Date: Fri, 3 May 2002 10:05:53 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Denise Ryan Subject: Re: Testing Binoculars MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" To help point you in the right direction on brightness look for coatings on the lenses. I found www.njaudubon.org web site helpful. They have a list of various kinds of binocs and their descriptions and ratings. I was too impatient to wait to try two dozen binocs and then buy. I used their guide and was pleased with the result -- granted I was only upgrading from $150 range to the $300 range and not close to $1000. -----Original Message----- From: Eastern Shore Stamp Co [mailto:stamps@SEA-EAST.COM] Sent: Friday, May 03, 2002 9:35 AM To: MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Testing Binoculars A couple of generic points to make about choosing binoculars: BRIGHTNESS BEATS MAGNIFICATION (other things being equal). I have found that, in general, 7x is preferred to 10x; the image is brighter in most circumstances. When testing bins don't simply look at a very bright object; also look at a scene where portions vary from bright to dark. Take special notice of the dark areas. I think you will find that the 7x bins give you better clarity. A LARGER FIELD-OF-VIEW BEATS MAGNIFICATION (other things being equal). Most of your birding will likely be done in dicky bird territory. The wider the FOV the easier it is to locate and follow those warblers through the woods. That said, the higher magnification is more useful in bright open conditions like mud flats. MAKE YOUR OWN DECISION ABOUT THE BEST BINOCULARS FOR YOU. People can get carried away with defending their own choice of expensive bins. If you pay lots of hard earned pennies for bins, it's hard to admit that someone else bought a better pair for less money. FINALLY, YOU'LL LIKE WHICHEVER $700+ BINOCULARS YOU BUY (see previous point) And, oh, by the way, those Swarovski binocular mentioned below can't be all that great. If they were, the airport security people would have taken one look through them and declared them a dangerous security problem and kept them for themselves. At 10:01 PM 5/2/02 -0400, you wrote: >My Swarovski SLC 7X42 have served me well. They've been bumped, >dropped and taken several swims over eight? years. Pete Dunne, who I >think got to try all the latest bins at the time, told me they are >great. And the only negative things he mentioned to me have all been >corrected in later designs as far as I'm aware. > >I think the real proof is when airport security people look through >them to make sure they are real and say "Wow, These are NICE!" and take >a second look. Happens every time. > >Steve Huy Charles Vaughn 1306 Frederick Avenue Salisbury, MD 21801 stamps@sea-east.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================