Steiner Binoculars

[El Pinguino]

Off topic answer....
Modern binos have soft rubber eye cups, fold them back when you are wearing glasses... or do what I do... I take my glasses off.

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

Off topic answer....
Modern binos have soft rubber eye cups, fold them back when you are wearing glasses... or do what I do... I take my glasses off.

The old threads are the best

If you want to use binoculars with glasses the models with long, or adjustable eye relief are best. You should be able to get a full field of view with these.

The foldable eye cups are sometimes OK, but often they do not have enough range to fully fix the problem.

Removing glasses is an option, but it is not ideal. Some refractive errors cannot be compensated for by adjusting the binoculars focus. Taking the glasses off and on is nuisance and makes reconciling the big and detailed picture harder.

These are my binoculars with the adjustable eye relief set for long on one side and short on the other. Its easy to change if different crew are using the one pair.

Good binoculars are under utilised by many sailors they make a fantastic difference in the dark.

[El Pinguino]

I guess my eyes aren't totally cactus yet... I can manage without my distance pair... which I have to do when its raining anyway.

I find I cope better with no glasses rather than the cups folded back but it depends what I am doing at the time.. also depends which binos I am using. That may be the secret for the poster above.... try before you buy etc.

It was when using a pair of Fujinons with a graticule that I found I had curvature of the spine and that my head was on a tilt... either that or the bricklayer who built the building across the street had a dodgy spirit level.......

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

I guess my eyes aren't totally cactus yet... I can manage without my distance pair... which I have to do when its raining anyway.
.

Sounds like you have a pretty mild refractive error
However, it is more the type of refractive error rather than just the degree that is important.
Astigmatic errors cannot be compensated for, but even high degrees of short or longsightedness without astigmatism can be canceled by adjusting the focus of the binoculars.

Compare the image quality with and without the glasses especially just after twilight, but for most people that need distance glasses they would be better buying a model with long or adjustable eye relief. Surprisingly there are not a lot of binoculars with a long eye relief option.

If you try the in a shop make sure you look under night illumination. The correct eye relief is much less important in bright conditions and binoculars that appear satisfactory (particularly 7x50 models) may restrict the field of view under dull conditions.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Uhh, Nick... I think R squared gets in there somewhere and is more of a factor than pi in comparing the areas of circles.

Jim

It's highly unadviseable to argue math with me

For the surface area of a rectangle, you do sideA x sideB.
For the surface area of a circle you do radius x radius..... x pi.

Surface area is always a squared function just like volume is always cubed.

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by Therapy

Off topic drift alert.--------------------------------------------------------

I wear glasses.
I have never held a pair of binoculars and seen the whole circle.
Can you actually do that with those?
Thanks.

Yes. With rubber eyecups folded back.

-Chris

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

Off topic answer....
Modern binos have soft rubber eye cups, fold them back when you are wearing glasses... or do what I do... I take my glasses off.

I know how to do that like anyone who has been wearing glasses since his/her memory began.

I have yet to use a pair that allows me to see the whole circle with my glasses on.

Find me one.

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by ranger42c

Yes. With rubber eyecups folded back.

-Chris

OK,

I will put them on the list.

Nolex,

It is going to be hard to "try them on" in low light. Like after the store closes - heh.

I am nearsighted in one eye and far sighted in the other and have astigmatism in both. I have a lasik fail experience also.

Maybe I should give up the dream and stay at the PC.

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by Therapy

Maybe I should give up the dream and stay at the PC.

No never. Sailing is a great sport it really does not require great vision.
A good pair of binoculars should be a great help.

Its worth trying as many models as possible, maybe at one of the specialist binocular shops. Try googling the bird watching forums. Those guys take their binoculars seriously. There are a lot of tough waterproof models that are not "marine". Often these have better optics than the well known marine brands and there is certainly a lot more choice with models with long eye relief.

There is no reason with glasses even with your sort of vision problems you have described not be able to enjoy a complete field of view.

[hellosailor]

Therapy, what's your RX? Any complications?

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Uhh, Nick... I think R squared gets in there somewhere and is more of a factor than pi in comparing the areas of circles.

Jim

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

It is about how much light the objective catches. For this you have to compare the surface area of the front element, which is much bigger for a 50mm compared to a 30mm because it gets multiplied by pi: 157:94 meaning you get 67% more light into the 50mm objective. This results in a much much brighter view.

If you can't afford the Steiner Commander V, do NOT look through it in a shop

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

It's highly unadviseable to argue math with me

For the surface area of a rectangle, you do sideA x sideB.
For the surface area of a circle you do radius x radius..... x pi.

