john@nmtsun.nmt.edu (John Shipman) (12/10/87)
When I meet birders afield, I often ask them how they like their binoculars. Based on their testimony and my own experience, here are some suggestions for those who find 7x binoculars a bit short. 10X BINOCULARS. Some folks can have trouble holding these steady, so try before you buy. Most folks do okay if they use the correct posture. For glasses wearers, try putting your thumbs on your cheekbones just below your temples, with your fingertips about over the center of your eyebrows. For those without glasses, try the same hand position but with your thumbs near or touching your nose---a wraparound grip. If your elbows point straight down and brace against your ribs, everything should be pretty steady. I have met a fair number of fanatic birders who could afford just about anything. They all seem to wind up with Leitz or Zeiss 10x40's: price, over $700 from discounters. The 10x25 Leitz or Zeiss minis are a good compromise at less than half that price. These fit in a shirt pocket. The field is somewhat narrower, so they're less suited to rapid action, but the close focusing is excellent, about 14'. All Leitz and Zeiss binoculars are sharp and perfectly color-corrected to the edge of the field, and extremely rugged. I don't recommend the Nikon 12x36 compacts. They're okay optically, but crippled by inadequate close focusing (only to 25', and I get birds closer than that all the time). Even in a field test with distant birds, a friend and I could see more details with Zeiss 10x25's. The Nikon compacts aren't as rugged, and tend to get out of alignment; I've never heard this about Leitz or Zeiss. The non-compact Nikon types might be a good buy; anybody tried them? SCOPES. If you have unlimited funds, go for the Questar Field Model with fast focus. Requires a substantial tripod. Power with the standard 24mm eyepiece, 50x, or 80x with the built-in 1.6x Barlow; 38x-240x with other eyepieces. An integral 4x finder makes censuses and Big Day work a breeze. Cost, probably over two grand nowadays. Ideal for scoping huge mudflats, too high-powered for most flying birds. Warning: looking through one of these is like driving a great sports car---it makes you hate everything else. It's just like being there. A world-class American product. Back in the real world, the new Nikon 20x spotting scope is a pretty good deal at the current discount price of about $200-250. The color and sharpness are excellent, and stay that way almost to the field edge. A friend of mine got one of these recently and he and I both like it a lot. He also ordered 40x and 60x oculars for it, but they're on back order. He also built a gunstock for it that makes it quite usable standing flat-footed, even for tracking flying birds. If you can't build your own gunstock, try a camera store for a commercial shoulder mount. This might be just what UTZOO! STEVE wanted for flying Buteos. I've never used a zoom scope that was worth a fig. I also wouldn't recommend Bausch & Lomb, much less their budget line (Bushnell), for scopes OR binoculars. The binoculars are optically mediocre and tend to break early and often, typically requiring service that costs nearly as much as replacement. If you intend to use your optics for a few years, it's a losing proposition. I've looked through quite a few B&L scopes, and the Nikon is much sharper for not much more money. That means better looks, better descriptions, more species. Disclaimer: I have no financial interest in any optics supplier. -- John Shipman/Zoological Data Processing/Socorro, New Mexico USENET: ihnp4!lanl!unm-la!unmvax!nmtsun!john CSNET: john@nmt.csnet ``If you can't take it, get stronger.'' --Falline Danforth