Binoculars

obi604

Hi

This is probably the totally wrong forum for this, but will chance my arm anyway. I sometime need to count cattle in a field that is roughly 600 metres away.

High level (without getting too technical, ) - what would be the best type to get. 12 x 42....... 8 x 60 etc.

coylemj

You'll be doing this in daylight so the diameter of the objective lens (the second number) will be less important than the magnification (the '8x' bit). Doesn't mean you should go for those 'opera glassses' that fold flat, I'd avoid them altogether.

Of the samples you quoted, I'd go for 12 x 42. Remember that you get what you pay for so the quality of the lens will have a major bearing on whether you get a good image or not - don't go too cheap. If you have any friends or neighbours who do a spot of bird watching, they will be a good source of advice and might call over to you with a couple of different pairs to try out.

The Continental Op

I was going to reply (again) but to save a lot of words I found this https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/binoculars.html, read it OP then come back with any further questions.

Thargor

Any opinions on the 8X60s in Lidl at the minute?

The Continental Op

Thargor wrote: »

Any opinions on the 8X60s in Lidl at the minute?

If they are the big zoom ones then I bought them a few years ago and really they are rubbish in terms of being decent optically, that doesn't mean they aren't useful or fun. I found (similar stated in that link above) that the zoom feature adds to many compromises to the optics. They work fine at the lowest zoom (x10 in the ones I have) but the chromatic aberration gets really bad as you start to zoom in and is very bad at x30 which is a ridiculous magnification for binoculars anyway.

Best I can advise is to take a pair out of the box and look weird by going to the back of the shop and focusing on stuff at the front of the shop then see how much distortion occurs when you zoom in. Even try a couple of different pairs as I've noticed that you occasionally get some badly mismatched optics that the diopter adjustment can't sort out.

I would recommend the cheap Bresser 10 x 50's that they have for €20-30 every so often. They aren't perfect but for an occasional user they aren't too bad.

Thargor

They're definitely not zoom I wouldnt even bother looking if they were, yeah I already have the 10X50 Bressers from a couple of years ago, an amazing pair for €20 tbh.

The Continental Op

Thargor wrote: »

They're definitely not zoom I wouldnt even bother looking if they were, yeah I already have the 10X50 Bressers from a couple of years ago, an amazing pair for €20 tbh.

My understanding is that while you can do decent 10 x 50's for next to nothing the same production methods and cheap materials don't scale up to x 60's.

But 8 x 60 has me interested as can't resist cheap optical devices so will have to take a look when I'm in town tomorrow - really hope they are all gone so I don't have to exercise self control.