Marine Binoculars

[noelex 77]

If you are shopping for high end binoculars consider Leica. I have a pair of Ultravids which I chose after careful comparison. They were very noticeably better than the Steiner equivalent especially in low light.

[parito]

My vote for canons stabilized .. using them, and the ability to read the names of the boats or other objects triumphs anything else.

[goboatingnow]

Fujinon Polaris

Dave


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[Wotname]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Fujinon Polaris

Dave


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+1

[Jammer Six]

There is Steiner, and there is everything else.

[Andrew B.]

Sorry for the thread drift.

The term your thinking of is "Bokeh".
I like the bokeh I get from my Leica M6 with a 50 summicron, and a old Nikon F2, 50mm that I had also had bokeh that suited my taste.
I liked the Nikon just a little better, but it grew legs and walked off a couple of years back.
I have really enjoyed seeing artistic work produced using a Holga 120mm. Finding film is getting tougher though !

Originally Posted by Hiracer

Not the case at all. In fact, because of their market niche they led the field in the use of floride glass, which partly explains their expense (something few other binos use). They are fully coated, of course, with their proprietary coating. I was looking to purchase a little 8x22 bino some time ago, and I was looking at Zeiss because it was just about the only one that was nitrogen filled. Most of the others were not nitrogen filled or waterproof, only water resistant.

I used Zeiss photo lenses during the 1990s. Some of those lenses would do things few other lenses would. For example, the Japanese have a word to describe the quality of the out-of-focus portion of the picture, called Bohekay (or something like that). Very few photographers would key into something as obscure as out-of-focus smoothness. But for those of us who did, Zeiss and Leica were the go-to lenses, particularly Leica. Cannon had some good Bohekay too. Pentax and Nikon very infrequently; their out-of-focus was unduly harsh. That is an example of how these brands would have performance attributes that sometimes went right over the head of the average user. Most photographers look for sharpness, and stop at that.

I can remember some magazine tests in the 1990s complaining that the much cheaper Nikons lenses were as sharp, or sharper, than Zeiss and Leica comparable lenses. Which was absolutely true. But in other respects, like Bohekay, there were huge differences. But the magazines failed to mention that, of course, because they had never heard of Bohekay much less tried to use it as a photographic tool.

I don't have any Zeiss glass for binos, but I certainly wouldn't dismiss them based on my photo experiences. But they are never price competative if your only criteria is sharpness. Zeiss and Leica are usually not just about sharpness. Sharpness as a design objective is but a starting point.

[dugout]

Steiner 7X50 Marine Binoulars. These are 300 bucks at Optics Planet, I can't fathom buying anything else with a 300 dollar budget.
I've had a pair of these for years with no issues and they have not always received kind treatment.

[fishead]

I have two pairs of fujions, one is thirty plus years old and looks like hell but it still works. Also have a pair of steiner commanders. The fujions are much better optics and I would not buy another set of steiners.

[rhhmadry]

Marine Binocular Reviews - Guide to the best Marine Binoculars

I have the Steiner 7x50 w compass for at least 15 years.
They are so old they don't have the fancy ruby glass, just clear lenses.
The light stopped working a while back, but they are fine for day work.

[UNCIVILIZED]

Just a thought here. If you're being seduced by the Siren's call (read hype, here) of image stabilized binos: Look at it this way.
For $1.5k - $2.5k, you can pick up a nice pair of Steiners or similar, be they pre-loved, or new, as well as a decent NVG unit - mono tube, or binos, (possibly even a thermal optic, for close to that figure.
So for close to the same cash outlay as you'd spend on these "trick, new" binos, you can put together a package which lets you see 24/7. For me, when I look at it that way, there's no comparison. And I just can't see spending $1k+ for binos anyway.

Like I said, just my $0.02

PS: And yes, it is possible to put together such a combo for that kind of coin. Which would you rather have when coming into a new harbor, or semi-questionable pass, in foul weather/when it's dark?
Not that I'd do such a thing based solely on the basis of just having Night Glass, but NVG & Thermal + Radar, yep, odds are I would.

