Quote:
Originally Posted by Allan
I just sold my 15x70's because I didn't want to use bino's on a mount anymore. Believe it when people say you can't hand hold 15x bino's. 11x70's will be okay, but factor in the weight of them. A pair like the Resolux that I had are heavy and even their 11x70's would be hard to hand hold for any length of time.
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A pair of 10x50s are light and compact enough to be held steady for extended periods, but most people find the bigger and heavier 15x70s (or similar) can definitely test your endurance after a short period.
My tripods just aren't the right size and shape for convenient binocular stargazing use while sitting in a comfortable chair (you really need a parallelogram arm for this), and of course the higher magnification of a 15x70 only amplifies the shakes for hand-held use. However, a monopod can work well - if you have one.
I found that folding up the legs of a tripod to make a monopod works very well (especially with the pan / tilt head) - get yourself comfortable in your chair, plant the base of the “monopod” on the ground ahead of you, and lean it back to bring the binoculars up to your face, and then use the pan / tilt to get the alignment just right; then lock the pan / tilt, and you have a nice steady platform which requires virtually no arm support other than a bit of light guiding.
I have also found that a small table-top tripod can also make a handy “pistol grip” mount, which allows you to hand-hold heavy binoculars much more steadily than conventional hand-held use. I fold the three legs together to make a single “grip” for my left hand, and turn the pan / tilt handle 90 degrees to the right (rather than it's normal orientation in-line with the binoculars); then holding the pan / tilt handle in my right hand, it is actually possible to hold the binoculars much more steadily and comfortably than the normal handheld position. I'm not sure why this is - it’s probably because your arms are comfortably resting down on your chest rather than being held elbows-out in front of your chest, but if you doubt me, try it - it might work for you too!