Daniel asked:
Hello, can someone please PLEASE suggest a good beginers binoculars for stargazing. I don't want so spend more then $100, and I only intrested for 7x50 size. I been looking for 3 days and i have a headache, there's so many different ones and all those multicoating, BaK4 etc. driving me crazy. I stoped on these here "Nikon Action 7x50 Binocular" Can u please tell me if they are good for
Reply:
I own a very simple pair of Bushnell 10X50 Binoculars that I use for star gazing (as well as, bird / animal watching). They are multi-coated (most decent binoculars are these days). My wife bought them for me as a Christmas present from Wal*mart. They have turned out to be a surprisingly good pair of Binoculars. I have had them for about 8 years had they've held up really well .
You can go crazy looking for binoculars but I employ few simple rules and that's enough for me.
1) Don't buy binoculars with red coating. (everything will appear red)
2) Don't buy image stabilized binoculars (unless you've got the doh-re-me for it). You can accomplish almost the same with a steady hand or a simple mop pole and a binocular mount.
3) Anything bigger than 10X50 is too heavy to handle and you'll need a stabilizing mount of some type. Again you can use a simple mop pole (the pole you attach to a mop) and binocular mount to steady it.
4) Look through the binoculars you are about to purchase at the store
4.1) The view should contain the same color that you see with normal eyesight, if not, don't buy them.
4.2) As you peer through the binoculars find a vertical wire (in the store) and zoom in on it. Center the vertical wire in your field view (FOV). Now turn your head slightly to the left and then to the right so that the wire travels from your far left FOV to the far right FOV. As the wire goes from the far left to the far right there should be no colors up and down the wire (like blue on one side red on the other of the wire). This is known as vignetting and you shouldn't buy binoculars with this defect.
4.3) Images should not be distorted on the edges or in the middle or any where in the FOV (coke bottle bottom effect).
4.4) At least one of the oculars should be focus-able (sometimes both are)
4.5) When zooming the binoculars there should be no distortion in the zoom and both eyes should remain in focus before, during, and after zoom.
That's pretty much it. Lay your money down, take you new binoculars home, and go out and start enjoying your binoculars.
The binoculars you mentioned look like a decent set of binoculars but for night sky viewing, however, I strongly recommend 10X50's. You just get more light, magnification, and a larger feild of view. The book Night watch is also an excellent book to start off with, as well as, the Audubon Society's Field Guide to the Night Sky".
Also, for free you can download the Binocular Messier List from the AL and start looking for night sky objects. (see the link below).
Finally, consider connecting with your local astronomy club they can also help you with your decision, as well as, give you great tips and pointers on how to view the night sky.
Good luck with your purchase decision.
PS Never look directly at the sun with a pair for binocular you will cause irreparable eye damage. You should buy (or make) a pair a solar filters for solar observing.
Source(s):
US $3.47
