Binoculars

[yeller]

I'm looking to get a new set of binoculars and am looking at the Canon 10x30 image stabilized ones. I know they are quite expensive compared to non stabilized binocular but I figure the image stabilization should make them usable on the boat. My old 10x50's were useless on the water because I couldn't keep the image steady.

Anyone have experience with image stabilized binoculars on the water?

[Cuda]

I have experience getting seasick looking through them.

[bertsboat]

I just bought a pair of 15X45IS on eBay for $450.00. I have not taken them out on the boat yet. The price was right. I had the smaooler pair like you want. I lost them somewhere. They were good for the money. I am not sure I made the right move buying the bigger model but I can always sell them on the bay so I figured what the heck.
Cjeck eBay. That is where you will save some $$$

[yeller]

bertsboat, did you use your old pair on the boat at all? How well did the IS offset the wave action?

[gcarter]

I've read many times that X 10 is just too much magnification for boating.
That X 7 is a lot better. Easier to view.
I've seen a few pair of the glasses that have been used in minesweepers that were mounted on gimbals. These had 6" diameter (150 mm +/-) front elements, and were only about X 10 magnification.
Anyway, a lot of times, less is more.

[DonziJon]

The Navy uses 7X50 binoculars for hand held. There was a 9 power adapter that was tried but really didn't work out. Ships, boats, whatever.... 7 power works.. by 50mm diameter objective lenses. (The big end) ....bigger gives you a wider field of view...without panning.

During my nine years in the Navy (My Rate was Opticalman). I spent four years working mostly on the repair and overhaul of Binoculars. My last five years I worked on submarine periscopes and then as shipboard Optical Shop Supervisor.

THE "Book" said an Opticalman should be able to do a complete overhaul of ONE pair of Navy Binoculars in eight hours. I could do FIVE pair in eight hours when we had to get the work out Pronto. Just braggin. :)

Going beyond Seven Power in a pair of binoculars aboard a ship (A Stable Platform) or boat is a waste.

George mentions the Bridge Mounted Binoculars on minesweepers. They were included on all surface ships. We called them BIG EYES. We worked on them as well. There was a smaller version mounted on the bridge of submarines which were pressurized.

My Advice: For binoculars for use on a Donzi...DO NOT go beyond Seven Power...the 50mm diameter objective end can be reduced to 26mm. I use 7x26mm made by Bushnell. They were not expensive. They work fine.

Image Stabilization... ?? If you are a big spender and feel like spending.. go for it. I have NO Experience with this new technology and see no need.

[Ghost]

I.S. is pretty cool. Using it, I found I could go up in power a little from the standard 7x, doing A-B tests in West Marine, looking out the window and down the street to emulate attempting to read a nav marker at a distance. Did not get to try it in lower light conditions, which might have made a difference.

For anyone, I absolutely recommend going to a store like this and trying it yourself.

[Conquistador_del_mar]

After buying a few pair of binoculars at Christmas time for boating and carrying in our cars for nature watching, I really like the flexibility of the zoom binoculars. My favorite two pairs are the Nikon and Pentax with roughly 8 to 20 power zoom. I can't imagine you would be disappointed with the zoom type. Here are a pair that sound very good for overall use - boating and spotting. Bill

http://cgi.ebay.com/Nikon-7-15x35-Action-Zoom-Binocular-7227-NEW_W0QQitemZ330422317066QQcmdZViewItemQQptZBinocu lar?hash=item4ceeb4700a

[Dr. David Fleming]

Love that navy story from a man that knows!

How about speaking to the stronger right or left eye issue. Some binocs can be adjusted for different vision in one eye. Also while your at it should binocs be used with or with out glasses? also about the width of the two eyes and seeing two separate images - folks not seeing binocular in binocs. Are these busted or have inadequate eye spacing? These seem like general questions for a sailor with your rate and specialty.

Should the average person mess around with repair on binocs? What about moisture issues? Any older brands worth getting and using or keeping for souviners? Quality of the lenses make any difference? What with electronic cameras are binocs likely to go solid electronic where you don't actually look through them?

How come ships in WWII had Naval Telescopes - are there some situations that would find this more useful? What about night vision - got an opinion on this, I see the Coasties and Navy are using them in the Detroit River for night navigation this coming year.

Great to have a chance to chat with you.

[yeller]

Most of my use for the binoculars will be on land. I would like to go even higher than 10x's if I was never going to use them on my boat. I'm hoping that 10x's with IS will be a good compromise and allow me to use them occasionally when on the water.

[DonziJon]

Love that navy story from a man that knows!

How about speaking to the stronger right or left eye issue. Some binocs can be adjusted for different vision in one eye. Also while your at it should binocs be used with or with out glasses? also about the width of the two eyes and seeing two separate images - folks not seeing binocular in binocs. Are these busted or have inadequate eye spacing? These seem like general questions for a sailor with your rate and specialty.

Should the average person mess around with repair on binocs? What about moisture issues? Any older brands worth getting and using or keeping for souviners? Quality of the lenses make any difference? What with electronic cameras are binocs likely to go solid electronic where you don't actually look through them?

How come ships in WWII had Naval Telescopes - are there some situations that would find this more useful? What about night vision - got an opinion on this, I see the Coasties and Navy are using them in the Detroit River for night navigation this coming year.

Great to have a chance to chat with you.

Most binoculars made for the public have a "center focus" wheel with one eyepiece being separately adjustable to compensate for different sight between your eyes.

