Looking it buy a pair of Binos. happy to use a monopod / tripod ,, dont wan to see' too much' but certainnly Jupitir moons etc any recommendation $ n or really an issue I gues Ill get something for around 1k or so ,, no idea really thanks
Hi Allen , and mate , woaw $1000 will buy an awsome pair , so have you done much shopping around ? , or googling ? for 1/4 that you will get a pair that will show you the night sky very , very well , especially mounted .
Man I wish I had a spare 1k to spend on a pair if Zeiss 7x50's ..
Brian
Quote:
Originally Posted by alanwilko
Looking it buy a pair of Binos. happy to use a monopod / tripod ,, dont wan to see' too much' but certainnly Jupitir moons etc any recommendation $ n or really an issue I gues Ill get something for around 1k or so ,, no idea really thanks
With that sort of budget you will be able to get yourself some very nice glass. I enjoy scanning the night sky with my bino's when I want a break from the scope.
Monopods and tripods are fine until you wish to look near the zenith, then you tend to find that the mount gets in the way. It might be worth looking at buying or building a parallelogram mount.
I'd avoid zoom binoculars as they do not perform as well as fixed magnification bino's.
Avoid models that do not allow you to adjust the focus.
I have an old pair of Japanese Clear View 7x50's. The Japanese glass is very good and the collimation is still spot on but the focus mechanism is starting to show its age. They are 30 years old and still give great views of the night sky.
I was recently tempted by a set of 7x50 Gerber Delux Porro Water Proof Bino's. Superb optics and lighter than my Clear View's.
You are in Brisbane so it might be worth a visit to Sirius Optics. Ron is extremely helpful and his customer service to top notch. He has a good range of quality binoculars on display.
Good advice Stu , mounted , binos will show their best , which is very good 2 eyed views .
As an idea here is my 25x100 Zhumhells , huge and awsome to look thru , but they are way to big to be hand held , these monsters need a mount , so mate if you stick around the 7-10x , 50mm quality binos you wont go wrong . I remember a night in NZ many years ago when a friend , Terry had a pair of Celestron 10x50 Ultimas , and these performed not to much below my 12x 60's , awsome quality , like any good quality binos , hope you enjoy .
Here is my 25x100's .
Brian.
I have a pair of Fujinon 10x70s which I love spending time lying down on a camp-bed and scanning the sky with. I bought them online for slightly more than $1000, and they are about the largest size you can comfortably hand-hold. There is a bit of a trick to big binos, they seem to be more stable if you hold them out near the objective end.
The Fujinons have extremely good eye-relief, excellent optics and are so well made they can take a direct hit from a 6" naval shell, and still split Antares. Well maybe not, but you get the idea. I understand some country's navy uses them anyway, so presumably they work underwater too - I wouldn't know.
cheers,
Andrew.
My Orion 9x63 Mini Giants are the best hand held binos I have used for astronomy work. The exit pupil is about ideal on these (at 7). And at around $350 that leaves a fair bit for a good tripod.
My tripod has a removable centre pole which can become a monopod when needed. Also, a pistol grip ball head is better for binos than the convetional camera tripod (which only moves left/right and up/down). It cost about the same as the binos.
I did also have a set of big binos 100mm. The beauty of these is that they take interchangeable eyepieces for varying magnifications.
From experience, I would suggest these are more comfortable to use with a 45 or 90 degree prism (especially close to zenith. But these are generally starting around $1,500 (tripod incl but eyepieces may not be incl).
Looking it buy a pair of Binos. happy to use a monopod / tripod ,, dont wan to see' too much' but certainnly Jupitir moons etc any recommendation $ n or really an issue I gues Ill get something for around 1k or so ,, no idea really thanks
Hi Alan,
For decades the normal school of thought was that 7 x 50 binoculars were ideal for astronomy being the right combination of aperture, magnification and exit pupil, with 7 x 50's giving a 7.1mm exit pupil. Well, the truth is most older people cannot dilate to a 7mm exit pupil and the philosophy on suitable astronomy binoculars has changed noticeably in recent years. This has also been influenced by better glass and coating technology allowing slightly smaller apertures to see more than was possible years ago.
To be honest I don't really like 7 x 50 binoculars for astronomy, or anything else for that matter, be it general outdoor use, birding, hunting or marine use. I have always preferred 10 x 50's due to their greater magnification and slightly smaller exit pupil (5mm) which gives better contrast and a slightly darker sky background, compared to 7 x 50's. The greater magnification also allows you to see a lot more as they go deeper on threshold targets. The only negatives of 10 x 50's compared to 7 x 50's are that they have a slightly narrower FOV; and they are slightly more difficult to hand hold. I currently have 10 x 42's, 7 x 50's, 10 x 50's and 16 x 60's. The 10 x 42's see infinitely more use than anything else, for everything including astronomy. In fact they see more use than everything else combined.
If you are only going to have one binocular for astronomy and other general uses I would recommend a pair of 10 x 50's or 12 x 50's. It takes a little bit of practise to learn how to hand hold a 12 x binocular, but with experience and correct user technique, it isn't too difficult. I have no trouble hand holding my 16 x 60 binoculars for astronomy, for reasonable periods of time.
