I have always been fond of binoculars – I followed all the advise in the beginners books and purchased my first 7x50’s when I was 11 or so from York Optical at Somerset Place in Melbourne. These were not cheap for what was only mediocre optical quality, but that was all that was around in those days. Buying a telescope was phenomenally expensive.
I think binoculars are great – you get a real sense of the sky, they are portable and convenient and you can use them to locate faint fuzzies for inspection with a telescope. They can even be used as finders, as the attached image attests.
Binoculars come into their own under a dark sky and a bright milky way. Even small ones are awesome when applied to the milky way. Their use in the city seems limited to confirming that there are some faint fuzzies up there.
Times have changes, and with the advent of the chinese optical industry I can buy 25x100’s for under $500. What was once only a dream – to own a large set of binos, has become a reality, and all for the measly cost of food for a month. The choice between buying astro gear and eating food for a month is an easy one, and explains my lean physique (or at least I wish it did).
So some months ago I purchased a 22x100 from Andrews. These are very big beasts, and they need a suitably beefy mount to accommodate them. I don’t work out enough to allow me to hand hold them.
I already had 11x80’s, purchased for a kings ransom back in the 80’s (again from York). For these, I had built a parallogram mounting. These work beautifully, and are very inexpensive to make. My secret was using a manfrotto tripod head to adapt the bino to the mount. Was that cheating?
The only problem I found with using such a mount is that the binoculars are now steady, and the images still. Poor optical quality becomes readily apparent. The view can be disappointing. They were, after all, only cheap binoculars. Cost $300 when that would have been the average weekly wage. The desire for the superlative 16x70 Fujinon takes form, but at their price I will need to starve for 3 months, which is getting more of a challenge.
However, I do notice that their price has been reduced of late…
We then come to Queensland Astrofest 2006, where I spied Geoff Coffey’s big bino mount. Now Geoff is a member of the Amateur Telescope Making Club of Queensland (ATMQ), and also design engineer who does management consulting. This shows. Underneath his laid back exterior is a brilliant mind. This mount is a paragon of light weight simplicity and elegance. It does not only work well, rather it works flawlessly. It is pure genius. How could binoculars so big be supported so easily and conveniently by something so portable? The secret, of course, is in the design.
Could I replicate this product of pure genius? That would be a mission. My Dad called me a “bush carpenter”, no doubt motivated by the agricultural nature of some of the products of my workshop. Yes, I admit, it is astro junk. I have produced a long line of projects, some failures, some not so failures. The not so failures usually work, but sometimes the cosmetics are less than perfect. Sometimes the utility is less than perfect, too. But hey, in the dark, who is looking?
Of course, my father was a real carpenter, who learnt his trade in the army and served on the Kokoda track at a time when the Emperor was trying to persuade this country to join the East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere. Unfortunately for the Emperor, things did not necessarily go to his advantage, and the invasion currency was never used for its intended purpose, rather ended up being traded amongst us kids at school. I still have some. Pity about the many thousands of young Australians who died in northern Australia and the islands. We forget our history so easily.
Despite its astrotrashy nature, it does work very well. I am pleased but not sure it quite lives up to the compact elegance and simplicity of the original design.
Compared to a brought one, they are very very inexpensive to make. I would like to see a few more at Astrofest 2007.
