Binoculars Guide

When looking through binoculars with higher magnifications, the image presented can often be distorted and lack clarity, due to ’shake’. Or the inability to keep the binoculars steady enough to focus closely on the object of your attention.

This is particularly relevant under low-light conditions experienced primarily at dawn or dusk.
As these are times when a significant amount of wild-life observation is undertaken, it is a problem requiring a solution.

The answer is stabilized binoculars.

The simplest form of stabilization is a tripod, whether a camera tripod or a specially designed tripod specific to your binoculars. Most good quality binoculars, come with a threaded mounting socket, that will accept a standard tripod mounting screw, or a fast release shoe on more upmarket models of tripod. This allows focussing and viewing without the need to support the weight of the binoculars, resulting in better image resolution and enhanced viewing pleasure.

The only downside to this is, of course, that you must lug a tripod around with you. Modern tripods made of carbon fibre are remarkably light and impose no real weight penalty. But try erecting one in the still of the dawn, on a moor in Scotland, when trying to observe the mating ritual of the red grouse. Your subject matter will be miles away by the time you get your binoculars mounted.

You could always use a bean bag to stabilize your binoculars and also provide a degree of cover in the above scenario. Once again you have to carry it with you, so there is that consideration to be taken into account.
Modern technology has provided us with yet another solution.

Image stabilization within the binoculars, themselves.

This can take one of two forms, active or passive.

Active stabilization takes the form of detection of movement by piezo-electric detectors, also known as gyroscopic detectors, which then compensate for the movement by adjusting one or more elements of the image path to correct this ’shift’.

Passive stabilization may involve the stabilization of the whole binocular by gyroscopic means,or alternatively, by separating the light transmitting elements from the body of the instrument. ( they ‘float’ within the binocular housing).

Stabilized binoculars, by whatever means chosen to achieve the stabilization, will generally provide a better image resolution, especially at higher magnifications, and as a result, a more pleasurable viewing experience.