I’ll admit to my ignorance about using binoculars. We always had them when I was a kid because my Dad worked for Minolta and he would often get products that the company made, for hitting sales goals and other achievements. I distinctly remember a pair of big old Minolta binoculars, as Minolta used to make optics, cameras, and other similar items.
Binoculars never seemed quite right to me, and to tell the truth, even to this day they never seem to focus well enough. I never got the single point of view that you’re supposed to get. It’s supposed to look like a single circle, but I would always get partial circles or kind of a half-and-half view, which always frustrated me. I thought it was just something with my eyes because they don’t focus on the same plane and I have imperfect vision in general.
But then, through the miracle of YouTube suggestions and looking at some birding videos, I was given a link to a video that changed my binocular world. There are two simple things that I needed to do to open up a fascinating world of binoculars.
I had bought my wife a nice set of binoculars after guests on one of my photo tours let me borrow their pair when we were spotting black-necked cranes in Bhutan. Thankfully, these binoculars had the two features featured in the video:
- Extendable eyecups that allow for use with or without glasses. If you don’t use glasses, you should extend the cups out.
- A diopter setting for one of the eyecups.
Here’s a look at the eyecups. Put them out when not wearing glasses and flat down with glasses, at least that works for me.
I’m familiar with diopter settings because my cameras have always had them. They are little dials that basically move the element in an SLR or DSLR camera’s viewfinder to help bring things into focus because not all eyes focus on the same plane. Evidently, binoculars have this feature too.
Here’s how to use these features effectively:
- Close your right eye and pick a non-moving subject to focus on.
- Focus the binocular so your left eye sees it clearly. In my case, my left eye is my weak eye, but I can still get a nice, strong focus just like I can with glasses.
- Now, close your left eye and, knowing that the object you picked should be in sharp focus, use the diopter adjustment on the right eyepiece to bring it into focus.
These two items – the extendable eyecups that help block out light and make a better fit, as well as adjusting the focus plane of each half of the binoculars independently so they work together – have been an absolute boon for me in using binoculars.
I hope this can help you too, and bring things into sharper focus, making even a moderate pair of binoculars a joy to use whether you’re looking for wildlife or birds or just spying on your neighbors.