Binoculars

[jules77]

My husband wants a new pair of binoculars, but I am totally confused by all the different magnifications 8 x 40, 8 x 42, 12 x 50 etc etc. Which is the best sort to have for hobby bird watching. Thanks

[shaneystar2]

8X 40 for example means that 8 is the magnification and lets you see things eight times closer .The 30 is the diameter of the objective lens .And so on ...12x50 would mean twelve times nearer and 50 the diameter etc.
Have a look here

I have got a pair of 10x40 ...and they are really good for what I need which is just mainly spying on the various antics the birds get up to in the garden but are also good enough on the beach to see other birds ...mainly gulls and terns and great when we sometimes go on the broads for the ducks and what have you .But it depends again where and what you are going to be looking at .

[Solarjunkie]

Lots of info here
http://www.actionoptics.co.uk/

[jules77]

thanks guys, that is really helpful. He is just an amateur bird watcher, and likes to look at the birds on the beach and in the countryside while on holiday, and down the garden, from his armchair of course, when at home.

[Cetti]

You need to try them out first jules, to see what's right for you as they vary tremendously.

My favourite pair are Olympus 8 x42 wide angle. Great for garden and dusk birdies as they let in so much light, but are much too heavy for wearing around the neck (for me, anyway) and walking any great distance.

Long walks we favour the compact ones. Mine are Nikon Sportlite 10 x25, and my husband's are Olympus 10 x 25 PCI which although the same size are far superior to mine - same price as well.

If you have the cash go for the Rolls Royce of bins, which are Leica 7x or 8 x and 42 if possible. There's really no rule but disregard 12 x as that's just not feasable for watching birdies.

[heathfield]

The greater the magnification, the harder it is to keep the image steady. (It's one reason the army use only 8x binoculars). Forget 16x and 20x for hand-helds.

There's only a fixed amount of light entering the object lens, (that's the one at the front). The more the image is magnified, the more the light is spread out, and the dimmer the image will be. So the bigger this front lens is, the more light gets in and the image will be brighter and better. It's the principle behind 'night' binoculars. (Those humungously big binoculars that were used on old battleships were only 3x magnification! But the image was so bright and clear that signal flags could be read where only the mast of the other ship was poking up over the horizon.)

Form these reasons, a pair of 7x50s can give better results than than 10x30s, for example.

[bhg481]

It doesn't matter how good your binoculars are; if you haven't got them with you they're completely useless, so think very hard about buying "compact" ones rather than full-size.
Object lens diameter/magnification is known as "exit pupil"; a value greater than 5 is no advantage as this is the diameter of the pupil of the eye. The higher the value the better the poor light performance, so a value of 5 is best for star-gazing but no great advantage for daylight use.
A magnification greater than 8 makes them difficult to keep steady BUT you can get image-stabilised binoculars (at higher cost, of course); Canon make several models starting at around £250 for 8X25. As well as being more expensive they are also bulkier and heavier because of the batteries but they will allow you to to buy higher magnification without suffering from shake problems.
The best advice is to go to shops and try them.