These waterproof binoculars will not be damaged because these are coated with special things as well as the body is such that it will have no effect of water on it.

If you are hunting then also you will need the waterproof hunting binoculars if you are hunting in a place which has high humidity or it is at the time of the year when it will be raining.

In fact these waterproof binoculars are great when you are fishing as you are close to the water body and hence the chances of water splashes are the most.

How waterproof binoculars are made waterproof.

The waterproof binoculars are made waterproof when those binoculars have rubber O-rings as well as have the nitrogen purging done.

A lot of binoculars will have the rubber armored shell but generally that is there to prevent the water drops from not sticking and also absorb the shock of the fall. However the correct waterproof hunting binoculars will be those which will have the O-rings.

Moisture prevention

It is not always rain which can cause damage but also the moisture and the mildew. To prevent that from happening make sure that you have the proper nitrogen purging done and the binoculars should be in sealed housings.

The top brands of binoculars which are good for marine use and have the waterproofing done are the

Most of the marine binoculars have the compass along with as that helps locating the position as opposed to carrying another compass along with you.

Bushnell Marine 7×50 Binoculars with Rangefinder & Illuminated Compass.

Bushnell H2O 10×42 Waterproof/Fogproof Binocular w/Roof Prism

Canon 15×50 Image Stabilization All Weather Binoculars w/Case, Neck Strap & Batteries

Steiner 7×50 Marine Binocular

Celestron Outland 10X42 Waterproof Binoculars with Rubber Coating & Comfort Grip

Nikon prostaff binoculars

Tip: Make sure that the binoculars have the good construction and also you are able to hold them easily while they are wet.

Make sure that the binoculars are also resistant to saltwater corrosion. That is why always go for the best boating binoculars

Also when you are buying marine binoculars which are waterproof also check if they are image stabilized or not and the reason for that is that for all sorts of boating binoculars the  image stabilization will come in handy while you get rocked with shaking and vibrations on the boat or on your yacht

Most of the binoculars which are good for the sporting events and these are also the best for the sports fans are the wide angle binoculars. Let us first understand what field of view is or commonly known as FOV.

What is field of view?

Now Field of view in simple language is the span of the field that you can see from the binoculars at a distance of 1000 yards.

It is measured either in feet or degrees. Please read the details about Field of view in binoculars. For example if the filed of view is 370feet then that means that you can see a from one end to other a total span of 370 feet from a distance of 1000 yards.

Sporting events means sitting in a big stadium and looking at the entire game rather than focusing on single player from a back row seat unless of course you pay top dollars and get a front row seat. Even then I bet you would need the binoculars!

This is the same as that is needed for birding binoculars where you also want to see the entire area where the birds are perched and flying.

In stark contrast is the need for the hunting binoculars where you want to see only the animal and then hunt. You will surely do not need a bigger field of view.

The best binoculars for the posting events are the Nikon Action 8×40 Ultra Wide View Binocular or the Nikon 7×50 Sports & Marine Binoculars.

On the luxury end of the binoculars you can have the Swarovski 10×25 BP Pocket binoculars or Steiner binoculars.

Zoom binoculars for the sporting events

Zoom binoculars are another type of binoculars that you can use for the sporting events. These binoculars have the option to set the zoom. The zoom will mean the power or the magnification factor. You can read in detail about the magnification in binoculars here.

Some of the best zoom binoculars for viewing a sports event are

Barska 10-30×60 Zoom binoculars or the Barska 25-125×80 Gladiator zoom binoculars

Tip: General guideline for selecting the sports binoculars is that for indoor sporting events you should choose the specifications as 6×30 or 7×25.

Higher magnification means less field of view. Sporting events need bigger field of view which will mean that you should have the binoculars which have the lower magnification say about 6 or 7.

6×30 for watching an indoor sports event

7×25 for any outdoor activities like hiking or trails

7×35 – this best as an all purpose binos for wildlife as well as hunting and birding

7×50 for celestial observation, hunting and birding

8×40 for long-distance birding and celestial observation

Spectator binoculars is another term used for the sporting events binoculars which means that you are using the binoculars as spectators. Everything applies as said above apart from the fact that when you are having a sporting event it may not be indoors and it may be in broad daylight.

