Quote:
Originally Posted by Kunama
Just a tip you may or may not be aware of ......
Hold your binoculars with your hand around the objective end (the big end !!!) rather than the usual grip near the prisms, it makes it much much easier to keep them steady.
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For best stability, you want to hold the binoculars close to their centre of gravity. You can work out where that is by holding them lightly between the forefinger and thumb on each barrel, and moving back and forth until they don't rock when held with very light pressure on each hand.
If you are gripping heavy binoculars away from their CoG, you have to hold them tighter to stop them tilting, and this induces image shake and physical fatigue. If you can hold them in a balanced position, you can grip them much more lightly but still keep the image shakes under control. The bigger and heavier the binoculars (and the higher their magnification), the bigger this issue becomes.
For roof prism binoculars with their straight-through barrels, it is pretty easy to grip the binoculars close to their CoG so that they are well-balanced.
For "standard" sized Porro binoculars (e.g. 8x40, 10x50 or similar), the CoG is usually roughly at the front of the main body which houses the prisms, so holding them in the "natural" position with your hands on each side of the main body, with perhaps just your little fingers curling over towards the objective barrels, puts your hands pretty close to the centre of gravity. You may find they are actually still slightly "heavy" at the objective end, so if you find you are getting fatigued and / or shaky images, try moving your grip a finger-width or so towards the objectives to get a better balance.
However, for most "giant" binoculars (e.g. 15x70 etc), which have much longer barrels compared to the size of the prism body, and much bigger heavier objectives, you will find that the CoG can be well forward of the front of the prism body. The best place to hold these binoculars can be with three fingers (or maybe even four) and your thumbs gripping the barrels just in front of the main prism body, and perhaps your index fingers lightly gripping the prism body. (You probably don't want to be right up at the objective end, because then your binoculars will probably be "tail heavy".)
Experiment with your own binoculars to find their optimum balance point, as every design will put the CoG in a slightly different location. It can make a world of difference in image stability, comfort and fatigue if you are holding them close to their balance point.
Cheers.
A couple of options I have considered
However, a number of people I have spoken to think image stabilised binos are the best. mind you I have seen some pretty expensive binos where you can even change the eyepieces (think the brand was Lunt?) but then you are paying the price of a telescope. budget can't cope with that kind of money outlay!
