Hello,
pardon my immediate intrusion into the equipment forum as a first post. I hope it is appropriate to ask for equipment advice here, but please direct me elsewhere as appropriate...
I am having difficulty finding a pair of binoculars that will fit my wife's 54mm interpupilary distance. Our interest is general wildlife observation, which includes birds of course, but to be honest we are not dedicated birders (we like bear and coyotes just as much...) . Accordingly, I suspect that a 10x would better suit long distance observation, for example in Yellowstone where we recently visited (where, incidently, we observed a wonderful pair of pelicans taking off from the river, which I photographed using a rented Canon 100-400 lens...) . However, I will admit that I have not purchased binoculars before; only used a pair Nikon 10x36 (sporter) while in the park.
Thus, we are attracted to the higher magnification to aid long distance viewing, but remain open to the experience of others, naturally. I'd go to 12x but suspect the shake factor would be too great, and suspect that as soon as I would try to follow a hawk, Heron, or falcon in flight I might wish for the smaller magnification? So you can see that we are after one binocular that will do everything.
But the 54mm constraint still comes into play. Incidently, my wife thought that the sporters were better than she has ever looked through before, but she is not experienced enough to know if the sporters optimally accomodated her eye separation or not. She's always reported problems with binos even when the eyepieces are adjusted as close as possible.
So far I have found only one pair of 10x binoculars, the Pentax DCF HRc in 10x43, that claims to accomodate a 54mm interpupilary distance. I've looked (online) at most all of the well-known brands disussed here and find that all except the above either do not specify the interpupilary distance adjustment range, or have a minimum pupil spacing of 56mm, 58 or even 60mm.
Yes we will go try some 56mm spacing binos, to see if they are "good enough". But I'd be interested in hearing from some of you experienced folks here on this topic.
many thanks,
Doug
I went through this recently because my girlfriend also measures 54mm, and can't comfortably use my original Stokes DLS with 57 (more like 57.5mm) IPD. I ended up with a pair of Nikon SE porros for $500, and she and I both love them. All of the SE series spec 53mm minimum I think, and they're all wonderful glass, but I'd stick to the 8 or 10 power myself. I don't know all the choices available with 54mm, but as I recall, most of the ones with narrow IPD are EXPENSIVE ONES!!!! I know through Steve at Optics4Birding that the Alpen Wings for about $400 have ED glass and narrow IPD, and, I discovered by email to Zen Optics, that their spec is 56mm, but someone on BF kindly measured his Zen ED's for me, and said his were 55mm. My girlfriend COULD get a round field with the Stokes 57.5mm, but it was really hard to stay centered, and not get blackouts. Though she measures 54mm, when she adjusts the Nikon SE's to her preference, it usually ends up about 55mm+ a little. Go figure. I think the less expensive model Zens have the same 55/56mm IPD. From posts on here, the Zen ED's are a real bargain at about $400, and the ZRS's are as well, at less than half of that.
marty
Welcome. There are three relatively inexpensive porro prism glasses that pop immediately to mind. Inexpensive but optically stellar considering the price. The first is the Leupold Yosemite. Designed for kids and small stature adults. Comes in 6x and 8x30 and cost about $100. Will adjust to 50mm minimum IPD.
Just in the last week Vortex introduced their competition porro called the Raptor, It comes in 6.5x32 and 8.5x32. Same with the Eagle Optics Raven. Same binocular. They claim to adjust to 50 mm.
Look here ion the first page and you will find lots of comment on the Raven and some on the Raptor. There is more than an abundance of information on the Yosemite here as well.
I've got both Yosemite's and the 6.5 Raven. Both will give images equal to roof prisms costing 3x more. Good binoculars.