For daylight viewing you need to be careful about the exit pupil in the binoculars. For daylight viewing you will need a binocular which has smaller exit pupil and that will mean an exit pupil diameter of 20-25mm.

In fact the experts have a varied opinion when it comes to the quality of the photos taken by the binoculars with a built in digital camera. The best thing to do is to buy a separate pair of binoculars and a separate high zoom digital camera.

Important Specifications for digital camera binoculars

Tripod Socket – To remove that shake which can disturb a digital photo.

Slot for SD card – To get more picture and videos you can use this slot to get additional memory. Another type of memory cards are the MMC cards. You will need to have the memory card adapters to read these.

Built in video with or without instant replay feature – This is a must as it will help you get some amount of video footage

Number of still photos that can be taken at a time

LCD display – This is a good feature to have so that you can easily see what kind of picture you have shot.

Digital zoom and The optical Zoom.

When you are using the binoculars with digital cameras built in it is always going to be tough to have that perfect digital zoom of the camera and the optical zoom of the binos. If you are using the digital camera with binoculars primarily for taking pictures then I would suggest you to rethink and buy a good digital zoom camera. You can get some good high zoom cameras which will easily beat the built in digital camera of the binoculars.

A point to note here is that most of the cameras that are out there in the market have really low resolution. There are two types of resolution and that is the VGA. VGA resolution is less than 1 mega pixels.

Another major point to understand is that most of the digital cameras have a different focus than a binocular focus. That will mean that when you see the object via the binocular it will appear very bright and sharp but when the picture comes out it may not be as sharp as you thought it will be because of the fact that the digital cameras have a different focus than the binocular focus. It is better to have binos which will allow close focus (usually 11 feet)

Make sure that you check the specifications as a lot of camera binoculars have the optical resolution as well as the interpolated resolution listed. Always check the optical resolution for the camera. That is the correct way as opposed to the interpolated one. A lot of budget camera binoculars have a very very low resolution and also they have BAk-7 glass which is definitely not good for the purpose of viewing. A lot of them do not have a tripod stand (which will mean that you just cannot avoid a shake while taking the pics) and also these low end budget camera binoculars do not have a memory card slot. (That will mean that you cannot take more photographs or add additional capacity).

Always get the BaK-4 glass and binoculars with fully multicoated lens

Magnification of the binoculars with digital camera

Magnification of the camera binoculars is very important as that will mean that anything above 8 will be heavier and hence will not produce good pictures because of the shake. Use of tripods is a must.

Another thing that you can think of looking at is the digital spotting scopes. These have more magnification than the binoculars but have less magnification than the telescopes.

More on this topic later.

Tips

1. Always make sure that you save your photographs on the SD memory card or the MMC card. If you do not have one then download all the photographs onto your computer to save them in case of a battery change of the camera.
2. Alkaline AAA batteries or the Lithium AAA batteries can be used.
3. Use a good photo editing software on the PC.

Top Brands  for digital camera binoculars

As far the best brands for digital camera binoculars are concerned the Bushnell products are definitely the best

• Bushnell Compact 8×30 Instant Replay
• Bushnell 10×25 ImageView Digital Binoculars Camera
• Bushnell ImageView 8×30mm 3.2MP Digital Imaging Binoculars
• Bushnell 5MP Sync Focus Digital Cameras Binocular from Instant Replay Series
• Bushnell Image Capture 7×18 Pocket Imageview Binoculars
• Bushnell VGA 10×25 Outdoor Imageview Digital Binoculars w/ Inset LCD
• Bushnell ImageView 8×30mm 2.1MP Digital Imaging Binoculars
• Bushnell InstantReplay 10×25 LCD Digital binoculars Cameras

• Barska Point N’ View 8×32mm 5.0MP Digital Camera Binoculars – 4x Digital Zoom w/ LCD
• Barska Point N’ View VGA 8×22 Binocular Digital Camera

• Celestron Vistapix 8×32 3.1 megapixel digital camera with LCD screen.