Surface area is always a squared function just like volume is always cubed.

Nick, in general it seems unadviseable to argue ANYTHING with you...

But in this case, you say that the 50 mm lens has 1.67 times the area (and light gathering capability) of the 30 mm, and attribute it to multiplying "it" by pi.

Now, I find that the area of the 50 mm lens is (25^2)*pi=1962.5 mm^2.
For the 30 mm lens (15^2)*pi=706.5 mm^2.
1962.5/706.5=2.78... NOT 1.67 as you say.

But what do I know... I'm not a retired engineer so I find your logic confusing.

Jim

[carstenb]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Nick, in general it seems unadviseable to argue ANYTHING with you...

But in this case, you say that the 50 mm lens has 1.67 times the area (and light gathering capability) of the 30 mm, and attribute it to multiplying "it" by pi.

Now, I find that the area of the 50 mm lens is (25^2)*pi=1962.5 mm^2.
For the 30 mm lens (15^2)*pi=706.5 mm^2.
1962.5/706.5=2.78... NOT 1.67 as you say.

But what do I know... I'm not a retired engineer so I find your logic confusing.

Jim

I think Jedi was half asleep, if you take the difference between 30mm and 50mm = 20mm whixh happens to be 67% of 30mm so he ended up with 1.67.

Jim you are correct in your math (it is also highly unadvisable to argue math with me. I used to do very complicated hydraulic sizings in my head when everyone else used an HP calculator)

We shall await his response with bated breath (so hurry up Jedi - I can't hold my breath for very long!

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Therapy, what's your RX? Any complications?

OD -SPH +0.25 CYL -0.75 AXIS 008 ADD +2.25
OS SPH -0.25 CYL -1.00 AXIS 154 ADD+2.25

Complications?

Age.


Just not good enough without correction.

[hellosailor]

Oh, hell, that's not a correction that's called all you need to do is squint.

Really, the astigmatism is nothing to worry about and the cylinder correction is something you can dial into any real binoculars, you'll see that usually the right eyepiece (sometimes both) has a +-4 diopter correction available on it. Just dial that to +1/2 diopter, and then focus with the left eye. Twist the diopter ring to compensate to fine tune for the right.

This assumes that you get binocs that can focus, some are just preset to infinity and cannot focus. Some don't have a diopter adjustment, all the better ones do.

Age, yeah, well, you know the alternative.<G> Floaters, retinal detachment, all kinds of fun but neither spectacles nor binocs will compensate for any of that. All you need is the diopter ring. Drop your glasses, because even if there's enough eye relief to use them, the rubber or plastic eyecups will smudge the lenses and you'll be cleaning all day.

Now if you can't see the whole picture, it is a matter of getting binocs with a better (larger) exit pupil, or more eye relief, or perhaps both. And again, on that, once you get into better glass they're all very similar. Somewhere between maybe $200-400 they start to get really good, and from $500-2000 the differences are between 95% to 99%, slim differences for the discerning customer.

With your rx? Shouldn't be a problem finding a good pair of binocs and stuffing the glasses in the pocket.

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Oh, hell, that's not a correction that's called all you need to do is squint.

Really, the astigmatism is nothing to worry about and the cylinder correction is something you can dial into any real binoculars, you'll see that usually the right eyepiece (sometimes both) has a +-4 diopter correction available on it. Just dial that to +1/2 diopter, and then focus with the left eye. Twist the diopter ring to compensate to fine tune for the right.

This assumes that you get binocs that can focus, some are just preset to infinity and cannot focus. Some don't have a diopter adjustment, all the better ones do.

Age, yeah, well, you know the alternative.<G> Floaters, retinal detachment, all kinds of fun but neither spectacles nor binocs will compensate for any of that. All you need is the diopter ring. Drop your glasses, because even if there's enough eye relief to use them, the rubber or plastic eyecups will smudge the lenses and you'll be cleaning all day.

Now if you can't see the whole picture, it is a matter of getting binocs with a better (larger) exit pupil, or more eye relief, or perhaps both. And again, on that, once you get into better glass they're all very similar. Somewhere between maybe $200-400 they start to get really good, and from $500-2000 the differences are between 95% to 99%, slim differences for the discerning customer.

With your rx? Shouldn't be a problem finding a good pair of binocs and stuffing the glasses in the pocket.

Yea, OK.

I can use the diopter R to L.

I guess I just don't like any kind of blurry. But........... I want to see the whole circle with my glasses on.

Maybe I will have to learn to take them off - if I get another boat.......

Floaters i didn't mention. Lots. Right in the center.