BinocularSky

At this time of year? Pleiades, Collinder 70, Beehive, Kemble's Cascade, Eddie's Coaster., M31 - then just browse theMilky Way and see what you can discover.

On 27/02/2021 at 10:59, MotherEarth said:

Guys, what do you think about this cheap tripod ? 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B01LQX0P8Q/1944

I see the can handle even 5 kg.

This is pretty cheap compared to a p-mount. Any thoughts on it ?

The main issues are a territorial dispute among the five legs involved and difficulty of observing anything above about 45 degrees.

On 26/02/2021 at 16:14, Ken82 said:

Is it possible to get a single ocular type for eyepieces? 

Yes. It's called a SpotSlicker Bandit (or sometiems just a Spot Bandit) - intended for spotting scopes.

"Short month" is my excuse for it being late! 🙂

On 25/02/2021 at 13:22, AdeKing said:

I have had one for a while, as recommended by @BinocularSky.

Very effective at cutting out extraneous light indeed.

Ade

I have them on all my regularly used binoculars, including daytime ones. I really, really like what they do!

18 hours ago, RobH2020 said:

Ah, I do have astigmatism and wear glasses to correct for that (as well as short-sightedness). Is that an issue when it comes to using binoculars without wearing my glasses?

Could be; I have astigmatism; different axis in each eye, and it takes my eyes a few minutes to re-merge images when I remove my glasses. Irritatingly, it gives me "step" (vertical displacement) which is the worst kind of misalignment.

The February edition of the Binocular Sky Newsletter is ready. As well as the usual overview of DSOs, variable and double stars, this month we have:

• The "extra star" in Cygnus is on the way back
• Vesta approaches naked-eye brightness - and it's nicely placed!
• Some online dark skies festivals (UK)

I hope this helps you to use your binoculars or small telescopes to ease the impact of Covid lockdown restrictions.

To pick up your free copy, just head over to http://binocularsky.com and click on the Newsletter tab, where you can subscribe (also free, of course) to have it emailed each month, and get archived copies.

On 25/01/2021 at 19:36, Stardaze said:

... intrigued as to hoW much better the Nikon’s could be. 

If you're talking about the Action EX, somewhere between "lots" and "big lots". 🙂

They can be specified with or without filter threads; worth asking before you buy. I think some of the Delta Optical (similar, but ED glass) may have filter threads.

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With a set of 15x70 binoculars, the objectives are of course 70mm

You'd have though so, wouldn't you? But they often aren't. The most common 15x70s - UP BA1s (branded as Celstron Skymaster, Revelation, etc) have an effective aperture of 62mm - there is a fixed iris at the entrance to the prism housing that cuts it down, so as to reduce aberrations and sharpen the image, at the cost of image brightness.

The binocular noise reduction (aka "physiological summation") is analogous to "stacking" in astro imaging. A combination of physiological and statistical summation gives you a factor of about 1.4x; this is borne out in practice

It's very difficult to state what the limiting magnitude of any binocular (or telescope for that matter) will be, because there are so many variables:
* The sky conditions
* The observer's eyes
* The star's colour
* The transmission factor of the instrument
* Direct or averted vision
* The magnification used (increasing magnification fort any given aperture darkens sky background, hence increasing contrast and making fainter stars detectable)

A lot of work was done on this in the early 20th Century; it's neatly summarised in Sidgwick's Amateur Astronomer's Handbook (1954). At one extreme, WH Steavenson was able to observed a mag 11.9 star with a 1.7" (43mm) refactor; based on that, the crude calculation for a single 70mm glass would give you a LM of around 12.8, and for two of them (ie 70mm binoculars) about 13.7. We should be so lucky! 🙂

 

Opticron are always very helpful, and their sales manager, Pete Gamby, sometimes posts on these forums.
The other thing you can do is remove the video pin from the QR plate. It serves no purpose for binoculars and can get in the way.

The advice that comes with these trigger grips is usually conspicuous by its absence. So I wrote some: https://binocularsky.com/manuals/TG-manual.pdf 🙂

On 13/01/2021 at 18:14, Ricochet said:

If you want a pair of binoculars then the 8x42 Opticron Adventurer T is the pair I would be looking at. I believe that @BinocularSky uses these when he does observing events for children.

