10.
the exit pupil, the brighter the image, i.e.
you can still use them effectively in dull
light. Beware of advertisements saying "our
binoculars have great range" or "see the
mountains on the moon". Actually the moon
can be seen with any decent binoculars but
it would be absurd to state that they had a
range of 238,000 miles!
Do not buy binoculars over 10 x magni-
fication, 7 x 50 ones are by far the best buy.
T know. I've tried quite a few. Over 7 x,
a telescope takes over. More about telescopes
later, but here are some good makes of bino-
culars. "Canon", "Bushnell Custom", "Nikon",
"Carl Zeiss" (West German), "Carl Zeiss" Jena
(East German), "Leitz", "Hensoldt", "Greenkat",
"Milo", "Ross", Carl Beck", "Dr. Wohler",
"Habicht", "Minolta", "Swift", "Barr & Stroud",
"Asahi Pentax", "Scope", "Dolland", "Frank
Nipole", "Heron" and the Russian binoculars.
If you are not biased in any way, then the
Russian binoculars, particularly the 7 x 50
ones, represent the best value for money.
They are well made and the optics are ex-
cellent. Of course I understand about people
not wishing to support a "communist" regime
(actually its "state capitalism") by buying
Russian binoculars but they really are good
value for money. There are other good makes
of binoculars but the ones I have listed I
have seen personally.
With regard to telescopes the best kinds
are prismatic, being generally shorter and
having a bigger and brighter image than
ordinary pull-out ones. Good makes of
prismatic 'scopes are "Kowa", "Swift Telemaster"
"Asahi Pentax" and Perl Turretscope", but
others favoured by birdwatchers are the