Show Us Your Binoculars.

[Nakedgun]

4 hours ago, Emperor!Takahashi! said:

My eyes find them easy to appreciate. My arms have to work a little harder for it 😉 

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Indeed. More than a pound heavier than my 16x70 Fujinon makes it real beast. Perhaps someday I will get a chance to handle them.

 

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[josefk]

@Nakedgun @Emperor!Takahashi! - i know it doesn't always suit the sweeping freedom desired of binoculars but i'm a massive believer in mounted binoculars being worth "double" the aperture and magnification of unmounted ones. I use the small print of a pay and display car park sign near my house to dial in my diopter offset and its quite unreal the difference mounting makes - even to "lowly" x10.

[josefk]

These ARE mine - Swarovski NL Pure 8x42 - new to me yesterday after a long time on the "to do list".

Swarovski are celebrating their 75th Anniversary and they have just brought out 10x/12x 52mm NL Pure. One or other of those things has lead them to reduce the price of x42 NL pures quite considerably so yesterday at the Global Bird Fair i pounced.

I've vacillated between x8 and x10 for bird watching for years and don't actually use either much till now. Because i mainly spot in wetlands and on shorelines (i.e at distance) I really really like mounted x15. 

However yesterday i took advantage of being able to handle both for an extended period, i thought i would find it difficult to choose, but in reality the choice was easily made after just a few seconds for the x8's. The transparency feels excellent (popping colours in orchids in a hedgerow yesterday) and they were very easy to hold steady. I'm looking forward to having a go with these at night handheld (notwithstanding what i typed above about mounting).

 

Edited July 14 by josefk

[Emperor!Takahashi!]

17 minutes ago, josefk said:

@Nakedgun @Emperor!Takahashi! - i know it doesn't always suit the sweeping freedom desired of binoculars but i'm a massive believer in mounted binoculars being worth "double" the aperture and magnification of unmounted ones. I use the small print of a pay and display car park sign near my house to dial in my diopter offset and its quite unreal the difference mounting makes - even to "lowly" x10.

Agreed. And I'll probably mount the 7x50 from time to time. It's nice to be able to use them on the tripod or to hold them by hand. I'm confident that I'd only be able to use the 10x50 mounted, which would be a loss since I love the handheld binocular stargazing experience. When observing with a mount, I'm usually inclined to put something larger on it 😊

The plan is: WX  handheld, Highlander Prominar mounted, and every now and then WX mounted.

[PatientObserver]

3 hours ago, josefk said:

@Nakedgun @Emperor!Takahashi! - i know it doesn't always suit the sweeping freedom desired of binoculars but i'm a massive believer in mounted binoculars being worth "double" the aperture and magnification of unmounted ones. I use the small print of a pay and display car park sign near my house to dial in my diopter offset and its quite unreal the difference mounting makes - even to "lowly" x10.

3 hours ago, Emperor!Takahashi! said:

Agreed. And I'll probably mount the 7x50 from time to time. It's nice to be able to use them on the tripod or to hold them by hand. I'm confident that I'd only be able to use the 10x50 mounted, which would be a loss since I love the handheld binocular stargazing experience. When observing with a mount, I'm usually inclined to put something larger on it 😊

The plan is: WX  handheld, Highlander Prominar mounted, and every now and then WX mounted.

I keep my Nikon AE 7x50 mounted on an Orion Paragon-Plus and Berlebach Report 322/KA40 so that my daughter (2.5 years old in this picture) can use it. I find that I also prefer it mounted.

For my personal binoculars, I have a Maven B2 9x45 for handheld use when I want that freedom, and a Maven B5 15x56 that I typically mount on a Manfrotto 058B tripod with a Manfrotto MVH500AH fluid head.

[Nakedgun]

11 hours ago, josefk said:

@Nakedgun @Emperor!Takahashi! - i know it doesn't always suit the sweeping freedom desired of binoculars but i'm a massive believer in mounted binoculars being worth "double" the aperture and magnification of unmounted ones. I use the small print of a pay and display car park sign near my house to dial in my diopter offset and its quite unreal the difference mounting makes - even to "lowly" x10.

~

Unlikely I'll ever own the Nikons, but if it happens they will get used, one way or the other!

 

 

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