Choosing Hand Held Binoculars for Astronomy - Avoid the Trap!
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- Опубликовано: 19 июн 2021
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Response would be appreciated, sir i would like to buy binoculars but confused between nikon 16x50 and pentax 16x50 so pentax comes with FMC where as Nokon comes with MC only so please sir tell me which is best in your perspective ❤thanks
People older than 25 or so may not have pupils that dilate enough to take advantage of 7mm exit pupils. Something to bear in mind. 7x50 binoculars may effectively be very heavy 7x35s for older folks!
Very true! I go deep into exit pupil on another video about eyepieces.
Your still going to see more pointing up a pair of 7x50 binoculars to say a pair of 7x35 regardless of pupil size although it does obviously help because the bigger objectives are letting you see deeper into space and you will see more faint stars, and in the daytime and just after sunset my 7x50s the clarity etc,everything , is just unbeatable to my 10x50 vortex diamondbacks with dielectric coatings and barr and stroud 8x42s, and the 7x50s are my cheapest pair ,by a Mile lol.
I've got a pair of 7x50s and I'm an older person. I find that the larger exit pupil allows me some "wiggle room" to get a good binocular image instead of having to get the binocular hinge precisely centred between my eye sockets in order to have good binocular vision (plus, the image is brighter than it would be if the exit pupil were smaller).
I don't gaze with my binoculars, 7x50 to use for finding my objective in Bortle 5-6 sky and I'm 70+ years old. I look for targets like M13 that is not visible at Bortle 6, but I can see it with the binos then it makes aiming my 8x finder scope easier.
You must also take into consideration the amount of inter pupillary distance adjustability of the binoculars as the distance between ones pupils is different in each person. Mine happen to be fairly close together so many binoculars I looked at wouldnt allow me to see easily through each eyepiece simultaneously 👍. This is where trying them out before purchase is definitely reccomended.
One of the best & simply explained vid's I have seen to date on (hand held) binoculars. I was looking (window shopping) into buying a pair of (not hand held :) Pentax SP 20x60 WP Binoculars well before I saw this vid, so was not surprised to see the choice you made in buying from this brand . In the end, it's all about the quality of the glass. For a beginner into Astro binoculars , as you say, Fully Multi Coated & BAK 4 Prism's are a must from a starting point, which should be the standard to go from. The less glass, the better the image quality, don't buy zoom! :) More glass!. :)
Glad you liked it Peter, cheers :)
Those 20x60's are an excellent lunar and double star binocular { when mounted } great for clusters too.
Good afternoon! Thanks for the review! Can you recommend buying Pentax binoculars? I want to buy Pentax SP 8x40 WP and 10x50 as in your review. Will the quality be on par with Nikon binoculars? How do they behave in cloudy weather and at night? Thank you)
Helpful Video...Never quite sure which Binos is best for myself so I have 20x80 Bresser,10x60 and Celestron 8x42 Roof prism Outland as Telescopes are to big for my apartment and the garden is a jungle.👀
I had a 15x70 binoculars for a year and so far, my binoculars are really good for the night sky and nature etc 😀
I've seen a lot of cool things through my binoculars like deep space objects, Jupiter's moons and more! :)
Also great video 😁
Hey WeatherDude, thanks for watching. Great to hear you're enjoying you binos. 15x70's are probably my favourite Astronomy binocular size because of the range of objects they allow you to see without being too big. They only need light mounting too, like a monopod, or I've even got away with resting them on my eye sockets whilst reclined on a Sun lounger. I've used them hand held but it gets pretty tense trying to keep the image still. I end up holding my breath lol
How really?
Hi ! I just got a pair of celestron 20x80 ... pretty heavy to use without the tripod... I'm planning to get one soon. I like what I can see through them... my question is there a big difference in what you can see between 10x50, 20x80 and 25x100. I'm planning to go big... and get the 25x100.... but they are double the price of 20x80...i care more about detail of what I wanna see rather than field of view....and yes...they are a lot heavier...but over all do they worth... or better get some 6 inch dobsonian?
@@vitalie787i also have the same question about 25x100 ...as i also have 20x80 which is great for stargazing..but wanted to upgrade if it worth it to upgrade, also planing to buy 10" gso dob...
Great video.....very informative!
This is my 100th video for the channel so that's something :D
Before reading the Comment I thought it was Thanks For 100 Subscriber's🤣 Congrats On 100 VIDEOS!! 🔭👍👍
@@Poor_Astronomer Haha thanks mate, 100 subs was good as well, I remember how pleased I was to get 100 subs :)
I have a set of Bushnell 10x50, gonna have to check them now🤯 I don't use them often but it is nice to have that big field of view sometimes. Cheers Chris nice video. Astro La Vista ! Congrats on 100 and sometimes I think a simple video is just fine mate.
