The Binocular Blog - The Inducement

There are a few oft repeated words and sentences peppering the Woodcrawler's Journal for the last few years; that the blog is in coma and is in desperate need of revival! Unfortunately, it never happened. That was, till the Corona Lockdown progressed and my mind started revolting at the numbers of webinars clogging the net!

(As is usual, Pinks are Links)

I am now a member of so many avoidable and unavoidable Whatsapp groups (many of the former that I'd love to leave but stay on due to some close friends and associates) . One of the latter type of group was one I took the initiative of starting for a group of budding birders in my professional association. As Covid lockdown progressed the membership swelled and it became less of a birding group and more of an all-encompassing nature group. So when the suggestion was received I changed the name to KSOS Prakruthi Kootayma (nature association). It has now become a very active group with enthusiastic participation! Members with rudimentary knowledge of nature and wildlife wanted more. It has now become a forum that is educative and informative. So when someone requested information about binoculars it put a germ of an idea in my lethargic mind. Why not a blog on binoculars?! 

The early collection

Suddenly the Covid induced lethargy lifted and my fingers are flying over the keyboard again!

I had been sinking into quicksand induced by excessive influence of the feathered kind lately and all my efforts to enjoy nature around me had been effectively stalled by a neurotic obsession with them. My last blog too was a feeble attempt at shaking off the neurosis but it suffices to say here, without detailing, that I failed miserably. After a record 21 posts in 2015 the counts fell to single digits in succesive years of 2016 (3), 2017 (3), 2018 (1) and a measly 2 last year. One of the reasons besides the one that I mentioned in a previous blog of January 2019, is that my son and I haven't been to our favourite stomping grounds for a long while now. 2017 to 2019 being critical school years our regular trips to Bandipur and other national parks had dried up.

Now, with Covid afflicting all and confining us to our homes and immediate environment, new outlets have to be found for our frustration. What better than shaking of the stupor induced by excessive birding! I don't hold grudges and am known to smile at my worst enemies. So I forgive eBird! 

My fingers are now humming, tingling and finding new energy as they caress the keys on my laptop. 

For now, birds will take a backseat while I find something else to get obsessed about.

I'm sure most of you are familiar with the term 'gearhead'. I am one, no doubt! I was, and still am, adding to my photography gear. Then, when the birds got to me, I was collecting sound recording gear. Between that some where, I was unknowingly collecting binoculars too. I have owned six, of which I still have five and one (my Olympus 8x40) was donated to a driver in Bandipur! If I have owned six binoculars in my lifetime there must be something about them that induced me to spend hard earned money on them. 

Now is the time to make others spend their hard earned money instead of stashing it somewhere. After all, if we have to observe nature up close and intimately we need some thing to bring it to our noses! If you have read my experience correctly you will also realize that your purchase may not end with one. More about that in another post to follow.

Buying the right binocular is a matter of trial and error, especially in this age of online buying. You will probably stumble on the right one if an effort is made to go out and try before you buy! After all there is no binocular that is just right for everyone, so it would be prudent to take a peek before putting your money on one. 

Finally, I don't claim to be an expert on binoculars but over a period of two decades, I have managed to acquire information about how to go about when buying one that suits a particular purpose, without reason for regret. All other technical information has been sourced from many websites that are listed here.

1.     https://birdwatchinghq.com/

2.     https://www.birdwatching.com/

3.     https://www.optics4birding.com/

4.     https://www.outdoorlife.com/

5.     https://www.bestbinocularsreviews.com/

6.     https://www.birdwatchingdaily.com/

7.     https://binocularsguides.com/

8.     https://www.rei.com/

9.     https://www.bhphotovideo.com/

10. https://vortexoptics.com/

11. https://asia.olympus-imaging.com/

12. https://imaging.nikon.com

The Binocular Blog will be a series of posts that will cover every aspect of the binoculars that you need to consider before buying.

For those who are impatient to go through the entire blog series, I'm giving below direct links to all the posts. You can go directly to the page you are interested in, though I suggest you go through each post as all of them contain some information that will be useful when you consider purchasing a binocular for your self.

1.       Introduction
2.       Part – 1: Anatomy of a Binocular
3.       Part – 2: Purpose and Portability
4.       Part – 3: Magnification, Objective diameter & FOV
5.       Part – 4: Eye Relief
6.       Part – 5: Exit pupil & Interpupillary distance
7.       Part – 6: Image brightness
8.       Part – 7: Focusing fundamentals
9.       Part – 8: Weather sealing
10.   Part – 9: Purchase decision
11.   Part – 10: Care & Storage
12.  Afterthoughts and accessories

Disclaimer: All the photos in the blog series are mine unless specified. The binoculars shown in them are owned by me and this is not meant to be an advertisement or promotion of these brands