Originally posted by rbmorrisI am not that much into astronomy, and I don't have binoculars myself (I have a monocular with a sun filter to watch the sun, and a small telescope which I also use mostly to watch and photograph the sun), but I know you can get binoculars which are good for astronomy. I would read some astronomy pages, maybe ask the question in an astronomy forum. I found this site quite useful: http://www.telescope-service.com/
Do they really make good binoculars for astronomy? Any recommendations?
They have a page specifically about binoculars: http://www.telescope-service.com/binoculars/start/binocularsstart.html
I have a pair of Pentax 10 x 50's that I use for mostly bird-watching. Love 'em!
😵 Having a limited field of view, one needs a steady hand or a steady surface to lean against. They have a tripod mount built into them for stability and extended viewing (... eg: astronomy) as they are reasonably heavy.
Despite these shortcomings and their weight, the magnification is magnificent - and you get true colours - often inexpensive binoculars shift colours prismatically... 😕
Originally posted by Silver SlayerI just found a decent pair of 12X50 (12 power, 50 MM lens)
I want to buy some binoculars! Anyone got any advice?!!
a brand called Tasco, about $30 US. It was featured at a
Lenscrafters eye shop. I checked it out and found the optics to
be very good for that price. You can tell how well the optics perform
by a couple of simple tests. Just line up on a vertical feature,
something you feel is a straight line, like the edge of a building
or a tower or something like that. Then sweep past left and right
of the feature and see if the line curves one way or the other.
If the optics is perfect, the line will be straight as you sweep by
the field of view. If not, on one side, the straight line curves inward,
and becomes straight only dead center of your image field and
then as you sweep further, it starts curving the other way. If you
see that, the optics are cheapo. Another test is to view a point
like a star at night, it should be able to focus down to a nice spot
with no fuzzy redness to it. Or look at the moon and the edges should
not be colored. This tests chromatic aberration, where colors don't
all focus at the same place. Good optics will focus red, blue and
green at the same point, more or less. The first telescopes 400
years ago had really bad chromatic aberrations and they discovered
later if you made half the lens out of one kind of glass and the other
out of a differant type with differant refractive indexes, the sum
of the two makes red and blue and green focus closer together.
I just bought a 20X 80 used for about 170 bucks that has
solar filters and I can see the sunspots directly. It is made by Orion
which is usually thought of as lower on the totem pole of quality
but they are adequate for casual astronomy.
You may want to consider a pair with a zoom lens, that way
you get the best of both worlds, say a 7-15 or 7-21 power and 50
MM lens. Good luck. Just use those two tests I mentioned, it only
takes a few seconds to gauge the quality.
Originally posted by sonhouseThanks for the advice. I don't really the numbers 8x40 for example.
I just found a decent pair of 12X50 (12 power, 50 MM lens)
a brand called Tasco, about $30 US. It was featured at a
Lenscrafters eye shop. I checked it out and found the optics to
be very good for that price. You can tell how well the optics perform
by a couple of simple tests. Just line up on a vertical feature,
something you feel is a straight line, ...[text shortened]... luck. Just use those two tests I mentioned, it only
takes a few seconds to gauge the quality.
What does each num stand for?