Cameras and Lenses
How many optics-obsessives worldwide?
I was wondering - obviously, there are a few BF members who obsess a lot about binos and scopes here. The same names come up repeatedly, and a few of us buy, sell and buy again to check out various models of optics. In my case, itīs become a thing quite apart from birding, because when out birding I donīt even notice what bino or scope Iīm carrying, as itīs irrelevant.
But as BF is now approaching 100,000 members, and as the CN and similar websites also seem to have a fairly small number of people involved in the optics-obsession game, I wonder how many people worldwide have this particular "interest", from real experts who actually understand the optical science bits, to amateurs like moi who donīt know squat except what they think they can see? Canīt be that many, and presumably optics manufacturers arenīt tending to our whims because it wouldnīt be a sensible marketing exercise.
So do optics-obsessive number in the hundreds, thousands or millions? And another thing, are they (we) an exclusively male idiot-brotherhood?
1. Scores, not hundreds, I would say
2. 99% male.
But what do I know? I'm not even sure if I qualify as an optics nut, much as I love looking through (& thinking about) binoculars & spotting scopes.
I carry a bino with me (in car) 99% of time. It is getting to the point that i am more concerned with the quality of view rather than the subject i am actually suppossed to be looking at through my binos. So, yea im one of them. Counte me in.
Rick