Hey Ollie! Don't worry, if your bins are really out you'd see a double image, and you can check alignment by looking at a roof line and blinking between each eye, that will check up and down alignment and any difference will pop out at you. Then do the same with the side of a house with the vertical wall to check side to side alignment.
Thanks mate, you noticed the new name then hehe It just made me giggle so I went with it :D
Yeah video wise I thought going full time work wise would mean dropping to making a really good video once a month, but I tried that with the Summer Triangle video and put 80+ hours in for barely any views, so I think I'm just better off doing what I can when I can rather than trying to compete with the bigger channels. Just can't do that with work and kids, so I'm just going to enjoy being part of the community and do what I've got time for so I can be involved in the community :)
@@AstroLaVista Hey Chris I think the new name is cool, sometimes astrophotography can get a bit too serious. I hear you on the content, I've spent so much time doing certain videos. I'm now starting to not worry quite as much as there isn't always the correlation to views. At the end of the day just try and enjoy and see how the stars align on a given day.😉👍🔭
Hey, I am looking for a good pair of bins mostly for astronomy, but also for some allround use. I am noy going to use a tripod. Which one would you recommend: the Opticron Adventurer T WP 10x50, or the Pentax SP 10x50 (non WP)? Or any other suggestion? Looking for one under €120 (£100).
Hi Noah, the Opticron T WP's are fantastic for the money. Often at this price point the prisms are noticeably undersized which reduces the light reaching your eyes. From Steve Tonkin's review I think this is barely the case with these binoculars. Also they have a good 18mm of eye relief so you should be able to see the full field of view even if you wear glasses.
The Pentax have a slightly better build quality and are more weather resistant. Eye relief is a bit tighter at 13mm so pass on them if you need to wear glasses. Optically they are probably very similar.
Here's a wild card! As you mention using binoculars on a tripod, have you considered moving up to 70mm binoculars to make the most of that? I can vouch for these having owned a pair of 15x70's. I don't know how they have done it, but Opticron have managed to make an affordable 70mm binocular that's actually good. Usually I'd say to avoid large cheap binoculars, but this seems to be the exception to the rule.
www.firstlightoptics.com/classic-binoculars/opticron-oregon-observation-70mm-binoculars/ref/astrolasvista/
@@AstroLaVista Thank you very much for your reply! I made a typing mistake 😅. I meant I'm not going to use a tripod, so thats why I didn't look for a 15x70. Thanks for ur help!
I ordered a cheap pair of 10/50 binoculars on line. Upon looking at a tower that carries electric wires across a very high hill about 8/10 miles away the tower was doubled with two images looking to be about an inch or so apart. At night stars/planets were doubled also. I figured if I returned them for another pair at this price range the problem would persist. What did I do to fix this? I loosened the Left large barrel where it is screwed onto the binoculars where the prism is. I rotated it while looking at the tower and at about a half turn loose the towers became one perfect tower, I could even make out the wire connections to the insulators. Not wanting to leave it loose I turned it about 2 more turns. I put a medium size rubber band in the loose area forming a gasket. I tightened the barrel, the rubber band, forming a gasket held the barrel one half turn wide but very tight. The binoculars are perfect.
A common problem when buying cheap binoculars is that the two binocular barrels are slightly out of alignment with each other, causing this double-image effect. Some can be fixed by adjusting the prisms--others are not adjustable. The more you spend, of course, the less likely you will encounter this issue. Also, remember that the higher the magnification of the binoculars, the more sensitive they will be to misalignment problems. So, in general, you need to spend more to get quality 20x70 binoculars than 10x70 binoculars.
@@GrnXnham Thanks for the information but spending more "ON LINE" does not always equate to better quality just expensive junk. If spending more I would probably go to a fixed in place store so I can walk outside and try them as opposed to spending a lot, being disappointed and have to return 2 , 3 or 4 times. In any case I fixed the cheap pair as suggested by someone on you tube and it worked great.
Good overview, thanks! Spot on about the collimation issues with cheaper binoculars…I recently bought a pair of Celestron Cometron 7x50 and they arrived out of collimation.
Thanks, and I hear you on that one. I've never had much luck with budget binos either.
Excellent video Chris - I can highly recommend the Nikon Aculon A211 10*50 binoculars - very sharp, very bright and super contrast. BaK4 poro prisms, but eye relief is around 12mm. not an issue for me as I don't use glasses for observing. A bit more pricier than the Pentax units in your video.
