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Wild Bird Watching |  |
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Choosing Binoculars for Wild Bird WatchingBird watching is a hobby enjoyed by millions of people both young and old alike. Unfortunately most wild birds are quite small and flee at the earliest sign of movement... never allowing you to get a good look at them. Whether you go on bird watching field trips, or watch birds from the comfort of your home... at some point you're going to need a good set of binoculars. A good set of Optics evens the playing fieldOptics... either binoculars or spotting scopes help to even the playing field allowing you to watch wild birds from a distance without disturbing them. But the choices are nearly as large as the habitat that wild birds live in. We'll help you "zoom in" on the right set of binoculars for bird watching. First think of how and where you'll use your Binoculars?
Binocular Primer... Binocular Specifications... The first number also is an indication of field of view or how wide the picture is in the binocular. A binocular of 7 power will have a wider picture than a binocular of 10 power. A wide field of view is handy for following or finding a moving object. The second number... 40 is the size of the objective lens. It's job is to gather light. The larger the lens the more light it will gather. Large objective lenses produce bright highly focused images... but binoculars with large objective lenses are hard to hold steady and can be heavy. Two other things to consider is long eye relief for people who were glasses, and the binoculars near focus point. If you wear glasses... you'll want a set of binoculars with at least 15mm, preferably 20mm of eye relief. Focus point is the closest distance that a binocular can deliver a sharply focused image. Most birders prefer binoculars with a focus point of 15 feet. Porro prism, Roof prism, and Reverse prism binoculars are all available with variable magnification... for example you could purchase binoculars such as 7 to 10 magnification by 40. Porro Prism binoculars are the
traditional type of binocular Mid to high priced Porro Prism binoculars are an excellent choice for birding. Roof Prism binoculars have eye
pieces that are in line with Roof prism binoculars are more difficult to manufacture and generally cost more than porro prism binoculars of the same power and magnification. Compact roof prism binoculars are an excellent choice for birding. Reverse Porro Prism binoculars eye
pieces are spaced to In my opinion inexpensive reverse porro prism binoculars would only be a good choice for watching wild birds on nearby feeders. Summary... If you wear glasses or sunglasses... an eye relief rating of 15mm to 20mm is very important! |
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that
we're most accustomed to seeing. The eye pieces are placed to the inside
of the objective lenses. Porro prism binoculars are usually focused with a
ring knob between the eye piece or somewhere along the center hinge.
Larger models of Porro prism binoculars can be big and bulky... but their
light gathering ability is very good in low light conditions. They can be
purchased any where from 40.00 to well over 1,000.00 dollars. 
the
objective lenses. Roof prism binoculars also focus with a ring knob
between the eye pieces or on the hinge. They either focus internally or
externally. Roof prism binoculars are more compact and usually much
lighter than porro prism binoculars. Light gathering ability can be quite
good, but depth perception is usually not as good a Porro prism models.
the
outside of the objective lenses. As with porro and roof prism
binoculars... reverse porro prisms also focus with a ring knob. This type
of binocular has small objective lenses with poor depth perception and
light gathering ability. To their advantage they are very light and
compact.