Binoculars. Help needed.

[Leekbrookgull]

For the next season of cricket i am thinking of a small lightweight pair of binoculars. At the moment the 'specs' for my curent pair are. 10 x 50 ? Wide angle ? and 122m at 1000m. Please can someone explain what all that means,and what would i need to be looking for in a new pair ? Thanks.

 

[TWOCHOICEStom]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binoculars

 

[Westdene Seagull]

For the next season of cricket i am thinking of a small lightweight pair of binoculars. At the moment the 'specs' for my curent pair are. 10 x 50 ? Wide angle ? and 122m at 1000m. Please can someone explain what all that means,and what would i need to be looking for in a new pair ? Thanks.

Do what I did and steal a pair of theatre ones - perferct !

 

[Dave the OAP]

joing the National Trust...you get a decent pair of binoculars as a welcome gift....and you get to see some lovelly properties/gardens etc

 

[dougdeep]

joing the National Trust...you get a decent pair of binoculars as a welcome gift....and you get to see some lovelly properties/gardens etc

Well said Dave, and only £77 per couple per year.

 

[The Spanish]

the old 'for the cricket' chestnut eh.

 

[Boroseagull]

For the next season of cricket i am thinking of a small lightweight pair of binoculars. At the moment the 'specs' for my curent pair are. 10 x 50 ? Wide angle ? and 122m at 1000m. Please can someone explain what all that means,and what would i need to be looking for in a new pair ? Thanks.

To help you; in regards to your current 10x50 it means, 1st figure magnification, i.e. brings the image 10x closer to you. An object at 100mtrs away would appear to be at 10mtrs. The second figure is purely the diameter of the objective [light gathering, the big one!] lens. Larger this is more light & [supposedly brighter the image]. Divide first figure into second to get the diameter of the exit pupil, this correlates to the pupil of your eye, by theory the larger the number the more light there is. Does not now work in practice due to the superiority of current optics that have improved beyond all recognition since this formula. !22mtrs @ 1000mtrs is the angle of vision; i.e. by theory you should see a width of 122 mtrs at 1000mtrs, or feet, yards etc.

Would suggest for cricket & good quality compact, light & portable of either 7 or 8x magnification. The objective lens will be in the region of 20 - 25mm but this will be perfect for your use - they don't play cricket in the dark! Do not under any circumstancis purchase zoom binoculars, usually sold via newspaper adverts, because if you look through them you would understand why!

Above all remember with optics, it is the quality of the optics that defines the image & not the magnification. For a good compact pair expect to pay minimum of £75 to a max of £300 - but you get what you pay for.

Sorry to sound nerdish, but I sold specialised binos for 40 years to birdwatchers all over the UK - and of course use them ever day in Spain.

Good luck

 

[Hove Lagoonery]

For the next season of cricket i am thinking of a small lightweight pair of binoculars. At the moment the 'specs' for my curent pair are...:

Don't confuse us by mentioning specs when asking about binoculars

 

[wadhurstseagull]

Why waste money on expensive binoculars? Simply stand closer to the object you wish to see.

 

[Uncle C]

If you are going to look through them for any length of time then I would suggest 7x as the largest magnification. Most common naval binoculars from the second world war were 7x50 for good reason (50mm diameter lenses were needed for vision in poor light).

If you go above 7x magnification for any length of time you will get wobble and blurred images. Prolonged use above 7x mag will require a tripod or other rest.

 

[Dave the OAP]

Why waste money on expensive binoculars? Simply stand closer to the object you wish to see.

 

[Uncle C]

Why waste money on expensive binoculars? Simply stand closer to the object you wish to see.

Yep, theres always a bit of spare space between the crease and the stumps.

 

[Gwylan]

Yep, theres always a bit of spare space between the crease and the stumps.

Well, he'll probably be pretty safe when Carl Hopkinson's batting