help me find some binoculars?

[Numbers]

Re: Marine Binoculars

I read somewhere that the compass in the current Nikon "Sports and Marine" model 7x50 was not illuminated. I will do some additional research, but if it is, that would be icing on the cake.
My Nikon camera stuff has been excellent. These glasses should be too and they are about one half the price of the German made binoculars.
I will go with the Nikon's.
Thanks

 

[TENMMIKE]

Re: Marine Binoculars

site worth looking at
http://www.binoculars.com/specialty_v2/Marine.html
id jump up $100 more and get the steiners

 

[Josey]

Re: Marine Binoculars

Nikon makes great optics, but for binoculars Canon's image-stabilizing technology is really tops. I use mine on shore, but on a boat or in a plane I would think they are close to essential. If you can, try out a Canon IS model and the Nikon together in the type of situation you're going to use them.

 

[Numbers]

Re: Marine Binoculars

I didn't know that Steiner made the "observer" binocular selling for around $400. Now I have to figure out if they are better than the Nikon's or if I would just be paying for the name. A process similar to what I went through years ago withe the Leica vs Nikon camera equipment -- I settled on Nikon then with no regrets. Maybe I can find a local shop that has both to compare, since I dont need them till the boating season starts here.
Binoculars.com is a nice site with nice prices.

 

[Numbers]

Re: Marine Binoculars

Still poking around the internet re binoculars.
The Nikon marine binoculars look suspiciously like a brand called fujinon (fuji).
anyone have any idea if fuji is making nikon binoculars?

 

[Aloft]

Re: Marine Binoculars

I don't know if some Nikons are made by Fujinon, but I can say that Fujinon makes very good and highly regarded marine binocs. I spent some years in the US Coast Guard, and often there were Fujinons on the bridge . . . and since they didn't really 'belong' to anyone, no one took really good care of them. Yet they still performed well after several years of hard marine use.

I often drool over pictures of Fujinon's 25x150 or 25x40 comet hunting binoculars. These must be mounted to be used as they are too big for hand use. In the Coast Guard, we called them 'big-eyes', and they were quite tough as well, and waterproof. I think the Guard has switched to a cheaper brand now, but everyone loved the Fuji's. Astronomy buffs who can afford the 25x150's rave about them.

 

[Numbers]

Re: Marine Binoculars

I am better informed now.
Fujinon is one of two (Steiner is the other) high end marine binocular makers.
In fact Fujinon has been rated better than Steiner in some reviews. My take now is that they are equal in quality. Fujinon's best marine binocular sells for $680 while Steiner's best sell for $899. This may be a case where one would be paying for the German name.
As for Nikon they are the only other "name" brand selling marine binoculars and their top of the line model sells for $360. At that price they cant be up to the quality of the abive mentioned Steiners or Fujinon. So, what to do...............
Right now I am leaning toward the Fujinons because I think that like SF lights there are vendors out there that will sell below the manufacturers minimum advertized price but you gotta ask -- they cant show it on their web sites. I hope I am right, (I will be calling around tomorrow) because I should buy the best but half price for the Nikons is tempting too especially since my use is recreational.
Almost forgot -- got to be careful for grey market stuff.

 

[Brock]

Re: Marine Binoculars

I have the Nikon's the 7x50 and the 12x50. Both are nice and bright a crisp and clear. We use the 7x50 the most because any movement makes the 12x50 almost useless. The 7x50 are much brighter in dim or moon light situations. I once got to look through a 5x90 at night and it was better then most night vision goggles I have seen. I have used a pair of stabilization glasses at $1200 a pop and they were amazing, but I couldn't bring myself to buy them or carry them over water.

I would go with the Nikon's for bang for the $.

 

[tdhg566]

Re: Marine Binoculars

I have the Nikon 8x42 Monarch, waterproof/fogproof/etc and have often used them on various ships, in the rain and around water. I highly recommend them and am considering another pair. $290 from Binoculars.com http://www.binoculars.com/products/Nikon_8x42_Monarch_ATB_169.html


Even if you get another size, like the Monarch 10x42, they are still outstanding binoculars

 

[CLHC]

Re: Marine Binoculars

One of the instructors at the apprenticeship training school I went to was had a couple of the Steiner's for sale. I don't remember the model/series he had. He mentioned to me that these are not available for sale to the public. A couple of the fellows there that are into optics confirmed what was said, because they too couldn't find it anywhere other than the ones the instructor had.