Eye glasses can be worn if you have some special problem that may be corrected by your glasses such as astigmatism, otherwise glasses can be removed because the separate eyepiece adjustment will compensate if one eye has a different strength than the other. On many binoculars today the eye cap.. or eyecup is rubber, and is designed to allow the eyecup to be "rolled down" when wearing glasses so your eyes are held at the correct distance from the eyelens.. kinda like a condom.. :)

If you look through a pair of binoculars and see double vision, the binoculars are "Out of Collimation" and should be repaired. There are THREE axis's in binoculars that need to be parallel at the same time. The optical axis of the left barrel needs to be parallel with the mechanical axis of the hinge pin.. which must be parallel to the optical axis of the right barrel. When you "bend" the barrels to adjust the distance between eyepieces, both optical axis's must remain parallel with the hinge pin in all positions.

When you pick up a pair binoculars, that are out of collimation, your eyes "may be" able to compensate for the error.. but not for very long. You will eventually get a headache. Navy bridge lookouts need to be able to look though the glasses for hours on end without eye fatigue.

Pick up the binoculars and hold them out in front of your face maybe a foot or so from your eyes. "Gaze" at the eye lens's as though you were about to bring the glasses up to your eyes.. but Don't bring them up to your eyes. Your left eye "Gazing" at the left eyepiece and your right eye "Gazing" at the right eyepiece...as though looking through the glasses BUT without bringing them up to your eyes. Try doing this while looking at some telephone wires, or some other Straight Edge out in the distance. TIP or roll the binculars from side to side out in front of you. If you see the straight line of the wires "broken".... the glasses are out of collimation. The greater the "Break" the worse the collimation is off. This may take some practice before you will SEE how this works and see the break. Once you are satisfied that you are doing it right.. and you still see NO "break' in the lines, the glasses are good.

DIY repairs to binoculars is FUTILE because a special optical "Collimator" and skill is required align the three axis.

There are three "lenses" in each barrel. The Objective (big) lens has two glass elements "cemented" together like a sandwich. The rear eye lens also has two elements cemented together. A common result of "banging" or dropping the binoculars can be delamination of the two cemented elements. In the Navy, this was usually fixed this by replacing the lens.. OR.. Re-Cementing the lens.

The other result of banging the glasses is chipped prisms inside the glasses. You can clearly see these prisms by turning the glasses around and looking INTO the big end of each barrel while holding the glasses up to a light ..or the sky. You can also see DIRT on the prisms.. Also Not Good. If you shake the glasses and hear rattling inside, Not Good Either.

Old (Retired) NAVY binoculars can sometimes be found in Army Navy stores or Antique shops. They will have Navy Markings and serial numbers on the right cover plate near the eyepiece. If you find some in good (usable) condition GRAB THEM. They ARE the Best In The World. AND they can be completely disassembled and repaired. Many binoculars sold today.. including very expensive brands are "Throw Away". They are Glued or Riveted together and can't be repaired. ......like a lot of other stuff today.

I have a pair of Retired Navy 7X50 Binoculars made by Bausch and Lomb. Any you find were probably made during WWII. I don't use the Navy binoculars on the Donzi. I use the little Bushnell 7X26s. :bonk:

[Dr. David Fleming]

Aside from being a fan of America's cup yacht Reliance what type and year of Donzi do you run?

You didn't mention about moisture or clouding in the binoculars and some way of getting it out - if possible. Also I saw on pawn stars the other night, a US Navy telescope used aboard ship in WWII. Was surprised that the old telescope was of use in the navy at that time. Wonder if you knew what it would be used for and why binoculars would not have replaced such equipment.

Do you use any night vision equipment with your donzi at night and where is that you boat?

[DonziJon]

Aside from being a fan of America's cup yacht Reliance what type and year of Donzi do you run?

You didn't mention about moisture or clouding in the binoculars and some way of getting it out - if possible. Also I saw on pawn stars the other night, a US Navy telescope used aboard ship in WWII. Was surprised that the old telescope was of use in the navy at that time. Wonder if you knew what it would be used for and why binoculars would not have replaced such equipment.

Do you use any night vision equipment with your donzi at night and where is that you boat?

Moisture. The Standard Navy binoculars were sealed with either... (depending on the "Mark" ie..model) a Wax we used to call "Monkey chit"..OR Gaskets. Gaskets were most common after lets say 1960. All Navy Optical Shops were Air Conditioned for just this reason..moisture. The idea was we want the instruments to be opened only in DRY Air. The only other spaces on a Destroyer/Submarine Tender that were Air Conditioned were Officers Quarters and Sick Bay.

The instruments were overhauled in a Dry Environment and sealed up in that environment.

This protocol insured that no moisture was introduced into the instrument during overhaul. If the "AIR" inside the instrument was DRY..it would stay Dry as long as the seal wasn't broken. Once the seal is broken, the instrument will continue to Breathe and every cycle will cloud the optics further. Once clouding on the optics has occured..the only solution is overhaul.

A good way to Prevent introduction of moisture in to the instrument is to NOT subject the instrument to BIG Temperature changes....which causes the instrument to want to "BREATHE"....possably causing the seals to breach. Also, keep the instrument OUT of the SUN when not actually in use.

Good Practice: Don't leave your binoculars out in the car during COLD..or HOT Weather.

SHIPS TELESCOPE: In the 60s we had a "Ships Telescope" which was a straight tube about 6 inches in diameter and maybe two feet long. It was designed to be socket mounted (removable) on the wings of the Bridge of the ship. I don't recall the power. It wasn't much beyond the power of the handheld binoculars..but it was "Steady" mounted.

I have a 1986 Donzi Minx..350 SBC. Alpha I. I usually boat on Lake Winnepesaukee, NH and do not use any night vision equipment. I have an old Magellan 6000 GPS Map..AND I use a Chart. :wink:

PS: Prior to the Donzi I have 25+ years of Solo Offshore Sail experience. (If you don't tell'um..they won't know) :)

[Cuda]

I use bar-noculars at a U of F game since alcohol is not allowed.:crossfing: