Help me choose a binocular

[Deegnoot]

Hello, I'm new here and have a big decission to make but have no clue what's best.

I already have a telescope and love watching the night sky. In september I'm going on vacation to Greece where there is bassically no light pollution 😍. 

I wanted to take something with me on vacation, therefore a binocular. I already learned that with a 12 and above magnification, you best have a tripod for stabilisation of the view. 

My first chose was the celestron skymaster 15x70. With the learned information I'm not sure if this is really to heavy without tripod (It's 1.3 kilograms).

Now I have found something like goggles, the Omegon 2.1x42 widefield and the Omegon 2x54. Does anyone have experience with these to know the difference between these and an the above binoculars?

My other options are the Celestron upclose G2 10x50 porro and the 10-30x50 zoom porro. I'm just scared that a 10x will be a dissappointment.

I would love the hear all your advice 😃

 

[Bruce Leeroy]

Hi there and welcome to the lounge, for a nice scan around i'd recommend the Olympus DPS 10x50...the view will fill your eyes, I've never used the goggles you mention but I will guess the view would be like looking through a tunnel as most low power binoculars have this feel IMO.

[Bivanus]

I've looked at what you tell are the options , and I can only convey what my choice would be : Celestron upclose G2 10x50 porro. It seems like a standard multi use binocular so I expect fairly standard performance. You talk about dissapointment - if you expect telescope level from a binoculr you would most certainly be dissapointed , however , would you accept that the wide-field bino is complementary to the telescope you will be happy with it.  On the celestron skymaster 15x70 - I have one and you simply can't use it without a tripod especially for astro.    

[Cosmic Geoff]

I bought the 10x50 Bresser binocular from the Lidl supermarket a few years ago at an incredibly low price (£15 IIRC).  They are an adequate binocular but clearly not as good as binoculars costing £499.  Even at 10x it helps to prop one's arm against something to steady them.

Whatever you do, avoid binoculars with Zoom.

[Gfamily]

An excellent resource for binocular users is the website binocularsky.org, which belongs to Steve Tonkin, who is on here as @BinocularSky.

Although he no longer produces a monthly newsletter, his previous ones are available - so if you find the ones that match the month you're travelling to Greece, you can get a list of targets that should be worth looking for under dark skies. 

If your holiday location has reclining seats, that will be ideal, otherwise, getting a mat to lie on will be a good idea, otherwise higher targets will put a strain on your arms and neck.

Lots of good advice on the website and in his books.

A good idea is to download a good planetarium app (eg Sellarium / Sky Safari / Sky Guide (apple only)) and use that to help you confirm your targets in relation to other nearby objects. 

Personally, we've found that the Opticron Adventurer ,WP 10x50 are good quality and very well priced (check out Steve's review on the website). 

Edited May 1 by Gfamily
Edit Opticron model name

[Elp]

If you really REALLY want to see some stuff get a ZWO Seestar, you'll see more with this smart scope than you can visually.

Binos are a good portable option but having had some large aperture ones I found having a small 60mm refractor just as portable, both needing a tripod anyway to get the best viewing experience. You can now get 50mm refractors and also can use guidescopes too for visual (though not as well corrected). A monocular I had also had a tripod mounting thread on it.

Edited May 1 by Elp

[Gfamily]

1 minute ago, Elp said:

If you really REALLY want to see some stuff get a ZWO Seestar, you'll see more with this smart scope than you can visually.

Hmmm, yes it's a great tool, but one of the joys of binocular astronomy is seeing the wide field views of clusters and nebulae in their context, unmediated. 

The SeeStar has a relatively limited field of view, and it does take time to build up the images, so it has its place, but it's not the same as the experience of binocular observing.

[Elp]

One of the reasons I also mentioned a small refractor. I get widefield views quite well with my Z61 and can frame and resolve targets in full view like M45.

[bosun21]

The Opticron iMagic 7x50 are a good binocular which is reasonably priced. Light enough to be comfortably hand held for periods as well as a wide FOV. There's also the 10x50 in the same binocular available. FLO sells both models.

[Deegnoot]

Thnx for the good advice. I know that I won't get the view like a telescope with binoculars but was't sure what would be a good one. That's why I went with the celestron upclose G2 10x50 porro. After reading your thoughts and tips, it was most important of having something light and small.

I can't wait to test it out, but even more to test it in Greece.

 

 

[Bivanus]

Also , going to a darker place , it would make sense to have a look at the settings required to take some photos of the sky, You will certainly find a lot of tutorials for both smartphone and camera ( if available) the trick is to play a bit before going to have an ideea. I have seen - on this iste and others - decent pictures that were the joy of those that took them ( we are not working for NASA so just because some stars appear elongated a bit you should not worry )

[PeterStudz]

17 hours ago, Deegnoot said:

Thnx for the good advice. I know that I won't get the view like a telescope with binoculars but was't sure what would be a good one. That's why I went with the celestron upclose G2 10x50 porro. After reading your thoughts and tips, it was most important of having something light and small.

I can't wait to test it out, but even more to test it in Greece.

 

 

A bit of advice from a relative beginner who has done something similar. 

I think 10x50 binoculars are ideal and a good choice. For me, anything with more power, needs some sort of support. Although even with 10x50 something can be useful. Not essential, but useful. A monopod, rather than a tripod, can be all you need. They are light and can pack down small. For me some targets are just better in binoculars whatever the light pollution. A couple of examples - Andromeda Galaxy and the Double Cluster in Perseus. When I was at a Bortle 2 site Andromeda (once I was dark adapted) went right across the FOV of my 10x50 binoculars. The Double Cluster (I was underwhelmed in an urban sky) was stunning. Open clusters like the Beehive and Pleiades always look better in binoculars to me.

I’m not sure when you are going but obviously you want the moon out of the way. The Bortle 2 site I went to was very small with NO roads and NO cars. Even so, to get full benefit you needed to walk 12-15min to get away from building lights. This is obviously easy to do with binoculars as there’s not much to carry. Roads with cars can be a pain. Eg at night a car comes by with blazing headlights on and your dark adaption is gone. It’s also worth doing a bit of planning with possible targets too, even though this might go out the window once you are there. The Milky Way and sheer amount of stars can be disorienting. I can also remember being amazed and amazed again that I could see, by naked eye, targets like the Swan Nebula. I can’t even see this in my 8” Dob at home.

Might also be useful taking a small smartphone tripod. I have one that’s telescopic and hardly takes any space. You can get some supervising images with a smartphone at a dark site. No stacking, just single shot. Like any snap it’ll be nice to look back on. Also be worth writing up here when you I get back. 

[ollypenrice]

What you will want are star charts. Mobile phones can have them but in a doubly useless format: 1) they light up and blow your night vision and 2) the screen is far too small to show what you need. For a wide field binocular you need a wide field chart. If you have a virtual planetarium on your PC (Stellarium and carte du Ciel are free) you could print out charts for your Greek dates and location and take them along with you. Take a small red light as well. Planning your sessions with clear objectives is a good idea.

You might find a planisphere useful. This one would be good for Greece https://www.amazon.fr/Philips-Planisphere-Latitude-42-North/dp/1849071896 but the one based on a slightly higher British latitude would still be OK.

Olly