Wild life safari's and birding...

So holidays are on and many of you must be planning for safari's and all. We have arrivals of some beautiful birds like flamingo's, Australian ducks and later period Siberian goose etc... flocking over so i thought let me share this information with you....

1. Buy the very best you can afford. Lower priced models disappoint you in the long run and then force you to go for a costly one. So, be wise and buy the very best you can afford.


2. Higher magnification is not equel to better binocs. First decide what you are going to use it for. 8X40, 10X50 are good specs. I find the larger the maginication, the steadier hand you need. At my age, I have come to rely on my Pentax 8X42 HR II most frequently. Any thing below 7X is of little value for birding


3. When you see the specifications of a pair of binocs, pay special attention to the exit pupil. Exit pupil is the result you get when you divide the second set of figures (the one on the right of the X mark)with the first. For example in 8X40 the exit pupil would be 40/8 = 5. The larger the figure of the exit pupil the brighter the subject as seen in the binocular. Anything below 3.5 would give you unsatisfactory image clarity and brightness.5 is the best, though 4 would also do..


4. There are two main types of optical binoculars. The room Prism type and the Porro Prism type. The porro prism type is the classical one with 'dog leg' shape for each eye piece. They have eye pieces close by and then half way through the scope to the objective lens there is a sudden outward tuen called the dog leg. On the other hand, modern roof prisms are straight and thinner. They are generally lighter and better protected against water, dust, etc. They are lighter too. Obviously they are more expensive. Olympus, Nikon, Pentax and Fujinon are available in India. Unless we are talking of BIG MONEY, these brands are all good. Expect to spend anything from 3.5K to 40K in India. For 15-20 K one should be able to pick up a very good pair binoculars.