And just as a think, how many folks nowadays will wait for the sun, and or ideal conditions to enter a questionable pass as compared to say 25yrs ago?

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by fishead

I have two pairs of fujions, one is thirty plus years old and looks like hell but it still works. Also have a pair of steiner commanders. The fujions are much better optics and I would not buy another set of steiners.

Absolutely , having sailed with steiners fir several years. I switched to fujinon Polaris fmtr-sx. Yes nearly $1000 but in a different league to the steiners . They are the best night glasses I've ever owned.

Heavy but ideal for a big handed oaf like me

Dave


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[bobsadler]

I have a pair of Steiner Commander V 7 x 50. Last summer the leg of the cockpit table slipped and the binocs fell to the deck where the plastic surrounds that mount one of the ocular lenses got smashed. I sent the binocs in to Steiner's UK agent for repair.

The binocs turned up 3 months later repaired at no charge.

That's hard to beat for good support (we were away from the UK for 6 months so the return date was relatively unimportant).

[tomfl]

Originally Posted by Hiracer

Zeiss. Don't forget Zeiss. Proly better than all, but then more expensive too.

Enjoy premium quality riflescopes, binoculars and spotting scopes from ZEISS - Find your product or accessory, perfectly adapted to your needs. | ZEISS International

Comparison of Zeiss and Fujinon: Zeiss 7x50 BGAT vs. Fuiji 7x50 FMT-SX - Binoculars - Cloudy Nights

Maybe a little different take than some here. I am an astronomer and serious observer so I recognize the cloudynights link. No question the guys at cloudynights know a lot about binos, but also have different objectives they use to judge what makes a good pair.

I have a pair of the Canon 18X50 stabilized that are great for observing the night sky. They are also nice for marine use in what I will call calm weather. Problem is that no binos really work if the boat is bouncing around, especially if you have to follow the rule of one hand for the boat and one hand for yourself meaning you have to hold the binos in one hand.

I also have a pair of these guys

Amazon.com : Pentax PTX62216 8.5 X 21 mm Papilio Binoculars : Camera & Photo

Light, small, easy to hold in one hand, and a MFD of 1.6 feet. I am also a serious photography and these are great for macro work. They are probably the binos I use most on the boat for a quick and dirty look.

But binoculars are not my first choice for identifying distant objects. I have a couple of older digital cameras with ultra zoom lens and image stabilization. Many of these cameras have a zoom lens going to 600 or 800mm, far more magnification than any binos that can be hand held. Not only that but once an image is captured it can be zoomed in on replay for even greater magnification.

I have tried a comparison with a friend with binos and me with my Panosonic FZ100 trying to get a marker number at distance and it was never close, my Panny wins by a mile. There are much newer UZI (Ultra Zoom Image stabilization) style cameras now but here is an older link

Just posted: 2010 Super Zoom Group Test: Digital Photography Review

[MarkJ]

Not that I need this now... but I got 2 pairs of cheaper binoculars, Nikons, so we could both have our own. Yes His & Hers (modern parlance: Mine & Theirs) so she would stop stuffing up the focus on the shared pair.

Both with internal compasses.

Nothing like picking you your own thats perfectly focused and turning straight to whatever bearing the other person is looking at and sicussing what the hell we are looking at.




Mark

[skipmac]

Over the years I have had Zeis, Steiner, Nikon, Canon and a 45 year old Bushnell that is excellent unlike the cheap stuff they make now. I have used Fujinon and a few other brands on OPBs.

All are good daytime but night viewing is where the better brands show. However, if you are trying to read the numbers on a buoy, name on a boat, etc none of them touch the 10X stabilized Canon. No matter how good the optics, on a bouncing boat I can usually read the buoys by eye at a greater distance than I can with any binocs except the Canon.