When do you reach binocular upgrade time?

[ollypenrice]

I used to have basic 10x50s, 'reasonable cheapo' standard. One night a guest asked me if I'd like to try his, which were about the same size as mine but of unknown make in the dark. He passed them over and I pointed them at M31. I just said to him with a mile wide grin, 'Okay, wise guy, what are these???' They were incredible. Tiny powdery stars, gorgeous contrast, a nice clean field stop and a feeling of just being out there in space. So excellent binoculars really are better than merely good ones. These were Leica 8x42. Some years later I managed to find a used pair at an (almost!) affordable price and I love them.

Olly

[tony210]

Hi - I've been chasing some better bins recently without spending a fortune . Finally got a classic pair of Swift Audubons 8.5x44 on Ebay  for £40. Worries on-line with these are collimation drifting - great bins though.. Anyway mine had been dropped and were out but collimating was easy on a star as they have a really nice 3 pairs of screws- a push pull system for collimating -so collimated in 15minutes on a star - if you collimate telescopes this is not difficult - these binoculars give a bright field and very wide apparent field of view so good choice I think.- Tony.

[billyharris72]

On 13/02/2018 at 19:36, Alfian said:

If somebody has a small refractor, is there much point in buying bins with an OG diameter, near, or the same, as said refractor.

For general viewing I think there is, in the sense that we evolved to view with two eyes and we do seem to be able to see more when we have that relaxed, immersive view. This can also be gained with binoviewers, but binoculars have another plus going for them.

One of the advantages of true binocular viewing (doesn't hold for binoviewers unfortunately) is that the exit pupil is smaller for a given combination of magnification and overall light grasp.

For example, a 60mm binocular has about the same light grasp as a 90mm refractor; at 10x delivers a 6mm exit pupil vs 9 for the frac.

So for low power viewing (relative to the objective size) I think bins do have the edge (though much less flexible than the scope).

Billy

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

On 3/16/2018 at 10:00, ollypenrice said:

I used to have basic 10x50s, 'reasonable cheapo' standard. One night a guest asked me if I'd like to try his, which were about the same size as mine but of unknown make in the dark. He passed them over and I pointed them at M31. I just said to him with a mile wide grin, 'Okay, wise guy, what are these???' They were incredible. Tiny powdery stars, gorgeous contrast, a nice clean field stop and a feeling of just being out there in space. So excellent binoculars really are better than merely good ones. These were Leica 8x42. Some years later I managed to find a used pair at an (almost!) affordable price and I love them.

Olly

I remember looking through those Leica bins at my last visit (much too long ago!), and I must say I had some qualms as to whether I would still like my Helios Apollo 15x70s afterwards (much like listening to your old HiFi set after hearing the same music on a really top notch set). However, the extra light gathered by the 15x70s gave the Helios the edge on faint objects. The quality of the wide field visible in the Leicas was great, however. Edge performance was definitely better. Given that my Apollos have now been replaced by the bigger LightQuest 16x80, which has clearly better edge performance than the Apollo, I wonder what the comparison would be like.

Coming back to the original question of when to upgrade binoculars: I apply the same rules as I apply for all optics:

1. When I notice the limitations of the optics I have, and feel they are limiting my enjoyment, or

2. When I really, really feel like it

 

[LukeSkywatcher]

Do we ever?. My biggest bins are 30x90. I have just bought a pair of 2.1x42

 

[25585]

You could wear them and look like Batou in Ghost in the Shell. 

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

12 hours ago, LukeSkywatcher said:

Do we ever?. My biggest bins are 30x90. I have just bought a pair of 2.1x42

 

I am wondering if I could either put dioptrix astigmatism correction in the rear, or get some astigmatic lenses from the optician to put in front of these to correct for my astigmatism, so I can get the most out of these sort of optics

[billyharris72]

2 hours ago, michael.h.f.wilkinson said:

I am wondering if I could either put dioptrix astigmatism correction in the rear, or get some astigmatic lenses from the optician to put in front of these to correct for my astigmatism, so I can get the most out of these sort of optics

What about contact lenses? Don't really like them myself (never seem to be as good as my specs) but worth a try?

[Moonshane]

No matter what size the bins they will all be 'better' with some form of support. With bins this can be small and compact. With a frac it is going to be much more paraphernalia.

Maybe try a pistol grip and monopod with your current bins?

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Just now, billyharris72 said:

What about contact lenses? Don't really like them myself (never seem to be as good as my specs) but worth a try?

Contact lenses for astigmatism tend either not to work for strong astigmatism, or be very sensitive to the orientation of your head, I am told. Anyway, with my allergies, I really don't like putting something in my eyes.

[BinocularSky]

On 03/04/2018 at 20:25, 25585 said:

You could wear them and look like Batou in Ghost in the Shell. 

Kasai sell the wherewithal to enable you to wear them (see near the bottom of http://www.kasai-trading.jp/widebino28.htm)

 

Edit: Seems Wolfi is doing these as well: https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p9827_Kasai-Headset-Goggle-for-Wide-Bino-28.html