Indeed he does! (Or, rather, "did" before SARS-CoV-2 scuppered my "in person" outreach activities.) 🙂

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However, I disagree with the idea that binoculars are as good as a telescope.

But, but...
A binocular is "just" two telescopes mounted side by side. 😄

Seriously, though, it depends on the task.  For some tasks (observing large asterisms, large open clusters, starfields, scanning the Milky Way) binoculars are better.

For some tasks (planetary observing, splitting close double stars, resolving small DSOs) telescopes are better.

And binoculars are arguably easier for young children to use independently.

(IMNSVHO, of course)

The late Peter Abrahams was the binocular history guru; you might find somethign useful at http://www.europa.com/~telscope/binotele.htm

On 04/01/2021 at 16:11, Ande said:

Just ordered the Vortex Diamondback 10x50’s.

Lovely binos. Just in case you're interested, Diamondbacks (usually 10x42) are a firm favourite with some South African game wardens, because of their optical/mechaincal quality and their ruggedness (and, I guess, the transferrable lifetime guarantee) .

On 04/01/2021 at 21:36, Ande said:

I need to source a tripod adapter. Great to hear that you like the binos though.

Make sure you get one of the narrow ones - there's not a lot of space between those 50mm barrels. In fact, I find it a right fiddle to screw an adaptor into any 50mm roofs - maybe I'm just all thumbs... 🙂

I'm more a fan of monopods than tripods, but, if you're sure you want a tripod, this is worth it just for the trigger-grip head alone.

About 20 years ago I used to have the Swift-Newport Mk II 10x50, which is the big sibling of the Audubon (no, the damage was not caused by me; it was the reason I got them for a fiver 🙂 ). These pics may help - I'm not certain that they are constructed the same, but I'd be surprised if they weren't.

Remove the cover cap at the distal end of the hinge:

Use a screwdriver with a bit of blutac on to remove the screw in the shaft:

Use the focus mechanism to drive the eyepieces and shaft clear; use two hands to support the eyepieces while you do this:

Happy New Year!
The first Binocular Sky Newsletter for 2021 is ready. As well as the usual overview of DSOs, variable and double stars, this month we have:

* Last chance to see Neptune for a few months, but...
* ...Vesta is back
* A meteor shower that often has fireballs

I hope this helps you to enjoy these long winter nights with your binoculars or small telescopes.

To pick up your free copy, just head over to http://binocularsky.com and click on the Newsletter tab, where you can subscribe (also free, of course) to have it emailed each month, and get archived copies.

On 19/12/2020 at 03:59, Nyctimene said:

Try this to assess the diameter of your pupils - it's simple :

Ingenious!

On 18/12/2020 at 11:37, andyrawlins said:

Hi Steve - I've just bought the Pentax SP on the basis of your review (excellent site thanks!).  They seem very good but I wonder on the basis of the above whether I  should have got the Nikons.  That S@N link doesn't work any more.  Do you have a copy of the review or could you comment please?

Late to the party as usual - I must have been having a Xmas break 🙂  

I see from posts elsewhere that you've made your own mind up about this already. Nice review! For reasons best known to S@N, the "best 6 under £200" has now been incorporated into a "best 10", one of which is a 20x80 : https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/best-binoculars-for-astronomy/.  There's a version of "best 6" (and lots of other bino reviews, mostly by Alan Dyer and me) on Astrogear Today: https://astrogeartoday.com/comparison-review-six-10x50-binoculars/

They could be specified to be made with or without the filter threads. They are now being superseded by the MS model, which does not have filter threads.

On 26/12/2020 at 14:56, Space Kat said:

Indeed. I'm now eyeing up 7x50 Naturesport. I got really hooked on smaller mag and ease of handholdability (not a word, should be one though). I seem to have no middle ground, it's either 7x or 8x, or I had to physically stop myself from buying APM 100mm binocular beast last month. Have little observing space though, so they would be wasted on me for the timebing.

I keep having to resist the urge to finance the big APMs (but I'd really like the Fujinon 40x150 - forever out of my budget, I think)

The easiest way is probably to use a dovetail plate with a 1/4" mounting screw (eg the Orion 7388) directly onto the mounting bracket of your binocular. If you can't visualise what I mean, say so (safest to DM to make sure I get it) and I'll rig it and post an image here.

HTH