Monday Morning Birding Basics – No. 1: BUYING BINOS

If you’d rather not read much about binoculars, or if it’s simply not in your DNA to do the research, go buy yourself a pair of 8×42 Nikon Monarchs. Many birders agree these are the best bang for your $250 bucks. The glass offers a bright and sharp image, perhaps the best I’ve seen in this price range. My only gripe with these binos is that the twist-out eye-cups have no middle position. (More on eye-cups and other mid-priced binoculars below.)

If you’re independently wealthy, well, I could use a benefactor. And if you’re looking for binoculars, go with the Zeiss Victory T*FL 8×42. Disclosure: Zeiss gave me a pair of these. Yeah, I’m shilling for them. But, trust me, these binos are quick to focus, comfortable in your hands, water-tight and seem to manufacture light. But you’ll pay bigtime – $2250.

A diverse world of optics lies in between these two models (and on the other side of each). So, below, I’ve kept it short and simple:

Bino Basics

Binoculars come with a set of two numbers, 7×35 or 8×42, for example. The first is simply the magnification power. A 7x pair of binoculars makes an object appear seven times closer than the view with the naked eye. The second number is the size of the larger lens (the objective lens) in millimeters. Binoculars with larger objective lenses tend to have better light-gathering ability, which is good. But they also tend to weigh more.

Bigger is not necessarily better. Beginners should consider 7x or 8x binoculars, which tend to have a wider field of view than 10x binoculars. The higher-powered binos, which exaggerate the shake in your hand, may not give you the best view. I used 10x binos for the first 25 years of my birding career but went to 8x about five years ago and won’t go back. I do return to my old Zeiss 10x40s now and then, mostly for watching ocean birds from shore. For the beginner, the advantage of 7x or 8x binos are is a wider field of view. You’ll see more territory, which makes it easier to locate a songbird after you lift the binos to your eyes. Avoid compact models; they are lightweight but their quality and light-gathering powers suffer accordingly (although there are a few expensive exceptions). Stay away from zoom-lens binoculars, and steer clear of models with 50mm objective lenses or larger, which can be heavy and bulky.

Eye-cup Excess

It used to be that binoculars came with rubber eye-cups. Eyeglass wearers would fold these down in order to bring the binocular lenses closer to the eyeglass lenses, which widens the field of view and makes it easier to locate birds. But most manufacturers have switched to adjustable turn-and-lock eye-cups. In many cases, these are a disaster. When you test drive binos, make sure the eye-cups actually lock in position when you twist them out or all the way down. And if there are no click-stop lock positions in the middle, they won’t stay twisted out halfway. You’ll lift your binos to find each eyepiece has rotated to its own inclinations, assuring that you’ll get a lousy look at the Gyrfalcon zooming past you before it vanishes for good.

Close Focus

Many birders eventually become enlightened and discover the joy of watching butterflies and dragonflies through binoculars, only to back up grudgingly because their binos won’t focus on any thing closer than 15 feet. Birders who plan on enjoying insects should consider buying binoculars that focus as close as five or six feet. Most of them do these days.

Finally, don’t skimp on quality. Lousy binoculars can produce lousy views of birds. For backyard, casual, or intermediate birders, some fine optics are available starting at $200 or so. Those who suspect birds will become a major part of the rest of their lives might consider spending more. You usually can’t go wrong with the elite class of optics manufactures: Zeiss, Swarovski, Leica and many Nikon models. But Leupold (Olympics and Pinnacles) and Swift (Ultra-lites), in the mid-price range,  are great alternatives to the elite-class binos.

Had enough? No? Here are links to a two-part essay on mid-priced binoculars by Derek Lovitch (via his web site): Part 1 | Part 2. It’s good stuff. Don’t take my word for it; take Derek’s. I’ve birded with the guy. He knows his optics. He reviews optics for Birding magazine. Here’s Derek’s review of the Zeiss Victory T*FLs.

A future Monday Morning Birding Basics will feature a discussion of spotting scopes.