Opticaly stabilised binoculars

Gludy

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Brecon, Wales
www.sailingvideos4us.com
I really find it difficult belting along at 28 konts in any sort of sea to hold binoculars still - in fact I find it impossible.

Do the stablised binoculars actually work on a motor cruiser? If so which ones are best?

I think the Nikon ones are waterproof whereas the cheaper ones are not - any advice welcome.



<hr width=100% size=1>Paul
 
My Cannon is crap. Boatone says so. Panasonic was much much better but got nicked!!

<hr width=100% size=1> <font color=blue>No one can force me to come here.<font color=red> I'm a volunteer!!.<font color=blue>

Haydn
 
There was a special stand selling all sorts of them at the so'ton boat show last year, at what seemed like disciounted prices, special offers etc. Scandinavian ones i seem to remeber which the chap explained were mega-fab (can't remeber why now) as well as the "known" brands". Worth a look if you're going in september?

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Although I do not speak from personal experience I have been told the Cannon ones take away hand-shake but not boat movement. To achieve that you need giro stabilised binos of the type favoured by tank commanders.

Monk Optics sell some Fujinon ones which are said to be terrific, both Philip Monk and I both used to sell Russian Giro Stabilised Binoculars which worked brilliantly. I used to get people jumping up and down at the Southampton show to prove the image remained clear. However with a "working" set I never got a complaint, but 25% of them didn't work "out of the box" and they were too heavy to keep sending back to Russia. I think Philip Monk had a "little man" to do his own. They did however develop the arm muscles somewhat at approaching 2 kilos!

I've still got a pair but in reality I didn't use them much. Took 30 seconds for the giro to come up to speed, by which time who cares?

Go for the "proper job" if you want to be happy.



<hr width=100% size=1>John
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.allgadgets.co.uk>http://www.allgadgets.co.uk</A>
 
Bit difficult to try out the things at a show - you need a wobbly boat. The guy on the stand was very helpful and shook me about a bit while i focussed on the beer tent :-)

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Re: Optically stabilised binoculars

You can use your digicam if enough magnification. I do not have stabilised binocs, but I think the modern ones work as cameras, they snap an image then show it on a screen (I think....?) . In which case, use your digicam?

Do you really need it? The only thing hard to see at a distance is buoys (is it a north cardinal, or a south, etc?) But you can find the answer on your plotter
 
I think you could ask to borrow them to take to the Guinness tent for testing /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif

<hr width=100% size=1><font color=purple> "You only see what you recognise, and you only recognise what you know" <font color=purple>
 
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