Bird Watching Binoculars 1

Bird watching binoculars

Observing wildlife activities can be taxing especially when coming across elusive subjects that can disappear from your sight in a blink of an eye. Birders typically need bird watching binoculars with adequate magnification to allow distant observations yet powerful enough to pick out details like colors and feathers. Higher magnification powers are excellent for focusing on a subject but give a limited view of a landscape.

Aside from magnification, a good pair of bird watching binoculars needs to be lightweight, sturdy, and constructed for all weather conditions. Birders know hiking is part and parcel of bird watching so select a binocular that would not become heavier as you trek along. Likewise, the weight of a binocular determines how steady you can hold it up in your hands while viewing.

Meanwhile, consider bird watching binoculars that can be used even in poor light settings since you might want to extend viewing from dawn till dusk. The brightness of an image as how it will appear from the eyepiece is determined by the focal length or objective lenses. In a 7x40 binocular for instance, the objective lens is represented by 40 and in millimeters. Understandably, it follows that the higher the focal length the brighter an image will appear.

Also, choose bird watching binoculars that easily focus so that you can watch your subject longer – you are to focus on bird watching and not binocular adjusting.

Examples of bird watching binoculars
Steiner 8.5x26 Wildlife is a lightweight binocular (only 314g) and small enough to fit in small compartments like backpacks and even pockets. The 8.5 magnification power allows precise viewing more than 200 yards away. It features Steiner's fast-close-focus-system, which is able to draw images into sharp view easily. Price is $249.49 from one vendor.

Luger's ST series of bird watching binoculars range from 10x50, 8x40, 7x50 and 12x50. Binoculars with wider objective lenses tend to be heavier, however, it must compensate with the amount of detail it can pick from an object in view. Binocular labels 10x50 and 12x50 are constructed with twilight factors for brighter images when ambient light is deficient while the 8x40 and 7x50 can be excellent choices for bird watching in general. Price range: $97.01 (8x40), $105.09 (7x50), $113.18 (10x50), $129.35 (12x50).

Silva's pocket binoculars truly represent the lightweight category and come in 8x and 10x magnification. Both models are constructed with anti-reflecting coatings in a solid rubber coated design. Both models weigh 176 g and 202 g, respectively. These are pretty portable indeed when you intend to use them only when there is ample light.