Whether it’s birding, airplane watching, or astronomy, your favorite hobby shouldn’t leave you penniless. Binoculars are an essential kit for many activities, and there’s no doubt that you can spend a good chunk of money on a pair of high-end binoculars. But for a novice photographer, can you be sure you’re buying the right binoculars for you?  Can you be sure that the binoculars you purchase will fit the target you are photographing?  

For those of you who love photography, if you don’t know how to buy binoculars, it’s ok to learn how to buy the best entry-level binoculars.  

How to buy the best entry-level binoculars?  

(1) Determine your price range.  

Top-of-the-line binoculars provide you with raw images in comfortable, durable packaging. Thanks to technological advances over the past decade, the lower price range also offers some good options.  The same specification, the price can exceed ten thousand yuan even from dozens of yuan to thousands of yuan, the product of similar price, the quality gap may also be bigger, only clear price ability has an optimal recommendation  

(2) Select magnification factor.  

Deciding between 8X and 10X binoculars is a personal choice. In general, 10x is better for birding from a distance. But it also usually means a narrower field of view, slightly darker images in low light, and more pronounced handshaking. 8X gives you smaller, wider, brighter images that make it easier to find and track birds.  

(3) Caliber  

The diameter of the objective lens, the size of the aperture determines the telescope’s light collection force and resolution of the image force (at the same time deciding the price of the telescope), the larger the aperture of the light collection force is stronger, the resolution of the image force is higher, the price is more expensive. 

Take 7X50 binoculars as an example, 50 represents the caliber of 50mm. The 23cm binoculars are suitable for bird watching during the day, but not suitable for astronomy due to insufficient light collection. The hand-held binoculars are suitable for less than 5cm and need to be supported by a tripod above 5cm.  

(4) Field of view  

The range seen through the telescope is divided into RVF and AFV, which are usually expressed in degrees.  Formula: Actual visual field X multiplier = visual field (Angle of view).  If you think a tube looks too narrow or too peeking into the sky, that’s because the eyepiece’s Angle of view is not big enough. The eyepiece itself has a narrow viewing Angle or increased magnification, which will make your actual field of view smaller.  

(5) Coating  

The surface of the lens is coated with a special metal compound to reduce reflection and increase light transmittance, usually, at least one layer of magnesium fluoride is called a single layer, which appears pale blue. The multilayer film presents a faint green or blue-violet light; 

The optical lenses and prisms inside more advanced telescopes are fully multilayered, which greatly improves brightness, contrast, and image resolution.  Pick up the binaries, turn the objective lens towards you and observe the reflected light. The darker the reflected light is, the higher the transmittance of light. Some of the top astronomy products look like black holes from the objective lens. 

The reflected light varies in color from dark green to dark blue to dark purple.  But the so-called ruby coating is the objective surface is coated with a layer of reflective red wavelength coating, this coating will only make the image reduce light and color partial phenomenon so that the image dark, green, no undesirable manufacturers boast of infrared and night vision ability, do not be deceived.  

(6) Imaging quality  

Solution image forces, contrast, color reduction, chromatic aberration, and so on, are more experienced in the purchase of double-barrel will pay attention to.  

With these tips in mind, you have a general idea of how to buy entry-level binoculars. When buying binoculars, make reasonable trade-offs in price, size, weight, multiple, caliber, and brand. Don’t expect everything to be what you want.  Finally, good luck with your binoculars.