I used to know somebody who was perhaps the best "birder" in East Africa. He used green Leitz rubber-armoured (and "waterproof") 8*40 binoculars, and said that the lack of magnification compared to 10*50 was not very much, and the slight disadvantage was more than offset by the bins being smaller, lighter, quicker to home in on the bird, and faster to focus.
This was some time ago, but I believe that 8*40 was then pretty much de rigeur in the "birding" (ugh) fraternity, and I doubt if things have changed much since then. His camera was an OM1 with a complete set of Novoflex lenses. John On Sun, 31 Dec 2006 18:34:15 -0000, mike wilson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Bob W wrote: > >> thanks for replying. I am kind of veering towards the 10x50s, although >> they are rather more than I really want to pay for fairly casual use. >> This is because of the combination of magnification and brightness, >> but then there is a reduced field of view. >> >> I'm given to understand that anything where the exit pupil diameter / >> magnification is less than 5 is considered a bit too dim for birds. I >> have previously used 8 x something-less-than-40, and thought it was >> ok. I have a pair of 12x50 which have only a 5.5 degree fov, so >> finding things is quite difficult, and they are rather dim for me. I >> used some in Africa which were fantastically bright - Nikon, I think - >> and I really appreciated the brightness. >> >> I think the big difference between birding binoculars and others, such >> as hunting ones, is the close focus. Again, the pair I have do not >> focus at all closely, are very slow to focus, and are basically >> useless for looking at birds. They might be ok for looking at lions, >> but they are in short supply round the Thames Estuary. I expect the >> alligators eat them all. > > You've pretty much hit it on the head. The combination of close > focus/magnification/(objective diameter/exit diameter)/price/weight and > other features like waterproofing that works for you is something that > only you can decide. Quite often, good dealers will have open days for > you to experience different models. Might be worth trying to find one > of those before committing. > > Seasonal greetings to all. > -- Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/ -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
