Gear Up With Best Birding Binoculars...Learn More...

One of my first birding binoculars when I first started watching birds was an antique pair of binoculars. It got me going but the limitations soon became apparent when I had difficulties identifying birds, especially the lifers (birds that I am sighting for the very first time).

A progression of acquisitions soon followed as I went from higher magnifications to wider field of view. I soon discovered that a pair of 7 x 42 binoculars produces better bird watching results than one with 8 x 32.

The first number denotes the magnification power and the second represent the size of the light capturing object lens. Since most birds are active in the morning and in the evening, it’s not uncommon to see birds in poor light and in the shadow of tree foliage.

The object lens is the bigger lens at the end of the binoculars that captures light and helps make that little feathered friend in the shadow more identifiable.

My no-brand pair of uncoated 7 x 42 roof prism binoculars gave me much pleasure until one day I had the opportunity to borrow a fellow birders expensive pair of binoculars.

The bird in the distance on my friend’s expensive binoculars looked so much brighter and clearer. The difference was like night and day and that was a “fatal attraction”.

That is fatal on my pocket because all my binoculars cost no more than $30. Now here I was seriously contemplating going not for an incremental progression but taking an exponential leap to spend close to $2000. I did my research by reading reviews and finally it was Morten Strange a serious bird photographer who helped me settle for a pair of 8.5 x 42 that was at the top of the range.

It was no surprise that the 8.5 x 42 actually cost more than the 10 x 42. It had better resolving power and clarity when it came to watching bird. So good that I have even digiscoped birds through one side of the binoculars with my Nikon Coolpix 990 digital camera with good results. However good a piece of equipment is, to a serious birder, it’s never enough.