$1,000 is a generous budget and will get you something very good, but it also sits a little bit in no man's land. It is a lot more than what the lower/medium grade binoculars from China and Taiwan will cost. It is more than what the medium grade Japanese made binoculars will cost. Unfortunately it isn't quite enough to get you into the top grade Japanese made binoculars, or the medium grade European made binoculars. It isn't anywhere near enough to get you into the top grade European made binoculars, which are all $2,000 plus for the Zeiss, Leica and Swarovski.
However, there are a few binoculars which would suit you very well and are pretty close to your budget. Whilst it is now possible to get roof prism binoculars that perform at the same level as porro prism binoculars I wouldn’t recommend you go there as roof prism binoculars cost a lot more to manufacture well than porro prism binoculars, consequently $1,000 will get you a lower standard roof prism binocular than what $1,000 buys you in porro prism design.
I would consider any of the following having regard to your budget and the fact that $1,000 on 9 occasions out of 10; will get you something noticeably better than what $400 will get you. I also think from a comfort point of view binoculars with generous eye relief (15mm plus) are an advantage.
If you bring them in from the USA, you will get them significantly cheaper ($<800). I have purchased several items from Optics Planet and they are very reliable and price competitive. You can also get the rubber coated ones which are about $30 cheaper.
Nikon 12 x 50 Premier SE If you purchased these from Optics planet they will land at about $1,000 including shipping.
There may be a wait on the Nikons as I believe they might now be a special order item. They have been around a very long time and the modern trend is for companies to go with roof prism binos, as the astronomy market is only small compared to the world wide binocular market, which now demands the compactness and ergonomics of roof prism binos. Bintel could order these in for you as a special order but my guess is the cost would be well over $1,000.
My choice of the two I have mentioned would probably be the 10 x 50 Fujinons having regard to the cost / quality ratio and the fact they are waterproof. The 12 x 50 Nikon SE is optically a slightly better binocular, it's in fact one of the best money can buy, but it is a bit bigger, harder to hand hold and a good bit more expensive. Don't confuse the cheaper Nikon binoculars like the Action, Action Extreme and the Monarch series with these. These are a miles ahead of the cheaper Nikon stuff.
It is well worth reading this article Binoculars - A Basic Guide for Astronomy which Denis Simmons put together a few years ago. Whilst it doesn't tell you which binoculars to buy, it explains all the terms and different types and designs very well
if you dont want to spend much prob look at the 50mm models from andrews Comm, $69 for 7x, 10x(dont get the focus free) & 12x
the HG series are the next step up,
or look on flebay for a secondhand pair of older nikon /pentax -stay away from the cheaper new ones, most are terrible
I have used two of the modern production Zeiss Binoculars and a few of the older ones, manufactured between about 1940 and 1980. The newer models I have used are the 10 x 42 Victory and the 15 x 60 BGA/T, which went out of production about 14 years ago, but stocks took another 4 or 5 years to run out. A friend of mine in the USA purchased a pair of these new in the USA in 2003. As it says on the Company 7 website, "if you need to ask the price you can't afford them." They sold for $US 2,295 in 1998.
The 15 x 60 BGA/T Zeiss binoculars are without question the finest **normal** astronomy binoculars I have ever used. You will rarely see these come up for sale second hand, apart from maybe a deceased estate, or someone in urgent need of money, as no one that owns them will ever sell them.
I would love to own a pair of Zeiss Binos myself but I can't remotely justify that amout of money for binoculars, which are something I don't use all that often.
**normal** We have a pair of 25 x 150 Fujinon MT-SX binoculars as part of our 3RF equipment. You can't IMO call these normal binoculars. These are superlative, but have a significant aperture advantage over anything remotely hand holdable. At about $US 7,000 they should be good.
I figure that if you are prepared to spend up to $1000 on binoculars and don't really know what you want, (quote) "No idea really" (unquote), the best advice would be to visit a St Vinnies or The Brotherhood or Savers and pick up a 2nd hand pair of 20 year old anythings made in Japan for about $20 - $30. Check in the shop that they work for you, (ie. they focus) and that nothing is loose and then play with them for a couple of weeks. If you still like the idea after that time you will have $970 left over to buy something very good plus a 2nd hand pair to keep in the glovebox. Just don't buy very cheap new binoculars. Good luck.
Ian
The two you picked are Japanese made post war classic porro prism binoculars. As long as they are well collimated and mildew free they will be work as astronomical binoculars. They do lack the more modern lens coatings of today so brightness and contrast will not be as optimal. The eye relief will also be restrictive. They are not waterproof.
Post war Japanese binoculars had strict quality controls in place to ensure continuity of optical and build standards so it is rare to get a bad 'one'. They are not robust as such however and have to be handled in accordance.
Japan produced 100's of porro binoculars under many names and many households worldwide would have had a pair at some stage. The Chinese over they past decade or two now supply the majority of optical instruments for world consumption. Your binoculars should still give better images then the Chinese 'entry' level mass market binoculars that have flooded the markets over the recent years.
Thanks for that info... They reminded me of my grandfather's binos he used to use watching the horse racing. Can't remember the brand, but very much like the ones I bought...
When checking ebay for binos I found the vast majority were those toy rubberised pieces of junk...
Hi Allen , and 
mate , woaw $1000 will buy an awsome pair , so have you done much shopping around ? , or googling ? for 1/4 that you will get a pair that will show you the night sky very , very well , especially mounted . 
..
Good advice Stu , mounted , binos will show their best , which is very good 2 eyed views . 
. just to give you an idea .
trying again . Here she is , sorry .
