Choosing Binoculars for Birding

July 30, 2009 by binocular

So you’re shopping for a pair of binoculars to use for watching birds, and you’re wondering what you need to take into account when deciding which to buy. There are different factors that come into play when you want to use binoculars for birding than if you were to be primarily interested in astronomy or something else. Here are a few of the items to consider:

First, you should think about where you are going to use the binoculars. Are you going to be taking them with you hiking or walking, or will you mostly be using them from the comfort of your own home. Staying put means that larger binoculars might be fine for you, while wanting to use them on the go may tend to push you towards a more compact pair. Also realize that sitting at home will afford a more stable viewing platform (your kitchen table, perhaps) than when you’re trekking cross country, so a higher magnification may be more palatable.

Lens or objective size is the single most important factor when it comes to image brightness. The larger the lens that the images are entering the binoculars through, the more light that will reach your eye. This will result in a brighter image and consequently make it easier for you to see whatever you’re watching. Something larger like 8x40 or 8x42 will provide a great image.

Magnification is another important factor. Higher magnification will allow you to see more detail, or to see subjects that are farther away. There’s another side to the coin though, as higher magnification will cause the image to be less stable. This is because smaller movements become more exaggerated in the image as magnification increases. So while you may be able to get real nice and close to that bird that’s a mile away, you might get sick from it bouncing all over the place in your view.

If you are taking your binoculars on the go, or if you have a large are that you are viewing birds in, choosing a pair of binoculars with zoom may be a worthwhile decision. This will allow you to spot with a low magnification and then zoom in for a better look.

Binoculars are not all the same, and figuring out which ones are right for your situation is no trivial matter. You first have to carefully consider what you’re planning to do with them, where and when they’ll see the most use, and then pick a set of features that match your needs.