I will be reviewing each one of these binoculars in details in my subsequent posts. Stay tuned

In general during day time when the light is more than adequate then the main factor for comparing the binoculars is the magnification of the lenses. During night time the aperture size should be the main factor which is controlling the image resolution.

How does that impact you?

For a simple reason that most birding enthusiasts as well as hunters use the twilight zone that is before sunrise and after sunset for their activities.

The twilight factor on mathematical basis is calculated as square root of the diameter of the objective lens and the magnification power of the lens.

Image Credit Gustty

That means a 7×50 binos will have a “twilight factor” of 18.7 and 10×50 will have the “twilight factor” of 22.4

The twilight factor will suggest here that you will be able to see better with a 10×50 in the twilight conditions.

However nowadays with a good coating available the twilight factor is now not a major thing as before. You can have good coatings which will help you get more light in.

How much is good eye relief?

The most important consideration is that given the eye relief you should still be able to have a good field of view. The normal eye relief is 9 to 13 mm.

Why is it important for the people who wear eyeglasses?

For people who wear eyeglasses the eyeglasses can increase the distance between your eye and the eyepiece of the binoculars. Now if the distance is more then you will see a part of the image.

Most manufacturers provide the ability to have the eyecups came down for the people who wear eyeglasses but then that is generally not a good solution. You should buy binos which are built specifically for people who wear the eyeglasses. The eye relief for these binoculars is more than 14 mm.

If you wear thick eyeglasses then always go for binoculars which are 17mm or above. A lot of people use spare eyeglasses which are of thinner lenses while viewing through the binoculars. This way you do not need to buy the special binoculars and can buy almost any binoculars available in the market.

Tips: As a general rule have your eyecup down when viewing from the eyeglasses and if you are viewing through the naked eye then get these eyecups in up position.

Always make sure to check the eye relief specification on the binoculars. A lot of manufactures do not put this specification out. You can do a manual test to get this specification. This manual test will involve holding a piece of paper behind the binoculars and viewing the binoculars against a light source. You will see a image of the source as a bright spot on the paper. The distance at which the spot will appear the brightest is the eye relief distance.

In binocular terminology it is either specified in degrees or in feet. When we measure this in feet then it is known to be liner feet at distance of 1000 yards.

How does the binocular field of view matter?

The field of view matters as you need to choose an appropriate binocular based on the kind of needs that you have. You will need a wide angle of view in case you are watching a sportsperson on the football field. You will need to have a view whereby you can see the entire field. The same holds true for the birding binoculars. For birding binoculars also this is true as you need not focus generally solely on the bird but you need to have a major focus on the entire wide area where the birds are .

How much should be the field of view (FOV) ?

Lets us talk about the measurement in length. At a distance of 1000 yards you should be able to have a field of view of about 300 to 375 feet.

Talking about the angular degrees then most of the binoculars have an angular degree field of view between 6 degrees and 7.5 degrees.

As far as the angle conversion to feet is concerned it will mean that one angle degree is equal to 52.5 feet at a distance of 1000 yards.

Image credit Geodetic.com

Again when measured in degrees most of the times you will see the specification listing the two kinds of FOV. The first kind is the apparent field of view and the second one is the real field of view. For example if the real field of view is 5 degrees then the apparent field of view will be 5 degrees multiplied by the magnification of the binoculars. So in assuming a magnification of 8 will mean that the apparent field of view is 8×5 i.e. 40 degrees.

Tip: Most of the time the wide angle binos are the best but then it is always better to take into account the need that you have for the binoculars.

How to see the exit pupils of the Binoculars?

If you hold the pair of binoculars at an arm’s length then you will see a small circle of light in each the eyepiece. This circle which you see is the exit pupil. As a thumb rule the exit pupil diameter is the obtained by dividing the aperture in millimeters by the magnification.
For example, if the specification is 7×35 for the binoculars then the exit pupil of 5mm.

What does it mean to me if the exit pupil of a binocular is less or more?

The exit pupil of the binocular should match the entrance pupil of the human eye. In normal cases the human eyes’ entrance pupil for a young adult is 5-7mm.
This is important to know because generally that determines the image’s brightness.

If your entrance pupil diameter is less than the exit pupil diameter then outer edge of the small circle of light that is coming out of the exit pupil will fall on the sides of your entrance pupil and you will see a dimmer image.

