For those who appreciate camera optics, what is your choice in binoculars?

[Chuck1]

I have fujinon 7x50 surplus binos, which optically are really nice, but they are big.
My pentax 8x30 monocular gets out of the house more.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Alan, the eye relief is used by spectacle wearers, you push the binocular eye pieces in, then, and while wearing your spectacles, you adjust focus. As you will be using the infinity part of your spectacles to view through the binoculars, any other spectacle wearer can use the focus set by the first spectacle wearer to view perfectly through the binoculars without any adjustment except to set pupillary distance for the distance between each eye.

If a non spectacle wearer uses these binoculars, then they pull the eye pieces out, which lengthens the whole glass to glass optics. Make adjustments for their eyesight, then use the binoculars. If they hand the binoculars to someone else, then the next person will need to adjust the binoculars for their eyesight.

The binoculars work seamlessly between spectacle wearers, no further focusing adjustment is required. They do not work seamlessly between non spectacle wearers.

As both of us wear spectacles, these are perfect binoculars for us as we do not need to put our spectacles on the top of our heads to use the binoculars. We just hand the binoculars back and forth and keep our spectacles in place.

I've found that the full view is limited when wearing glasses.

 

[Mick Fagan]

I've found that the full view is limited when wearing glasses.

With these particular binoculars?

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

I tried the Nikon Monarch 7 10x30 with a 15.8mm eye relief. Just on the edge when wearing glasses. You need more maybe 17mm+.

 

[Rob Skeoch]

I bought a pair of Minolta 10x40's about 40 years ago. They were one of the first waterproof ones in a prism style and cost about a weeks pay. They work great and I use them almost daily.
If I was buying now I would likely grab a pair of Leica's. Not sure which design. A good pair will be a one-time purchase so the cost might be high but you don't have to rebuy anything.

 

[Petrochemist]

No help to you, but MY choice is a camera with telephoto lens

 

[albireo]

I often go for walks in the countryside and so a few years ago, I bought some Swarovski SLC 10 X 56 binoculars. I found these excellent, that you can also adjust for your own eyesight. What would others recommend?

Love my Nikon 8x30 EII porros.

Light, bright, extremely sharp and an exceptional 8.8 Deg angle of view. Given this feature, they're also exceptional for astronomy, and I use them perhaps more at night than during daytime.

 

[Dali]

Love my Nikon 8x30 EII porros.

Light, bright, extremely sharp and an exceptional 8.8 Deg angle of view. Given this feature, they're also exceptional for astronomy, and I use them perhaps more at night than during daytime.

8x30, not a bit dark for astronomy?

 

[miha]

A pair of Aldi's.

 

[albireo]

8x30, not a bit dark for astronomy?

Sadly I live in a Bortle 8 class part of the world...Large exit pupil doesn't make much of a difference. All I can see is planets, a few brighter deep sky objects, binary stars, perhaps some hints of a few globular clusters, and constellation patterns. The wide field of the Nikons is great for those.

 

[wiltw]

Generally speaking, BAK-4 prisms, large objective lens diameter and large exit pupil

Decades ago, as an ocean-going sailor I was choosing marine binoculars with compass. In the store I compared Steiner, Fujinon, Bushnell and a highly respected marine supplier store brand, side by side in extended evaluations at a store in a marine setting. I was surprised that the visible benefit to me was not easy to discern, the most expensive was not clearly better (but subtle) than the lesser-priced binoculars all at the top of the line from each manufacturer; the bargain binoculars had non-optical compromises, and those are best evaluated in the hands of the specific buyer, not unlike driving a car is subjective to each driver.

7x50 vs 10x50...7x gathers light in low light better, 10x gives more detail, but with a more shakey image that gathers low light less well. Smaller objective diameter simply gathers low light less well., at the benefit of lighter weight better portability. you decide your preferences and pick your poison.

 

[Dali]

Sadly I live in a Bortle 8 light pollution part of the world...

Yeah, we are on the same boat...