I've heard of the Aculon but never had the pleasure. Thanks for the recommendation.
How would be the Aculon 16 x 50..
I'm buying that one... Hope it works for me ..
@@123junu I haven't used it, so can't directly comment.
My concerns with the 16x50 are that it will be difficult to get a steady image hand held and this will be very annoying. It will also be dimmer than lower magnification binoculars such as 10x50 and 7x50.
@@davepasternThanks for your quick response....
got the 16 x 50 today
Daytime viewing was very nice... specially after mounting it on the tripod...
Let's see what all I can see during night
....will start with the easy to view Andromeda.... 😁😁😁😁😁😁😁
I wonder if I can take its pics with a 16 x 50 on a tripod....
@@123junu yeah, if you're mounting it on a tripod, it'll be OK. Handholding though...not what I'd recommend. I think you can probably jury rig a iPhone/Android phone holder made for a scope to fit to the binoculars somehow. Not a great way to image though imho.
Thanks. You should do a vid on what to look out for when buying new and used binoculars, how to spot things like defects and misalignment and such.
Thanks, I'll add it to the list.
Great Depth Video Chris!! I love Binocular Astronomy, I have a Celestron 10x50 which performs Solid!! hope your new job is Going Well, Clear Skies!👍👍🔭
Using two eyes is so immersive isn't it. Yes thanks for asking, so far so good and I'm really enjoying it! :)
@@AstroLaVista Soo....are you changing Back Your Channel name to DIY astro, I hope they Don't Confuse that you Copied, to Support him, LOL.
But thats True, I Cant express my fan Falling For AstroBiscuit : D!!!!!
Good info Chris! Congrats for your 100th videos!
Thanks loan, you must be close to 100 yourself?
@@AstroLaVista i count 93 but many are shorts
Great content - what would you recommend for viewing commercial jets at altitude
Firstly, obviously be super careful not to track a plane into the path of the Sun else it's permanent eye damage to both eyes. It might actually be more rewarding and safer to use a camcorder (dad cam). I love those things as they are dirt cheap now days, you can zoom in much further than a binocular and they have stabilization so the plane won't wobble about all over the place. However, if you want a bino for distant objects like planes and boats, look for a 20x80 model and mount it on a tripod with a smooth fluid head. You won't be able to hand hold at 20x.
Very nice.. highly informative video..
Lots of new terms for a newbie like me...
..but most of it understood...
....how good is the Nikon 16 x 50
For watching night sky...?? Or a celestron 15 x 70 is better.....??
Thanks! The Nikon are likely to be better because the Celestron 15x70's are a budget binocular with undersized prisms. The undersized prisms stop all the light from passing through so they are effectively 15x63. Collimation (optical alignment) can be hit and miss with the Celestron 15x70. It's worth checking out some reviews of both :)
@@AstroLaVista thanks for your prompt response....
Received the Nikon 16 x 50 today...
Looked and performed v well during daytime... Waiting eagerly for the night...
Got one 8x30 , one 10x50 as well ..
Will try the ever easy Andromeda galaxy first tonight...
Next level would be to capture images
Hope Im successful...
Thanks to your guidance...
Love and respect from India..🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
Great info Chris, you Know me, I love bino's. So true though, you do get what you pay for, my cheap bino's are great, work well and optically they are fine, but if you compare the build quality to my vintage zeiss there not in the same league. Congrats on the 100th video pal..Here's to the next 100.... *Raises mug of tea* :)
Hey Jason, Cheers mate! I've often looked at the Zeiss Jena on Ebay with my finger hovering on the bid button :D Nice bins mate! You can't beat the immersion of binos, and they're such a great start for folk on a budget as you can get a semi decent new pair with BAK4 prisms for 50 quid now days. The only problem is if you look through an high end pair, the optics can ruin you for going back! lol It's a bit like when we went from watching TV in VGA to HD and then 4k. Thanks Jason, I'm raising you a coffee back :)
Response would be appreciated, sir i would like to buy binoculars but confused between nikon 16x50 and pentax 16x50 so pentax comes with FMC where as Nokon comes with MC only so please sir tell me which is best in your perspective ❤thanks
I think you would need to try and find a side by side comparison review. I've tested neither binocular so I would only be guessing which is best. The one thing I will say is that 16x mag will be hard to hand hold without the image shaking so consider tripod mounted whichever 16x50 binocular you decide on.
Hey Chris! - I really learned a lot about binoculars from this, thank you! :) congratulations on video #100 by the way, that's awesome going!!
