Solar Bino's

[blinky]

As I had some spare solar film lying around I thought I would make use of the old pair (The eyegaurd on these ones comes completly off if you pull it so I got another pair) of Liddel Bino's. I cut 2 pieces and stuck 'em on with duck tape, they aint gonna fall off!

Only problem is, I cannot get them to only show 1 sun No matter how much I push the 2 lenses together or pull 'em appart I always see 2 images of the sun. Surely this int correct, I assume I should be able to get the so I only see one image?

[Jamie]

Hi Craig

I came up against that very problem with my solar bins too mate.

Apart from getting the eye pieces the correct distance to suit you you have to give your brain and your eyes time to adjust to bino viewing.

You will find that you need to really relax your eyes and the two images will eventually become one... (if the eye cups are the correct distance apart)

[blinky]

Glad you had the same problem Jamie. I went out a couple of times today with 'em and one or twice for a few seconds things did merge and I saw one image, then when I realised it all went wrong again I wonder if it is because the brain only has the one thing to focus on whereas normal bino's obviously give your brain loads to focus on and get things right

[Jamie]

Your image merged when you relaxed enough to make it so.

Then you maybe blinked or looked to the side for a second. (that's all it takes to undo the relaxed state you were in to achieve one image)

Its a practice thing mate and you will get it soon enough trust me....

[Tiny]

Maybe it's my eyes but certain binos I can use and others always give two images no matter how much I fiddle them. This can be very annoying when slapping bino viewers onto a scope and watching a beautiful single image of Saturn (for example) float into two.

[philsail1]

Relaxing your eyes must be like you had to do to view the images in those "3D" books that were popular a few years ago.

I use my "binoviewers" on a Skywatcher 90mm Maksutov with a "Baader" solar filter over the front, and I manage to get a consistant single image. I wonder if your double images have anything to do with the combination of binoveiwers and scope you are using (whilst Solar filter is in place?).

Regards,

philsail1

[MarkR]

Your binos may be out of collimation ie the two optical axes are not aligned. This gives you a double image - and a headache if you use it for too long. I tried a few Lidl binoculars in the shop before finding one that was properly collimated so there is a reason why they are £10! I did get some funny looks from the other shoppers as I opened the boxes before putting them back!

If you relax one eye and concentrate on the other and then switch eyes you may see the image "jump" indicating mis-collimation.

They can be repaired at an optical shop but almost certainly not worth it for £10 - wait until the next Lidl binocular sale.

Mark