by Rex Trulove

Created on: November 16, 2007

Why buy binoculars at all? After all, they are expensive and have to be cared for.

Binoculars make it far easier to view animals in natural without disturbing their natural movements. This last is very important. If you didn't want to see them in their natural habitat, you could just go to the zoo, after all. There are several things to look for, however, when buying binoculars, and these can be confusing to the person who has never had them before.

First, consider what you are going to be most likely viewing and under what conditions, if possible. If you will be hiking through rough terrain, a heavy pair of binoculars that weigh you down may be as much of a hindrance than a help. Likewise, binoculars that are well suited for day viewing may be totally inadequate for viewing in dim light.

A new buyer also needs to have an idea of the numbers that go with the binocular and what they mean for the animal watching. The first important number is the magnification. Put very simply, a 10 power magnification makes objects appear ten times closer than they are. Higher magnifications don't necessarily mean superior binoculars. The higher the magnification, the more that slight movements of the hands will cause the image to appear to jump around and the harder it will be, especially at distance, to get a good view of a bird or animal. On the other hand, very low magnification is not substantially better than naked eye viewing.

The second important number is the focal length or size of the objective, or large, lens. This number has to do with the field of view when looking through the binoculars. Though it is sometimes not written, this number is generally in millimeters.

These numbers are written as "7x35" or "10x50", with the first number representing the magnification and the second representing the size of the objective lens. So a 7x35 set of binoculars is a 7 power with 35mm objective lenses and 10x50's are 10 power with 50mm objective lenses. The larger the objective lens, the more you see when you look through the binoculars, and the more light is gathered by them so that things appear crisp and clean.

Sometimes the magnification is variable, and this is expressed as 5-8x50, so that the first number tells you that you can adjust the magnification between 5 and 8 power. Variable power binoculars are usually more handy if you will be viewing at widely different distances.

The lenses can also be coated, which makes them better for viewing in dim light. Coated lenses gather

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