10 times magnification binoculars.

[Guest]

I have tries 15 x 70 binoculars and find that they are too heavy to hand hold when laying back in a lounger chair viewing through them. 10 X 50'S are comfortable though.

But I have often wondered if 10 x 60 or 70's would be within hand holsable tolerance? I would think that the views would be brighter than 10 x 50's.

[ronin]

Should be brighter but more glass means more weight.

At 15x I suspect the image bounces round at 10x this is better but you will be holding more weight then 10x50's.

I will say that people do not hold binoculars to their eyes for that long, you tend to get them to your eyes and view then put them down to work out What next? So resting between objects.

[ollypenrice]

Hmmm, they won't be brighter, unfotunately. The problem is exit pupil, which gets to be too large to fit in your eye. I had some 11x80 for a while but 15x70 proved better.

I also wonder if the real problem is the weight or the magnification? When trying to hand hold 15x70 you may find them jittery, but I think that if you tried to hand hold even a very light 15x optic you'd find the same. I have some tiny 10x25 binoculars for pocket occasions (terrestrial) and regret not having gone for similar 8x models. It clearly isn't a weight problem. It's magnification. I also suspect that a little mass in a bino offers an 'anvil' which will damp vibration.

Olly

[Charic]

I have some 15x70s and have relegated them to Daylight use. I prefer my 8x40s for astronomy, giving me a nice wide field of view of about 8° degrees and easily hand-holdable. I still intend to buy some 10x50s which should give me the same brightness with the 5mm exit, but the  higher magnification may just pull in a few more stars, possibly with a little more contrast  depending on the quality of the optics, and still be comfortable to hand-hold.  That said, leaning/resting or supporting any binoculars to give a rock steady view is always a good option.

[Alfian]

Why not use a monopod. Whether 10x50s or 15x70s you will ultimately get better views by stabilising the binocular - and it doesn't have to cost much. Have a look at Steve's Binocularsky site: 

http://binocularsky.com/binoc_mount.php