Mark,
Recently I lost my binoculars and bought a new pair in a hurry for a little
over $1200 at the Binocular and Telescope store in Sydney. I bought the
Pentax DCF ED 8x43. I shopped for about two weeks in Sydney and, in my
opinion, these were the best for the money by a long way. I was going to buy
the Swarovskis but with the money saved I went on a birding trip!. I took
them to the Atherton region and tested them extensively for six days in some
challenging conditions (rainforest, extremes of the day etc). Optically they
are extremely good and have excellent resolution across the field. The
colours are neutral without significant colour cast. They are not as bright
as Swarovskis. They focus very close (at my feet). They are completely
waterproof nitrogen purged etc. They feel nice in the hand. They have very
good eye relief with graduated twist out cups.
Limitations: The focusing wheel is stiff. Perhaps its because they are new.
Another smaller limitation is that they do not have as large a field of
view as $2500-3000 dollar offerings from Leica, Swarovski and Zeiss. Also,
the twist out eye cups are greased so after sitting on the beach looking for
beach thickknees I now have fine north queensland sand silt in the eye cups
so they grate when pulled out.
In the $1200 range I think they are very good.
Good luck
David Lord
______
Mark Dudley Wrote:
I am wanting to purchase a pair of binoculars for my partner who is a
keen birdwatcher and interested in getting more involved. Currently she
Has a basic pair of binoculars and a spotting scope. Can anyone
recommend a good purchase around $1000 which gives a reasonable close
(3m?) focus? I know little about the area so am looking for advice.
Thanks
Mark
===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
===============================
|