7 x 50 Bushnell binoculars.

[Guest]

Just came in from a spot of hand held observing with my Bushnell 7 x 50, 7 degree field binos. These are still in clean condition. Probably from the mid 1980's.

Why is it that despite the exit pupil being too wide for my ageing eyes at 7 degrees. The view was so good. I was looking at the area around Cygnus. I have a good set of Opticron 10 x 50. I have also had two sets of 15 x 70 binos. But the Bushnell's never fail in dark skies. Not binoculars I know, but another spectacular wide field view came from a Skywatcher Star travel 120 mm. 

What I appreciate is the bright, wide field views. What experiences have others had with low power, wide field and bright views? 

[mark81]

I've not tried low power like the 7's but around Cygnus I'm sure you had great views - I am on the lookout for a set.  I'm lucky to have a really dark site here and my 10x50 Olympus showed amazing views. NGC7000 and the nearby clusters.  But for me, that area is amazing to just lay back and take in the sea of stars and dust lanes of the Milky Way.  

[Guest]

21 minutes ago, mark81 said:

I've not tried low power like the 7's but around Cygnus I'm sure you had great views - I am on the lookout for a set.  I'm lucky to have a really dark site here and my 10x50 Olympus showed amazing views. NGC7000 and the nearby clusters.  But for me, that area is amazing to just lay back and take in the sea of stars and dust lanes of the Milky Way.  

I agree with you Mark. I really enjoy hand held over tripod mounted. I am thinking about the 11 x 70's. I wonder with the lower magnification that they could be hand held. 

[mark81]

1 hour ago, Grumpy Martian said:

I agree with you Mark. I really enjoy hand held over tripod mounted. I am thinking about the 11 x 70's. I wonder with the lower magnification that they could be hand held. 

I'm not sure. The weights of the 11x70 and 15x70 seem to differ between brands but it doesn't look like theres much in it.  Maybe if you used them when in some sort of chiar/recliner then maybe for a short session they could be held. I've never been a fan of binoculars on a tripod - that's why I bought an ST80.  I do like the sound of the 7x50s though?

[PeterW]

Tried out some old Tasco 10degree 7x50 bins, nice to have enough field to make navigation easier. Brighter background than my other bins (8x, smaller exit pupil), to be expected with my skies. (Quite distorted round the edges).  Plenty of stars though, will bring them next time I get some dark sky time, pretty weighty though.

PEter.

 

[Guest]

I understand that there are 8 x, 56 binoculars. Not sure if there would be much improvement. But possibly still hand holdable. 

[PeterW]

Steiner do one that I have seen some discussions of recently. I like to try to keep the AFOV wide, for an immersive view. Some people handhold 10x, but 10x70 is getting heavy and not as wide. 

PEter