These were some great pair of binoculars. The clarity of them was awesome, while panning around the Oakland Army Base and docks area. The other ones I saw that were as close to these were ++$2500++ and up Zeiss models.

 

[Darkcobra]

Any Comments about Camera Binoculars?

I've been seeing these Binocular Cameras all over the place very cheap, but really havn't picked one up to look at. Does anyone here have any experiences or information regarding these gadgets? I just can't see how you'd be able to get decently clear pictures from a $40-$100 pair of binoculars?

 

[greenLED]

Re: Any Comments about Camera Binoculars?

I just can't see how you'd be able to get decently clear pictures from a $40-$100 pair of binoculars?

Exactly! A couple of my friends are hard-core birders (why would somebody look at birds when you can play with flashlights escapes me... ) and they take digital photos through their telescope's eyepieces. It's a little tricky to get the focal distance just right (because they just hold the camera in their hands), but the shots are amazing. At SHOT I saw that some companies are starting to offer tripod mounts where you can attach your digi-cam to your telescope mount.

 

[Darkcobra]

Re: Any Comments about Camera Binoculars?

I was hoping for some rave reviews about these gadgets. I would be using the binocular camera hopefully during the daytime where lighting shouldn't be a problem. I'm just assuming that you'd get some dark spots around the edges and possibly some blurring with the type of glass at this price range. Oh well, back to drawing board or I may just try holding up the camera to a larger spotting scope.

 

[Flying Turtle]

Re: Any Comments about Camera Binoculars?

I've been curious about these, too. I think it would be tough to hold them steady enough to get sharp pics. That's hard enough with my digicam at 4x if the lights not good, and these can't be very fast as small as they are. Resolution isn't much either, but for less than $50 it's tempting.

Geoff

 

[drizzle]

Re: Any Comments about Camera Binoculars?

Are there any higher end ones around? It seems to me that there would be a market for a good camera buit into a good pair of binoculars. Or maybe a pair of binoculars that are modular so that you could replace one lens with a digital camera attachment. That way as the camera electronics improves you could upgrade the camera part without wasting the good optics of the binoculars.

 

[Darkcobra]

Re: Any Comments about Camera Binoculars?

They have spotting scopes that have a built in digi cam or some type of adapter to accept digi cams. At $50 though, I'm almost tempted to give a binocular camera whirl. Still hoping that someone owns one can chime in.

 

[zespectre]

Re: Any Comments about Camera Binoculars?

The three models I've lookd at were complete crap!
Very cheap optics for the binoc function and the digicam DID NOT take pictures via the Binocs but through it's own lens with a result similar to most current phone-cams.

I am by no means a camera or lens snob but I do have a certain threshold below which I instantly dismiss any "camera" or "video recorder". Most Cell-Phone cameras and all of the Bino-Cams I've see are well below that threshold.

Case in point, this Bushnell set. You can clearly see the individual camera lens (which doesn't have nearly the magnifying power of the binoc's optics by the way). AND the camera is a .35megapixel sensor. I've seen pink "barbiecams" that did a better job!

 

[drizzle]

Re: Any Comments about Camera Binoculars?

:huh2:

I'm suprised to hear that zespectre. I just assumed that the camera would go through the binocular optics. This reminds me of the shaker lights that have watch batteries inside.

 

[zespectre]

Re: Any Comments about Camera Binoculars?

I was hoping for some rave reviews about these gadgets. I would be using the binocular camera hopefully during the daytime where lighting shouldn't be a problem. I'm just assuming that you'd get some dark spots around the edges and possibly some blurring with the type of glass at this price range. Oh well, back to drawing board or I may just try holding up the camera to a larger spotting scope.

DarkCobra, the term you should search on is Digiscoping. You'll find sites like these...
http://www.shortcourses.com/how/digiscoping/digiscoping.htm

http://www.md.ucl.ac.be/peca/test/a.html

Some people have extremely sophisticated arrangements for this stuff, especially the "birders" and I've seen people take shots that rival my "L" class lenses.

 

[Darkcobra]

Re: Any Comments about Camera Binoculars?

Yeah, I'm disappointed to hear that the camera doesn't make use of the binocular optics....