Suggestions for binoculars for a person wearing glasses

[zoozoo243]

Hi! I have recently started observing the night sky, and I now want to purchase binoculars. After some research, I have learned that for a beginner binoculars is better. I have decided on Celestron 10x50. I wear glasses, and the eye relief for this binoculars is 12mm. I am nearsighted with -6 diopters and I have moderate astigmatism (-1). Will this cause a problem? Can I remove my glasses and focus the binoculars accordingly? If anyone has used these binoculars before, it will be really helpful if you can guide me.

[stevepeverall]

Hi Zoozoo and welcome to SGL.

10x50 binoculars are have a good size apperture for astromony with a good size exit pupil.

I have a pair of 10x56s for hand held use and find them a bit wobbly while trying to focus on stars. I wish i had gone for 8x magnification.

The 12mm eye relief is a bit low for use with glasses. Mine have 20mm ER so it might be worth having a look at a different pair or trying the celestrons out in the shop to make sure they are OK for you with toyr glasses on.

Regarding the diopter, I am nearsighted with -7 and can almost bring my binoculars into focus on stars, but not quite (it may be different for differnet models). Again you should try them out in a shop first or try borrowing a few pairs from friends if possible.

All the best with your purchase.

[ronl]

Try this link http://binocularsky.com/index.php this site will tell

you all you need about binoculars, SteveTonkin is the best man

to give advice, hopefully he will be along soon.

Meanwhile take a look at his site it's very good and his new book

is superb.

And welcome to SGL.  Clear Sky's

[BinocularSky]

12mm is quite simply insufficient eye relief to use with glasses.

If you are near-sighted, to use the binocular without glasses, it needs to focus to what would be "beyond infinity" for normal vision. The degree wot which binoculars do this is very variable. I have seen some that go to nearly 5dioptres over, and others that have barely any "beyond infinity" travel. You need to test them, as stevepeverall says. Your astigmatism will be noticeable without glasses.

Your best bet is to go for a binocular with at least 20mm of eye relief, and check that reality matches the published specification (it often doesn't with budget binoculars).

[nerointegrale16v]

hi zoozoo

i wear specs as well i brought a pair of Helios fieldmaster from harrison telescope 50 quid + postage and they are great value plus excellant viewing

martin

[nerointegrale16v]

just seached ebay theres a 2nd hand pair of helios fieldmaster 10x50

bargain for someone

[SteveNickolls]

Hi zoozoo243, sorry to hear of your short sightedness. I would advise doing a spot of Internet searching for the eye relief of binoculars you like the sound of and wherever possible try them out before buying (not always possible I know). The eye relief of many pairs are stated by retailers but some are not. My prescription is -7 and I have found I can use 10x50 Opticron Imagic TGA WP Porro Prisms with 19.5mm eye relief if that is any help. The First Light Optics retailer page does give the eye relief values for a number of models. I have also found that I can use Apollo 15x70's with the eye cups turned down (stated eye relief 18mm), see http://www.united-optics.com/products/binoculars/Giant_Binoculars/BA8_Series/BA8_Series.html

Best of luck finding a suitable pair in your home country.

Cheers,

Steve

[zoozoo243]

Thank you all for your replies. I understand that it is quite important to try them first. The problem is, there are no outlets nearby where I can try them. I have drive far. Also I am getting the above mentioned bins for $30, and I can afford at most $50. So my options are pretty limited. Is it worth going for this?

[andyman]

+1 for the fieldmasters very good binos