Binoculars - Understanding Your Application

Understanding your application is paramount in determining the best fit - for you. Although there are many other specifications and qualities which determine the usefulness of binoculars, we will discuss in this article the primary characteristics for determining the best fit for your application.

Another important number describing binoculars is called field-of-view.

A field-of-view of 390' indicates that the width of the sight picture is 390 feet at a distance of 1000 yards. Field-of-view is determined by magnification and the focal lengths of the objective and eyepiece lenses. More magnification always means less field-of-view. This specification is sometimes expressed in degrees. A field-of-view of 6.5 degrees equates to 341' (6.5 times 52.5 equals 341).

Binoculars with a magnification power greater than 10x (and without a stability feature) will be difficult to hold steady. This becomes important when viewing the night sky or distant mountains. A tripod may be a good thing to have if you're using binoculars with high magnification.

There is no such thing as "one-size-fits-all" when it comes to sporting optics.

If you have multiple uses for binoculars, you will most likely end up with multiple pairs of them - and that's O.K.
The range of you binocular depends on three things - its gain, resolution and magnification. If you have powerful lenses, the magnification is good, but the amount of captured light decreases significantly. Usually only magnification below 5X works well for night binoculars. So unlike ordinary day light binoculars the range for night ones is not that extended.



While compact binoculars weigh as little as a pound, by using them you will undoubtedly sacrifice performance. If performance is your main consideration, full sized binoculars are preferred. Anything weighing over about 1.5 pounds will get heavy fairly fast. Use a binocular support system to evenly distribute the weight across your shoulders instead of using a strap around your neck.