So happy for you in your new job mate, I hope you are having a blast :)
Clear skies!
Luke
Hey Luke! Thanks for watching mate :) Well, I'm glad I could teach you something as it's usually the other way round hehe :D
Thanks so much! I'm loving the new job mate, I get such interesting and challenging questions. I'm looking forward to hopefully having guru level 10 astro knowledge one day from all the research I'm doing in the process of helping resolve things :) I'm super lucky! Take care mate : )
@@AstroLaVista That's brilliant mate! - they've got the right man for the job, you've got the ability to take things you know and put them out in an easily digestible format which is a gift in itself! I can imagine the questions being challenging! -but you'll be a champion at it in no time 👍👍
@@lukomatico You're an absolute tonic Luke, cheers! :)
Apologies, I just did a 'thumbs down' when trying to click on 'replies'. My fat fingers! Apologies again and best to everyone.
I bought a pair of Celestron Skymaster 20x80s as my first 'proper' pair of binoculars. Eventually made a parallelogram mount for about £40 (not including the cymbal stand I used as the base and part of the stem). Works very well standing up and seated - I'm 6'2" and can use it standing. Very happy with them and on my second night got a very good view of M81 and M82.
I did, however, then buy a couple of pairs of 10x50s on eBay. A pair of Minolta Classic IIs that I really like. Shortly afterwards snapped up a pair of Swift Newport 10x50s for about £17.
The Swifts are my go-to handheld pair, even over the more modern Minoltas. They're weighty but they offer absolutely amazing views and it feels like I stole them at that price. Obviously being a vintage pair I got lucky and not all are going to be as good but over about 70% of the field of view, they are very sharp and crisp indeed and very, very well collimated. Genuinely thrilled with them and it was a spur-of-the-moment whim to buy them. I gather they're BAK-7s but I'm too much of a newbie to notice the difference in my casual observing.
Congratulations on the new job at FLO! Sounds like a giggle.
Hey Duncan, that's brilliant that you built a parrallelogram mount, I really should get on that myself at some point. And I've got to agree! that's a bargain pair of Swifts! Wow, let me know if you want to sell them ;) I don't know about you but it's proper addictive scrolling through binos on ebay as there are so many interesting models to try for not too much money. Thanks, I'm really enjoying it at FLO, they're an ace team : )
@@AstroLaVista The biggest 'trick' to building the parallelogram was to use an old Pearl double-braced cymbal stand as the supporting tripod base and then using the top telescoping part of the stand in the stem, having taken off the geared section (where you would actually mount the cymbal).
I drilled a slightly undersized hole in the wooden stem of the parallelogram, filled it with epoxy, then hammered the top of the cymbal stand into the hole and it's absolutely rock solid. Because the original cymbal stand uses wing nuts to tighten up the three different telescoping sections, you also essentially end up with a friction-adjustable bearing...
Binocular browsing is totally addictive I'd had to stop myself for fear of my mortgage...
Is it worth me getting these for astronomy usage as I only have proper functionality in 1 eye. Thanks
Hmm? Maybe not in that case, I'm sorry to hear that. You might get better use out of a monocular.
I use 10x70 Fujis and while there is no perfect solution for stabilization of such massive binoculars, an inexpensive compromise for me has been a monopod.
いろいろなコメントが参考になります。Thank you
I'm not sure Google translate is doing a good job with this one- いろいろなコメントが参考になります = "any comments would be helpful" ? ? is there anything in particular you would like me to comment on?
Hey Chris great info on binoculars and those binoculars look pretty good!
I've had cheap binoculars before which were ok and I must say I've got a pair of Nikon 8x40 binoculars which gives very good views of milky way duren summer etc. I had zoom binoculars and they were pretty good back then and I think binoculars are better than these cheap £100 telescopes you see on youtube. Which pair was your favourite for Astronomy?
I've got a very small pair and they didn't cost much and gives nice views of moon and deep sky objects.
Hey Chris you've changed your channel name why change it?
Binoculars are great to start of with in astronomy and great sweeping the milky way and finding deep sky objects. I started with a pair of binoculars when I first got interested in astronomy and today I still use them! Which binoculars today you suggest now?
Interesting video and stay safe buddy!
Hi John, I agree if you're on a budget of say £50 then I'd pick binos over a telescope for sure :) I'm surprised you got on with zoom binoculars. People usually say they're a big no no because of the field of view and collimation issues. The idea for changing my channel name for a week or two is to support Astrobiscuit by trying to encourage people to subscribe to Astrobiscuit's channel. I know he's trying to live off his channel, and he has the best channel in my opinion so wanted to do something to help other than just buying him a coffee via Paypal. The idea seems to have back fired a bit because some people think I've decided to call my self 'Subscribe to Astrobiscuit' instead of it being a message :D I announced what I was doing last week but I know not everyone saw it :) Take care!
