Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/01/18
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Eric, Traditionally birding binoculars need to be at the long end of what you can hold to your eyes for minutes at a time with out eye fatigue due to hand shake. For most people that is in the 8X area. People with steady hands will go up to 8X and those with a coffee habit might have to go down to 6X. Next, you want the brightest pair you can carry around your neck without breaking it. Birds tend to hang out in nice safe dark places so you need the best light gathering you can get. So, traditionally birders use something like an 8X40 pair or even something like a 7X50. Divide the numbers and the closer you get to 7 the better for you; the human eye can open up to about 7mm so if the cone of light coming out of the binoculars is 7mm or more then you are getting all that your eye can see. Wide field is nice but generally you already know where to look so paying extra for wide field is not especially important unless you want to survey the field to find the pheasant you want to shoot. :) Ok, the last thing that is important to birders is the ability to focus close, sometimes you are in a blind and the birds come really close. If you can't focus then what is the point. If you want to spend as little as possible but retain great quality then look at the various Pentax offerings. Their DCF line is the current top for them. Marc's comment about the Russian binoculars will get you a very good pair at little money. The Canon IS binoculars are very good to extremely good so take a look at them. At the top I would favor the Leicas as they focus closer and are superb; you might find some deals with a google search as Leica cut some distribution channels when they had money problems and some dealers marked them down a whole lot to move them on out. Last, you really have to look through a pair to determine if they are right for you. Go to a good dealer(might be a gun shop) and find a dark corner that might be 5 yards away. Look through each pair and see which resolves best for you in the dim light. Do the binoculars adjust to your eyes and is their use intuitive to you? It took me a long time to get used to a pair of Swarovski's as the diopter was in the front and not on the right lens. Remember that unlike a camera lens, if your eyes tell you one pair is the best then that is the best pair for you no matter who makes them. Cheers, and binoculars are almost always an intergenerational purchase because good ones stay good unless you have a gravity experiment. Don don.dory@gmail.com On 1/18/07, Eric Korenman <faneuil@gmail.com> wrote: > > My mother-in-law wants to buy my father-in-law general purpose / > birding binoculars. > They like to stroll, wander, point out houses and birds. That kind of > thing. > > I know NOTHING about binoculars but they consider me to be the > resident optics expert. > > Can anyone recommend magnification > and a few models covering low, middle and high price points ? > > Low is around $100, middle say $200-500 and high.. whatever Leica > binoculars cost. > > thanks, > Eric > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >