What is the difference between monoculars and binoculars other than binos have 2 rather than 1 objective lens?

3 Comments

1. retiredPhil says:

   March 20, 2010 at 10:32 am

   Yes, monoculars have a single lens and binoculars have two lenses. Yes, you can use it for your travels. For a brief discussion of monoculars, see this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monocular
2. grebelligi says:

   March 26, 2010 at 4:20 pm

   My recommendation would be simple – look through the Canon IS binocular range and find the sized binos you think are appropriate. They are incredible value for money and in my view give unmatched performance. Optically they may not be quite up there with the Leicas, Swarovskis and the like but it is a matter of being very very good instead of excellent. However the image stabiliser is worth its weight in gold – it completely transforms the instruments. That is worth infinitely more than any slight defect in the optics that even a discriminating eye is unlikely to notice.

   I have a pair of 12×36s for much the same purposes you describe. They are truly wonderful to use – the field of view is still wide enough to be able to find things but the resolution is good enough that you can see Saturn's rings with a hand held pair of binos.
3. plette says:

   March 28, 2010 at 2:41 pm

   Buyers Guide to Binoculars:"Best Birdwatching #bird watching #binoculars #field glasses #monoculars #birding