What's your scope?

Jeez, after that list of 'scopes, I'm sorta embarressed to add my humble bits and pieces! :oops:

Meade ETX 70
Meade 10x50 binos.
Atlas Explorer 10x50 binos.
8-24 x 50 binos (only good up to about 15 magnification)
One pair of eyes!

Perseus,
Mind me asking how you find the image-stabilising binos? Are they the Canon ones?

Yes Canon ones. I enjoy them, great for nebula, clusters, double stars, the moon and alot of galaxies (eg M51, M101 easy targets). You wont see much detail for galaxies, but it is nice to find them almost straight away & lets face it I dont get that much detail with my 8 inch anyway.

On the down side they are not great for planets, you will see jupitors moons, however Jupitor itself flares a bit, I think you can just about see Saturn's ring............might be my imagination!........although you can definatly see Saturns ears.

The field is about 3 deg with good detail at edges. With regards to weight, they are light enough, although the only way I can manage long sessions is to sit in reclining deckchair (which is very relaxing in any case). I saw a review in Cloudy Nights where some guy used them with a telescopic Monopod thich hung around his neck, hence the weight was transfered from his arms to his chest. I will probably check this out futher.

Thanks.
Just one more question, if you were to buy them again, would you go for thr 18x50s or the 15x50s or does it make much difference?

Thanks again,

That's the issue everybody argues about!

I have not given the 15X50 a field trial so I find it hard to give a definitive recommendation.

But when I was making my decision I weiged up these three issues:

1. Unlike telescopes where extra magnification reduces the quality of image, many people rate bino's by multiplying the ampature by the magnification and the higher the number the better. i.e. 18X50 = 900 and 15X50 = 750

2. The above rule however is belived to be suspect with Exit Pupil below 3mm. The 15X50 Exit Pupil is 3.3mm and the 18X50 Exit Pupil is 2.8mm. I personally belive that people get too hung up on Exit Pupil and don't think you will notice a difference between 3.3mm and 2.8mm.

3. Field of view is better with the 15X50's I think its 4 deg vs 3 deg. I don't see the advantage with an extra degree. If I want a big field of view I use my std 10X50's.

The weight is the same for both types. So at the end of the day I belive I simply get 20% extra magnification without loosing light or optical qualiy with the 18X50's.

Thats my feeling. Alot of astronomers will disagree with this, but most will agree that either 15X50 of 18X50's are a good buy.

Hope this has not confused the issue further. Damon

Thanks Damon.
I won't be getting either pair any time soon, what with buying a nhouse and all at the mo. However, some day, I'd like to invest in a pir of IS binos.
Thanks,

Self built 222mm F5.77 Dobsonian
Equitorial platfrom
70mm F10 Skylux with Thousand Oaks solar filter

Binoculars
Three pairs of 10x50's! bushnell, meade and Mirranda?
A pair of 8-24x50s,
- 7x35s
- 8x20s
and a couple of antiques!

Michael Scully