around $100.
My sister showed me her brand new $650 FancyPants 7x50 binos that were especially for nature use, and my first impression was "wow, these are way worse than mine" -- which I kept to myself :)
I like the basic kind where you focus the two eyes at once, and have one other adjustment (-/0/+) for left-right differences. Someone I know has a pair where you focus each eye (for each target) and that's just ridiculous for anything but astronomy.
posted by intermod at 11:03 AM on September 22, 2023
My sister showed me her brand new $650 FancyPants 7x50 binos that were especially for nature use, and my first impression was "wow, these are way worse than mine" -- which I kept to myself :)
I like the basic kind where you focus the two eyes at once, and have one other adjustment (-/0/+) for left-right differences. Someone I know has a pair where you focus each eye (for each target) and that's just ridiculous for anything but astronomy.
posted by intermod at 11:03 AM on September 22, 2023
Someone I know has a pair where you focus each eye (for each target) and that's just ridiculous for anything but astronomy.
Possibly useful if you have big differences between your sight in each eye.
posted by Pallas Athena at 11:20 AM on September 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
Possibly useful if you have big differences between your sight in each eye.
posted by Pallas Athena at 11:20 AM on September 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
Prices vary drastically.
It's just a fact of life. You can pay a huge amount for something with modestly better optics.
I got spoilt because work gave me the opportunity to use very high quality optics. Zeiss, Leica.
Not keep unfortunately.
For personal use, I have a pair of Nikon Monarch 5. 8x42.
In your price range I was impressed with these Simmons® ProSport Binoculars 10X50.
They have much better optics than the price would suggest.
They are large , the 50 mm lens gathers a lot of light so useful at dusk , dawn.
The 10 X magnification is high. It's pretty much the limit for handheld ,
I bought a pair to gift a friend .
posted by yyz at 2:46 PM on September 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
It's just a fact of life. You can pay a huge amount for something with modestly better optics.
I got spoilt because work gave me the opportunity to use very high quality optics. Zeiss, Leica.
Not keep unfortunately.
For personal use, I have a pair of Nikon Monarch 5. 8x42.
In your price range I was impressed with these Simmons® ProSport Binoculars 10X50.
They have much better optics than the price would suggest.
They are large , the 50 mm lens gathers a lot of light so useful at dusk , dawn.
The 10 X magnification is high. It's pretty much the limit for handheld ,
I bought a pair to gift a friend .
posted by yyz at 2:46 PM on September 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
tl;dr - Given your three use cases, I'd probably go with 8x32 or 7x35. 8x24s would be easier to carry on hikes but less good for astronomy. 7x50s would be heavier and their main advantage would be they'd make you look like Humphrey Bogart in a WW II movie.
The logic behind these recommendations is related to the notion of the the exit pupil. This can be calculated by dividing the diameter of the objective lens (the larger, 2nd number in the standard descriptive spec) by the magnification (the first number). It represents the diameter the light is focused into when it enters your eye, when you are using the binoculars you will normally and automatically adjust them so the exit pupil lies on top of your eye's pupil. So, for example, 8x32 binoculars would have an exit pupil of 4mm, 7x50s an exit pupil a little over 7mm.
The pupil of your eye dilates in the dark, in most people to a maximum of about 7mm, or slightly less as you age. During daylight hours in any but bright sunlight, the pupil is typically around 3 to 4 mm. When your binocular's exit pupil is larger than your eye's pupil, part of the light misses the pupil and is effectively wasted. And since, for a given magnification, binoculars with a larger exit pupil are both heavier and more expensive, people typically use different exit pupils for different things. I should add that anything over 7 or 8 power becomes hard to use without a tripod, unless you've got anti-vibration optics, which are out of your price range.
- 7mm is the standard for "night glasses", used in reconnaissance before night vision goggles were developed. 7x50s are still common, so frequently used for star gazing, but unless it's pitch dark they're kind of a waste. 10x70s would be used with a tripod for astronomy.
-5mm will give you just as bright views in most conditions. 7x35s used to be the standard birding binocular, 8x40s are a little harder to manage. 10x50s for astronomy
- 4mm is a good compromise between brightness and ease of handling, so a lot of modern birding binoculars are something like 8x32
- 3mm is good if you value compactness and lightness over brightness. "Compact" binoculars are ofter 8x24
posted by mr vino at 12:36 AM on September 23, 2023 [4 favorites]
The logic behind these recommendations is related to the notion of the the exit pupil. This can be calculated by dividing the diameter of the objective lens (the larger, 2nd number in the standard descriptive spec) by the magnification (the first number). It represents the diameter the light is focused into when it enters your eye, when you are using the binoculars you will normally and automatically adjust them so the exit pupil lies on top of your eye's pupil. So, for example, 8x32 binoculars would have an exit pupil of 4mm, 7x50s an exit pupil a little over 7mm.
The pupil of your eye dilates in the dark, in most people to a maximum of about 7mm, or slightly less as you age. During daylight hours in any but bright sunlight, the pupil is typically around 3 to 4 mm. When your binocular's exit pupil is larger than your eye's pupil, part of the light misses the pupil and is effectively wasted. And since, for a given magnification, binoculars with a larger exit pupil are both heavier and more expensive, people typically use different exit pupils for different things. I should add that anything over 7 or 8 power becomes hard to use without a tripod, unless you've got anti-vibration optics, which are out of your price range.
- 7mm is the standard for "night glasses", used in reconnaissance before night vision goggles were developed. 7x50s are still common, so frequently used for star gazing, but unless it's pitch dark they're kind of a waste. 10x70s would be used with a tripod for astronomy.
-5mm will give you just as bright views in most conditions. 7x35s used to be the standard birding binocular, 8x40s are a little harder to manage. 10x50s for astronomy
- 4mm is a good compromise between brightness and ease of handling, so a lot of modern birding binoculars are something like 8x32
- 3mm is good if you value compactness and lightness over brightness. "Compact" binoculars are ofter 8x24
posted by mr vino at 12:36 AM on September 23, 2023 [4 favorites]
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Outdoor Gear Lab was helpful too. Space.com and Digital Camera World do writeups about binoculars, too. Looking for reviews of marine binoculars might be helpful for you if you plan to use them on a boat. They're designed for maritime purposes like spotting sandbars or for finding distances.
I bought mine from B&H (helpful guide) because we don't use Amazon. There's probably somewhere similar where you are.
Basically there's 2 numbers you'll see listed, magnification and diameter. For most listings the manufacturer is listed first, then the model, then the numbers. The first number is the magnification and the second is the diameter. The bigger the diameter usually the more light so you can see farther. The Celestron Skymaster Pro ED 15x70 is intended for astronomy and distance viewing and has a 15 times magnification and a diameter of 70mm. They have special ED glass to reduce glare and optical distortion. These are HUGE binoculars, like the kind seen in movies attached to a tripod big. You can see a lot of details with them and if you can focus on a bird, you could probably see a bug in it's mouth. And the species of bug.
I think you can get two of these uses in 1 pair of glasses. You'll need a pair of long distance bins to see 1.5km and for astronomy but they'll be way too powerful for close birding. I have a pair of Celestron Trailseekers for birding and wildlife viewing and they are great between 10m and 700m but they just don't have the size to see the planets as more than blobs. I was able to easily identify harbor seals at about 250m with them.
That said, any binoculars make things bigger, and if you're just wanting to see the moon in better detail and all the stars in the Pleiades, any bins will do. For viewing ships offshore and the state of the ocean, how much detail do you need? Maybe 10-12x is enough?
posted by fiercekitten at 9:49 AM on September 22, 2023 [4 favorites]