Very nice video,question if I may, I'm 75 would the binoculars pictured, be suitable
Yes, 10x50's will be fine with their 5mm exit pupil. Your eyes should dilate to accommodate the light cone. You can use any binocular, only you wouldn't get the most out of a 7x50mm as your eyes are unlikely able to dilate enough to let all the light in from an 8mm light cone.
Olá. Tenho uns Celestron Skymaster 15×70. Também tenho uns Levenhuk Sherman Base 12×50. Agora estou a pensar comprar uns Pentax Júpiter 16×50? Ou uns Nikon Aculon 16×50? Ou Celestron Skymaster 25×70 ? O que me aconselha destes três ??? 🤔🧐🙄🥸
My advise would be to tripod mount any binocular above 12x magnification, and the Skymaster 25x70 are stopped down to around 63mm due to undersized prisms, plus they do not hold alignment very well. Nikon or Pentax for the win :)
😁😸🥸
image in /coated with not coated prisms 7X50 binoculars/ is twice brighter than in /cheap Multicoated 10X50/. Image in Fully Multicoated 10X50 is bright as is in cheap coated 7X50.
Do they have a tripod bush? You never showed the underside and some of us oldies really can't hand hold any more.
Hi Jo, the tripod bush is behind the round cap on the front hinge of a binocular. You would need to use a tripod adapter to connect the bush to a photographic tripod: www.firstlightoptics.com/binocular-accessories/opticron-l-type-binocular-tripod-bracket-adapters/ref/astrolavista/
@@AstroLaVista Thanks.
Hi, can i do stargazing with 8x42 bak4 multicoated binocular as well?
Yes of course :) 8x will be nice and steady to hold.
I wanna buy these, but the current price is 280 €, so I am hesitant.
Is viewing the moon possible with astronomical binoculars. The brightness seems like it would be murder on the eyes. Are moon filters needed?
The 15x70's I had were pretty nice on the Moon. You could make out craters, and I don't recall them being overly bright...well at least compared to an 8" Newtonian telescope, a polarising Moon filter is a good idea with that thing.
@@AstroLaVistaThanks for the input!
These will be fantastic but try to get your hands on a pair of Canon 12x36 IS III.
I've often wondered about those :)
I just used them 5 minutes ago to split Albireo. Amazing to use 12x handheld binoculars to split this. Highly recommended. Try to test drive a pair.@@AstroLaVista
If you look at the lens on the opposite side everything will be longer..
Always fun to do ;)
Yeah
I like your new channel name
hehe Astrobisuit is the best so just wanted to show my support for a week or two :) I do want a better name than DIY Astro though, so if you have any ideas?
@@AstroLaVista i would suggest something like "astro art" since you are mostly doing astrophotography reviews and tutorials
@@niki8934 I like it, it's catchy! Just checked and there's software called Astro Art. if that didn't exist it would be going on the shortlist!
Ok. So why the channel name change?
Hey book, I'm promoting my favourite channel on youtube for a couple of weeks by trying to get people to subscribe to Astrobiscuit. Have you seen Astrobiscuits videos? I do want to choose a more catchy name than DIY Astro when I change it back though, I just can't think of anything? I Hope you're well :)
@@AstroLaVista quite well thanks, hope you are too! Yes I'm already subscribed to Astrobiscuit, great channel, Bunny too lol.
I don't know, I like DIY Astro, but you'll come up with something.
Why is you channel named "Subscribe to Astrobiscuit"?
Hi Terry, last week I announced I was changing my channel name to Subscribe to Astrobiscuit for a week or two to show my support for the best astro channel out there (in my opinion). If any ones sees the channel name and decides to check out Rory's channel then that's a real bonus. I'm about ready to go back to being DIY Astro, but I'm having a think to see if I can think of a better name? I've never really been that pleased with it DIY Astro other than it seemed like a good idea at the time during some DIY projects.
Shouldn't you really say "a pair of monoculars"? A pair of binoculars makes for four tubes!
You're not wrong, I need to stop wording it like that :D
You must also take into consideration the amount of inter pupillary distance adjustability of the binoculars as the distance between ones pupils is different in each person. Mine happen to be fairly close together so many binoculars I looked at wouldnt allow me to see easily through each eyepiece simultaneously 👍. This is where trying them out before purchase is definitely reccomended.