bino's with a tinted lens?

[robot_roo]

Just seen some 7x50 bino's on e bay they have a tinted lens, is that ok? they are going very very cheap £3.99 plus £6 postage are they worth my while buying to help me on the way till I can get some better ones??

[robot_roo]

will the tinted lens effect the viewing?

[Mikea]

Are these the so-called ruby coating, low-light jobs?

[robot_roo]

I'm not sure here is the link

Binoculars 7x50 High Quality Tinted Lens on eBay (end time 16-Aug-09 14:12:27 BST)

[Mikea]

Hmmmm. Looks like it. These coatings reflect light at the red end of the spectrum, so will give your subject a slight colour tint (towards blue/green). I would also have to question how good the optics are generally for £3.99. I have a pair of similar binos - not bought for astronomy I hasten to add! They are mediocre for daytime use and carp for stargazing. Save your cash.

[robot_roo]

Hmmmm. Looks like it. These coatings reflect light at the red end of the spectrum, so will give your subject a slight colour tint (towards blue/green). I would also have to question how good the optics are generally for £3.99. I have a pair of similar binos - not bought for astronomy I hasten to add! They are mediocre for daytime use and carp for stargazing. Save your cash.

Thanks thought it might be worth asking, im saving for a decent pair at the mo , so will hang on for them!!

Clear skies over Banbury tonight!!!

[brianb]

they are going very very cheap £3.99

If the bargain seems too good to be true, it is. Try making a pair of binoculars using milk bottle bottoms as lenses, they'll probably work at least as well as those things.

[jnp]

Bino lenses should have anti reflection coatings and not actually be "tinted" as that is a disaster for astronomical use as every photon is precious. I suspect they are probably just coated, but the description doesn't inspire confidence. See if LIDL are still doing Bresser 10x50 at £15. Now those were a good deal.

7x50 would make a good viewfinder for those inclined to some telescope DIY mods.

[robot_roo]

If the bargain seems too good to be true, it is. Try making a pair of binoculars using milk bottle bottoms as lenses, they'll probably work at least as well as those things.

THANKS FOR THE TIP!!

[jgs001]

I've heard that bins with coloured coatings should be avoided... If you can't get the Lidl set for £15, then these are, I believe, the same bins.

[Mikea]

There were some Bressers on eBay earlier, but don't pay over the odds.

[The Warthog]

I took a look through some cheap ($12.99) binocs at a fundraiser table a few weeks ago. They had a brand name on them, but still, it was the first time I had ever experience kidney-beaning in a set of binocs. My own cheap ($40) binocs have a ruby coating, and give a slight bluish cast to the stars, but they work OK. Don't buy a pair unless you can at least have a look-see.

[Milamber]

Went to see Simple Minds a year or so back and my friend had a pair of "Ruby coated, awesome magnification, night vision, see everything like you are next to it" bins. I had the Meade (same as the Bressers). Mine were OK, but his made that stage look like the Chinese New Year!

You have to ask yourself *why* are the optics so bad they need that coating - but then, if it's so good why is your refractor not covered in the same stuff?

Arthur

[Wozz]

I very recently invested in some Helios Fieldmaster 10x50's which I thought were very cheap and I have to say they are more than adequate for stargazing. They also have a fitting for attaching to a tripod if you have one and all you need for that is a bracket for an extra £13.

[roundycat]

on the other hand, I bought an Opticron 8x42 BGA several years ago. They go everywhere with me, brilliant performance. You can get them now for around £450, you get what you pay for. You can stick your Leicas at twice the price.

Dennis

[The Warthog]

You can get them now for around £450, you get what you pay for.

Dennis

Yes, but most of us pay for what we can afford.

[brianb]

most of us pay for what we can afford.

Quite so, and anything in the way of optical aid will show more than nothing, but paying £4 for bins and £6 for p&p is really scraping the barrel .... you can get nice bins for £100, if you're lucky then even the £20 type might be acceptable, but the expensive ones really are an order of magnitude nicer to use in almost every way. But note that they're usually heavier - even lightweight magnesium bodies have a significant weight when engineered to last 30 years (ab)use.

[Milamber]

Have a look at Strathspey, very nice and priced from about £50 up.

Also, and I stand prepared to get shot down for this (but go look at the spec first) you may want to consider the Konus "Green" range - especially if you wear glasses but not exclusively. They are by far the most comfortable bins I have ever put to my eyes - and I mean that from the eye muscles and ease to actually *look through* side of things. Some bins are just so damned hard to get a decent image with that they're not worth the effort - even with the best optics in the world. And there are, of course better optics out there, but for the price and comfort they're hard to beat.

Arthur

[FLO]

I've heard that bins with coloured coatings should be avoided...

Yes, definitely. Mono-coatings (usually gold, red or orange) do increase contrast (compared to uncoated glass) but they are normally only applied to cheap/horrible binoculars and produce a colour-cast so are best avoided.