Eyecup design won’t interest you unless you wear glasses. Eyecups shield your eyes from the surrounding light so that you can get a better view down the barrels of the binoculars. Eyecups will interfere with eyeglass wearers as they extend the distance between your glasses and the eyepieces.
Flexible eyecups can be adjusted by folding the rubberized cups back and out of the way. Your eyeglasses can be set right onto the eyepieces of the binoculars if you like. Other eyecups that twist up or pop out might be preferred as they can be adjusted very quickly and require only one hand to do so.
If you wear glasses or sunglasses while using binoculars, you’ll want to see the eyecup design and get a feel for how they can be adjusted. After you handle them you’ll know which eyecup design you prefer.
Posted in binoculars
|
Tagged eyecups, focus
|
Image stabilization is a feature of more expensive binoculars. Some internal gizmos are used to reduce the shakiness of the image. Unfortunately, the additional internal mechanisms make this type of binocular heavier than those without image stabilization technology.
If it’s within your budget you might as well try out a pair, but keep in mind the added weight. If you’re willing to deal with the extra weight and expense, go for it!
Focusing is pretty important for using binoculars to see what you’re looking at, don’t you think? Sure. But what is important to know about the focusing ability of binoculars?
Stay away from fixed-focus or focus-free binoculars as they are somewhat limiting and typically have a large close focus. Focus-free binoculars will have their focus set to the middle ground. Not ideal.
Zoom binoculars sound really cool, but avoid this type as well. Mechanically, it is very difficult to coordinate both tubes of the binoculars to have exactly the same magnification and focus. What happens then is that your brain tries to compensate for the differences that your two eyes are seeing and you will experience eye fatigue. Zoom magnification is even more difficult with higher quality optics, so the zoom type of binoculars are generally of lower quality.
More commonly you will find binoculars that have a central focusing wheel typically set between the two tubes. A thumb or finger can easily move the wheel to change the focus from near to far objects. When you test binoculars make sure the focusing knob or wheel is to your liking. If you’re not comfortable with the mechanics of your binoculars, you’ll be less likely to use them often.
Look for an adjustable eyepiece. Usually the right eyepiece can be rotated right or left to allow the user to compensate for differences between their eyes. Even if you wear corrective lenses the focusing adjustment of the eyepiece can really bring your subject into sharp focus. All you do is look at an object and focus on it with the focusing wheel. Then, rotate the focusing eyepiece to the left or right until the image is sharp. Once you make the adjustment on the eyepiece for your eyes you can leave it alone. You might have to readjust it after sharing your binoculars with a friend, but you’ll know approximately where to set it for your eyes.
Have you ever wondered how big something is when you see it through a pair of binoculars? I mean, the image of the subject looks big enough, but how far away is it and how big is it in real life?
Knowing the field of view of your binoculars can help you figure the size of objects that you view with them. Or maybe distances in a panorama.
Field of view refers to how much of the scene you can see while viewing through the binoculars. Field of view values range from 250 to 425 feet at 1,000 yards. This means that binoculars will show you approximately one quarter to one third of a scene that is 1,000 yards away.
Knowing the field of view of your binoculars will help you estimate the size of objects in the distance. Let’s say that your binoculars has a field of view of 285 feet. An object that takes up a third of the scene is 285 feet divided by 3, or about 95 feet across.
So, the numbers mean that the larger the field of view the more of the scene that you can see in the binoculars. If you are looking for active little birds among the trees, a wider field of view may help you locate your prey as you’ll be able to see more of the scene at a given time. Binoculars with higher magnification will have a smaller field of view. Maybe that’s why a lot of bird watchers have 7x or 8x binoculars instead of 10x magnification. With a smaller magnification they will enjoy a wider field of view.
If all other features were equal, I don’t think that the field of view would be a deciding factor in purchasing binoculars. Chances are that you won’t find two binoculars that have all the same specs anyway. Some other feature like the eye relief, close focus, or whether the binoculars are waterproof would probably be the deciding factor.
Check out the tags in the right column to see more features of compact binoculars.
