Miyauchi 20 by 77

[neilm]

I've read that Miyauchi are excellent optically though obviously not cheap. I'm thinking that maybe quality over power is worth considering. I've two "bigish" pairs of bins, Helios qauntum 4 15x70 and Strathspey 20x90. The Helios have a fov of 4deg and the Strathspey 3 deg fov. The Miyauchi are only 2.5 deg fov, so what's everyone's opinion, does a loss of .5 deg over the Strathspey or 1.5 over the Helios really matter that much compared to the increase in optical quality ?

Cheers

Neil

[BinocularSky]

The first Miyauchi I used was the 20x77 -- it's what made me get the one I now have. At the time of using the 20x77, I had a Helios 15x70 and was saving for a Fujinon 16x70 -- the Miya changed my mind about the Fujinon-- it was better, and not just because of the angled eyepieces.

If anything, the optics of the 77 were slightly sharper than those of my 100 (and they are pretty good); the only sharper binocular optics I've used have been in the Takahashi 22x60.

In your place, if I could get the 20x77 to replace the others you have, I would. The Miya is much more contrasty and, for that reason, you will almost certainly see more than in the Strath 20x90 -- and a lot more comfortably because of the angled eyepieces.

[neilm]

Steve,

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated. Just wish you hadn't provided a link to the Takahashi !

I may well be better offer saving up a bit of extra cash for a few months and have some bins to "last a lifetime" rather then upgrading in steps. Got a nice bonus due from work at the end of June....

Cheers

Neil

[BinocularSky]

Just wish you hadn't provided a link to the Takahashi !

It is no longer available, so the temptation shouldn't be too great ; I periodically look for a second hand one, but am always just too late... It is essentially "just" a couple of FS60s mated to a Katsuma binocular body. It is also the only binocular I know of that is fully illuminated across its FoV, which is one of the reasons that it can out-perform (or at least match the performance of) a 100mm fluorite. Another is that its objectives are f/5.9, which makes aberrations much easier to control than in a 100mm f5. That said, there were "issues" with some of the Miya 100mm fluorites; most were good but if anything got knocked even slightly between the factory and the customer, the performance dropped off markedly; you need your eyes exactly on axis to get expected fluorite performance.

Anyway, no such issues with the 77. One thought: there used to be a WA 26x eyepiece option -- most people seem to prefer it to the 20x; gives the same FoV.