dcnicholls
17-01-2007, 04:42 PM
The comet has got me thinking about binoculars again. I have a pair of 10x50 Hoya wide angle binos which I bought in Singapore back when it was a cheap place to buy stuff (ie long ago). The'ye stood by me well, and are convenient for looking at comets :)
I also have a pair of the monstrous 45-deg 25x100 "Oberwerk" type binos from Andrews. Very nice indeed but heavy heavy heavy - require a military campaign to move them around.
So I was thinking about something in between - provoked partly by a Buy/Sell/Trade post this morning on IIS including Andrews 20x80 binocs (now sold).
What I want is something that's light enough to hold without a tripod, but bigger than 50mm diam objectives - 60 or 70mm would be obvious choices. And probably 10 to 16 mag. It *must* be wide angle - I don't have any desire to look down a narrow "tube".
The Hoyas always struck me as excellent until I mounted them on a pantograph mount, whereupon I found they were rather poor (actually, very poor) at the edges of the field. So I'm looking for somethign with a usable wide field.
One other thing to go into the equation: value for money. I'm not necessarily only looking at the cheap end of the market.
So Fujinon FMT-SX 16x70s or MT-SX 10x70s aren't completely out of the question (especially if I buy them from the US - US$600). But I thought I'd canvas opinions on options here.
The parameters again: wide angle, 10-16x, 60-70mm, light enough to use w/o a tripod, good sharp edges.
Anyone want to offer some thoughts?
DN
I also have a pair of the monstrous 45-deg 25x100 "Oberwerk" type binos from Andrews. Very nice indeed but heavy heavy heavy - require a military campaign to move them around.
So I was thinking about something in between - provoked partly by a Buy/Sell/Trade post this morning on IIS including Andrews 20x80 binocs (now sold).
What I want is something that's light enough to hold without a tripod, but bigger than 50mm diam objectives - 60 or 70mm would be obvious choices. And probably 10 to 16 mag. It *must* be wide angle - I don't have any desire to look down a narrow "tube".
The Hoyas always struck me as excellent until I mounted them on a pantograph mount, whereupon I found they were rather poor (actually, very poor) at the edges of the field. So I'm looking for somethign with a usable wide field.
One other thing to go into the equation: value for money. I'm not necessarily only looking at the cheap end of the market.
So Fujinon FMT-SX 16x70s or MT-SX 10x70s aren't completely out of the question (especially if I buy them from the US - US$600). But I thought I'd canvas opinions on options here.
The parameters again: wide angle, 10-16x, 60-70mm, light enough to use w/o a tripod, good sharp edges.
Anyone want to offer some thoughts?
DN