For birding, hunting and astronomy enthusiasts the binoculars is a must have thing in their arsenal. In fact without the binoculars there cannot be any hunting or the birding activity. The simple reason being that you just cannot go and have the birding activity from close quarters. The birds will fly away and that means having the binoculars with you.
For buying the binoculars you need to have a few things which are a must. There are specifications given out by the manufacturers but you will not be able to understand them unless and until you know the basics. So here are the few basic things about the binoculars that you should know.
The first is the magnification and the diameter of the objective lens. The magnification simple terms is how much close the object will appear to you. The second part is the diameter of the objective lens. The greater diameter means more light through the lenses giving a better image. But bigger objective lens means bulkier binoculars. That is why you will need to balance the both. The best binoculars are the ones with specifications that are 7x42 or 8x42 or 10x50.
The next major thing that you should know is about the field of view. Field of view is defined as the linear distance that you can view from 1000 yards. It is measured in feet or angular degrees. You need to have greater field of view in case you are buying the binoculars for watching sports like the football or baseball.
Another specification that you need to worry about is the exit pupil. Exit pupil is the small circle that you see in each eyepiece if you hold the binoculars in front of the light source. The exit pupil should match entrance pupil of your eye. If the exit pupil is bigger then you will have the light falling outside the entrance pupil and hence the image that you see will be blurred. The way to measure the exit pupil is by dividing the objective lens diameter with the magnification.
There are a lot of other factors that you need to be aware about before buying the binoculars. These are twilight factor and the brightness factor of the binoculars.
Other than that there is the eye relief parameter which is very very essential for the people who wear eyeglasses.
Last but not the least is the coating that you do on the lenses which determines the light transmission of the binoculars.
For buying the binoculars you need to have a few things which are a must. There are specifications given out by the manufacturers but you will not be able to understand them unless and until you know the basics. So here are the few basic things about the binoculars that you should know.
The first is the magnification and the diameter of the objective lens. The magnification simple terms is how much close the object will appear to you. The second part is the diameter of the objective lens. The greater diameter means more light through the lenses giving a better image. But bigger objective lens means bulkier binoculars. That is why you will need to balance the both. The best binoculars are the ones with specifications that are 7x42 or 8x42 or 10x50.
The next major thing that you should know is about the field of view. Field of view is defined as the linear distance that you can view from 1000 yards. It is measured in feet or angular degrees. You need to have greater field of view in case you are buying the binoculars for watching sports like the football or baseball.
Another specification that you need to worry about is the exit pupil. Exit pupil is the small circle that you see in each eyepiece if you hold the binoculars in front of the light source. The exit pupil should match entrance pupil of your eye. If the exit pupil is bigger then you will have the light falling outside the entrance pupil and hence the image that you see will be blurred. The way to measure the exit pupil is by dividing the objective lens diameter with the magnification.
There are a lot of other factors that you need to be aware about before buying the binoculars. These are twilight factor and the brightness factor of the binoculars.
Other than that there is the eye relief parameter which is very very essential for the people who wear eyeglasses.
Last but not the least is the coating that you do on the lenses which determines the light transmission of the binoculars.