In case your entrance pupil diameter is larger than the exit pupil diameter of the eyepiece then you will be able to get all the light and will see a brighter image.

That will mean that you should make sure that the entrance pupil of your eye is equal or more than the exit pupil diameter of the eyepiece.
Young adults have about 7mm diameter in low light conditions.  As you age the entrance pupil diameter will reduce.

What are the roof prism binoculars?

Roof prism binoculars have all the three things namely the eye piece, the objective lens and the prisms all in one straight line. This helped as then the design of the roof prism binoculars was more elegant and in general there would be no such thing as the zig-zag pattern of the Porro prism binoculars.

It is easier said than done. The design was more complex internally for the roof prism binoculars and hence it was tough to manufacture. That is why the low -end binos will always be those if Porro prism system and the high -end will be roof prism binoculars.

Roof prism binoculars vs. Porro prism binoculars

Roof prism binoculars are much better looking than the Porro prism binoculars as far the design is concerned.

On the price front the Porro prism binoculars are much better than the roof prism binoculars.

In terms of light efficiency the Porro prism binoculars are much better than the roof prism ones. However now with the phase-coatings being used on the prism glass the roof prism binoculars have become equally good compared to the Porro prism binoculars

What are prisms? 

If you only used an eyepiece and then used the objective lens to see the image of the object that you are looking at then you will see the image inverted that is upside down as well as you will have the image which is reversed left for right. To correct that prisms are used in between the eyepiece and the objective lens. The prisms are used for bending the light which corrects the inverted image.

There are two types of prism systems that are used in the binoculars of today. These are the Porro prism systems and the roof prism systems. In fact there are three types and the third system is the reversed Porro prism binoculars.

The glass with which these prisms are made is known as BAK-4. Details about this later in the subsequent posts.

What are Porro prism binoculars?

Just to give you an idea look at the image below of the Porro prism below. Porro prism binos were popular in the 1960’s but now the more popular are the roof prism binoculars. They have an offset zig-zag design. This design was introduced because the light in the case of Porro prism binoculars travels in a zig-zag pattern and hence the eye piece, the prisms and the objective lens could not be in the same straight line.

With roof prisms that problem was resolved though not easily and hence generally you will see that roof prism binos are more costly than the Porro prism binos.

Porro prism binoculars are more efficient than the roof prism ones as they have better simpler mechanism to control the light.

Reversed Porro prism binoculars are very compact and can easily be the best for very compact travelling binos.

Of late however the roof prism binoculars have easily made great advances in their light management techniques and hence now they are at par with the Porro prism binoculars for light efficiency and optical experience. The way it has been achieved is via the use of the Phased coatings.

That said the general thing to keep in mind is that binoculars with higher magnification have narrower field of view.

The field of view is measured either in linear feet at a distance of 1000 yards or it is measured in the degrees.

Other considerations

If you are buying a pair binoculars for the sporting events then make sure that you tell the person selling that you wear eyeglasses i.e. if you do wear. The reason is that if you wear eyeglasses then the eye relief which you want on the binoculars has to be at least 16mm.

Waterproof and rain proof – Almost all of us have faced the situation when it will suddenly start training in the middle of a match and that will mean that you need the binoculars which are waterproof as well as shock resistant so that you do not have that problem of bins being damaged in these adverse weather conditions.

Magnification

6-8 which means that 8×32 bins would do or the 6×30 bins would work well too.

Other bins like 7×25, 10×50 will work ok too.

Filed of view

420’ at 1000 yards

Suggested brands

Bushnell Powerview 8×25 Compact

Bushnell powerveiw Wide angel 10×50

Nikon Sportstar 8×25 Ultra Wide angle

Nikon Sportstar 10×50 Ultra Wide angle

Leupold green ring Yosemite 6×30

Last but not the least make sure that you have the best of the best straps for the binoculars. At the footballs stadium with all that jostling among the crowds may cause your binoculars to slip from your hands so it is a must to have a quality strap. A few extra bucks spent now will be well spent as otherwise you will be in serious danger of breaking the binoculars while rushing to get the next beer or a hotdog during the game.