Monoculars or Binoculars

CAPTAIN FANTASTIC

CAPTAIN FANTASTIC

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I have two pairs of Binoculars; (one is a cheapo and the other is a better one with integrated compass). The other day, I used a Monocular which I found very comfortable to use, small, clear and better to control and focus on the object; perhaps I will buy one. What do you use?
 
I use binoculars, with a built-in compass. Ever since I stopped trying to use them with my glasses on (even with the fold-down eyecups supposedly designed for it) and actually positioned the eyepieces properly with respect to my eyes, I get a good view. My habit now is to whip off my glasses and hold them with one earpiece in my teeth while I use the binos, which have the individual focus on the eyepieces adjusted to compensate for the different amounts of short sight in each eye. I'm the only one who ever uses the binos (or at least, others haven't figured out how to adjust the focus!)

They also seem to help at night, collecting more light with their big lenses than my eyes alone would.

Pete
 
CAPTAIN FANTASTIC said:
I have two pairs of Binoculars; (one is a cheapo and the other is a better one with integrated compass). The other day, I used a Monocular which I found very comfortable to use, small, clear and better to control and focus on the object; perhaps I will buy one. What do you use?
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I've always used monoculars. Protip: don't close the eye which isn't looking through the monocular.
 
JumbleDuck said:
I've always used monoculars. Protip: don't close the eye which isn't looking through the monocular.
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That's certainly how you are supposed to do it, but I'm afraid I find it very distracting! I use binoculars because I find that long periods viewing through a telescope with one eye closed leads to headaches!
 
Twister_Ken said:
Just bought a compass monocular (8 x 42) from Force 4. Not yet used in anger, but in the marina very easy to use, and within one degree of my HBC.
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I dropped some huge, clanking hints and got the Seago branded version of the same thing for Christmas last year. It seems fine.
 
I use binos. They have a wider field of view than my telescope and monocular. The focus on them is seized though so unfortunately only me and those with good vision can use them.
 
I've got a forty year old pair of Russian 7x50s which were dirt cheap and the barrels feel like they were spare parts from a T72 but I suspect the optics were "liberated" from East Germany because they are much better than any modern ones I have used costing a few hundred pounds. They have lived on the boat for the last thirty years and even have a proper leather case - none of the leatherette rubbish you get nowadays - if you get a case at all. However, for routine use I mostly use a small 8x42 monocular. Its not quiet as clear as the binos and the field is more restricted but its so much easier to hold steady and small enough to keep in my oily pocket.

The portability means I can also take the monocular when we charter as it is much better than the cheap binos Sunsail issue.
 
Yes, I have a similar pair of Russian jobs which I intend to send to Actionoptics for a re-bore in the near future. They seem to have mustard and cress gowing inside them, probably from the siege of Stalingrad.

Shame you don't seem to get the same range of choice with monoculars. I guess the market is not as large.
 
I use a monocular. I had two pairs of binoculars, 10 x 50 and 12 x50 that had been dropped and were out of alignment. I pulled them apart and made 4 monoculars and carry one on the yacht, one in each car, and one at home. On the yacht I use the 10 x 50. Usually too powerful on a yacht but when I press the prism section into my cheek when viewing and holding myself with the free hand they work exceptionally well. One half you get the focussing mechanism, the other half is adjusted with thin washers for focus.
 
fishermantwo said:
I had two pairs of binoculars...out of alignment. I pulled them apart and made 4 monoculars and carry one on the yacht, one in each car, and one at home...
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Genius. That's proper good sense!

I bought a cheapo 10x20 Nauticalia monocular which livens up photos taken by my phone. Quite fun, but I'd love one of those massive things that you see in camera shop windows, which look a bit like a black plastic prosthetic limb.

I'm sure the high magnification is useless aboard the boat (and the size might get in the way, in a dinghy cockpit!) but I'd love one for those cliff-walks when you can spot ships and yachts fifteen miles away, and 7x50s just won't suffice. Has anybody used a 60x60 monocular, or something of those proportions, for terrestrial viewing? Something like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/OpSwiss-20-...-to-60X-Power-Free-Ship-Hunting-/221135100805

I've no idea whether they're fabulous or a terrible waste of their lightweight asking price.
 
That is a telescope. It has a zoom lens going from 20x to 60 x. At 20x60 setting it could be good fun and useful on land but you would need very good viewing conditions i.e. very still and clear air, to use much more of the zoom's power. At 60x60 the exit pupil is only 1mm and for £79, the optics will not be top q

[QUOTE
Has anybody used a 60x60 monocular, or something of those proportions, for terrestrial viewing? Something like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/OpSwiss-20-...-to-60X-Power-Free-Ship-Hunting-/221135100805

I've no idea whether they're fabulous or a terrible waste of their lightweight asking price.[/QUOTE]
 
What I'm wondering (and hoping) is whether a cheap, unpretentious but big and powerful spotting scope will bring very distant objects into really observable range.

I photographed Eddystone light last month, from a hilltop near Polperro. Considering my phone's tiny lens & the distance and the £8 monocular, I thought any image was pretty good...

...but I'm imagining that with a 60x60 (however unsuitable for use on unstable terrain) the magnification will mean I can spot the lighthouse keeper filling his pipe, leaning on the rail.

I must try one to find out. I have some lovely ex-RN 7x50 binoculars which give superb bright images, but for the interest/fun of tracking something ten miles away, they lack power.
 
Dan. I've got a 20 zooms 60x telescope. At 20x it is just about useable handheld if you can find somewhere solid to brace your elbows (thank you, dear) and its not windy. At greater magnification you need a very solid tripod and it not to be windy. Plus as mentioned above, good viz and a stable atmosphere otherwise the image gets a bit wavy.
 
Twister_Ken said:
...At 20x it is just about useable handheld if you can find somewhere solid to brace your elbows (thank you, dear) and its not windy. At greater magnification you need a very solid tripod and it not to be windy.
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Thanks Ken. So, the field of view is necessarily narrow at high magnification, and the least tremble will send the image very jittery...

...but given that my long cliff-walks are usually restricted to calm clear summer days, if I can be sure of a solid surface to rest it on, is the actual object in view genuinely visible at the astonishing proximity which 60x magnification suggests? Or is the image badly compromised by budget-quality lens clarity, making it rather dark or foggy?

I've seen that even more powerful magnification is possible (or claimed to be)...like this 75x, at well under £100: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Visionking-...k4-Spotting-scope-w-Tripod-Case-/251331240280

...or this one, with 100x magnification, albeit over £200: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/YUKON-ADV...piece-rotates-90-New-/141006803504#vi-content

...if indeed one is ashore, obsessed with zooming in on what a yacht's skipper is having for his lunch at moorings several miles away, presumably these are top value?
 
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