High Powered, Long Distance Viewing Binoculars

The questions below are my answers to readers who are looking for a pair of high powered binoculars for long distance viewing and include some advice as well as options and recommendations as which high powered binoculars are best depending on the exact application:

Answer

Thank you very much for the questions, which I will try to answer to the best of my knowledge:

Firstly your friend is right in saying when describing a binocular, the first number is the magnification, so your Zeiss Dialyt 10x40B has a magnification of 10x, whilst the Bushnell 20x40 will magnify the image a massive 20x.

What they are not correct in assuming is that a larger magnification will be "much better" than a smaller one as there are many other factors to consider when choosing long distance viewing binoculars:

Magnification & The Exit Pupil

I am not surprised that the 20x40 Bushnell’s that your friend gave you were difficult to use as they produce an exit-pupil that is only 2mm in diameter (40 ÷ 20 = 2mm). This is tiny and is smaller that the size of the pupil in your eyes, even in good light during the day when your pupils are at their smallest.

Taking your Zeiss Dialyt 10x40B as another example, they produce a much more respectable 4mm exit pupil (40 ÷ 10 = 4mm), which will be larger than your eyes pupils in good light.

What this means is that not only is the Bushnell binocular transmitting less light to your eyes than those like your Zeiss binoculars with a larger exit pupil and so will appear less bright, but it makes lining up your pupils with those very small (2mm) shafts of light much more difficult than ones that produce larger shafts of light (larger exit pupils). If you do not line up your eyes with this light, you get dark rings forming around the image and it generally makes viewing the image very difficult.

For more on this very important concept to understand, please read my guide to the exit-pupil.

Objective Lens Size

Larger Objective Lenses
So as you can see by simply increasing the magnification on a binocular and nothing else, the exit pupil will get smaller and smaller. To counter this and make sure you get binocular that produces an image that is bright enough as well as easy to use, you need to increase the size of the objective lenses. These will have the potential to let in more light and therefore create a larger exit pupil, which can deliver more light to your eyes.

So if for example you kept the 20x power, but had a binocular with objectives twice the size (80mm), they would now produce a shaft of light that is 4mm in diameter (80 ÷ 20 = 4mm), which is much more reasonable and in fact is the same as your 10x40 Zeiss.

The main potential down side to this is as you increase the objective lenses, the larger and heavier your binoculars become. A typical 20x80 binocular will weigh around 2kg (4.4 pounds/ 70.4 oz) and so can be quite difficult or even impossible to hold steady for a reasonable amount of time. To counter this, you should mount them onto a tripod, which will also prevent the increased image stability, which I will get to a little later.

Almost all giant binoculars come with integrated tripod adapters that make attaching them to your tripod very simple – for more, see the section on tripods below.

Magnification & FOV

Whilst a higher power gives you more image detail, another down side to increasing the magnification on a binocular or indeed almost any other optical device is that it reduced the field of view (FOV) or to put it more simply the width of the image that you can see gets narrower. This can make locating and following an object more difficult and is also not ideal if you want to scan over a wide area looking for something as at any point you are viewing a smaller area than a binocular with a wider FOV.

If we consider that most full sized 10x42 binoculars have a FOV of between 300ft and 350ft wide at a distance of 1000ft, you can see that the FOV of the much higher powered bins I have listed below is greatly reduced.

Magnification & Image Steadiness

As the magnification of an optical instrument is increased, any movement you make is amplified even more and so it makes keeping the image steadier more and more difficult. For hand held devices you really do not want to go much above 15x – 16x. Whilst it is possible to hand hold a binocular at higher magnifications, the constant image shake will make it hard to get a good view of whatever you are trying to observe, especially over longer periods and so you may find that you need to support the bin against a post or tree.

Tripods
So if you want to use a high powered long distance binocular, you really should attach them to a good tripod via a tripod adapter. Fortunately most giant binoculars and many larger bins will come with integrated tripod adapters that makes them really simple to fix securely to your tripod and even if they don’t they are an easy to find and relatively cheap accessory to purchase. If you are wondering which to get, I personally use this Vanguard Alta Pro 263AT Tripod that I highly recommend, but there are many, many others that I am sure will work just as well.

Image Stabilisation Binoculars
Binoculars like the excellent range Canon IS Binoculars, use electronics to stabilise the image which works really well. On the down side, the added electronics makes these a little heavier and more costly.

Recommended High Powered, Long Distance Binoculars

Price
There are few low cost options available, which I have listed below, but just remember that in life you usually get what you pay for. So whilst they will be better than not using any binoculars at all, generally the more you pay, the better quality prisms, lenses and optical coatings are used, which will all go a long way to improving the overall quality of the image that you see.

50mm High Powered Binoculars

Hand Held Option: The 50mm recommendations listed below are for those who are want a higher magnification binocular, but don’t necessarily want to have to attach it to a tripod. Note: Most will still be tripod adaptable, giving you the flexibility to use them as you wish depending on the circumstance. For example it may be nice to have them permanently set-up on a balcony looking out to the ocean on a tripod and then if you wish to take them out with you, just remove them from the tripod and off you go.

60mm – 80mm High Magnification Binoculars

Possible Hand Held Options: Whilst I have listed these binoculars below that can be hand held if you don’t want to use a tripod, you will still get a better experience if you attach them to a tripod using a tripod adapter as it will not only ensure a steadier image but give your arms a rest if you spend long periods scanning wide areas:

Giant Binoculars – 80mm+

Giant binoculars, with objective lenses of around 80mm like some of those listed below are commonly used for astronomy as they have large objective lenses to let in as much of the little light that is available and have a high magnification to bring distant objects like the moon, stars and galaxies into closer view. However this does not mean that they can’t be used as effectively as a terrestrial long distance binoculars.

Low Cost Giant Binoculars:

Mid-Level Giant Binoculars:

High Powered Binoculars at Night

Answer

Hi Ryan, many thanks for your question and the kind words.

Whilst I have not had the opportunity to test the Fujinon 12x60, I don’t think you will go far wrong with them as I have heard only but good things about the brand in relation to long distance, larger objective binoculars.

The only thing I have reviewed that is similar to these and which I may recommend are the Celestron Echelon 20x70 Binoculars (see above or Read My Full Review here), which are in my opinion excellent.

However as you are planning on using your long distance binoculars mostly for night, I think you are right in keeping the magnification down to a reasonable amount, to maintain the exit pupil size. Whilst not the case for everyone, I think this is even more important when we consider your age, where your pupils may not dilate as much as when you were younger. For more on this please take time to read my complete guide to the exit pupil which goes over it all in detail.

I hope this helps and I would love to know what you do eventually get and how they perform for you.

Spotting Scopes

Another option would be to get a spotting scope which are in their most basic form, telescopes designed for terrestrial observation.

These generally have higher magnifications than binoculars and come with larger objective lenses for the reasons that we have already discussed. The down side is that they only have one eye-piece (the are essentially half a binocular). Whilst this saves weight and makes them smaller, but in general I feel that a good quality high power binocular is easy to use, provides a better view and to me offers improved comfort, especially during extended periods of use than most spotting scopes.

If this option interests you, take a look at the Best Spotting Scope Reviews Website that includes much more information as well as reviews on a selection of spotting scopes that I have used.

Further Reading:

• Binoculars for Astronomy
• Sunagor 30-160x70 Mega Zoom Binoculars – I take a closer look at these super powerful zoom binoculars.
• Different Binocular Configurations & Which to Choose
• Best High Powered Binoculars for Hunting – In this article I take a close look at high end binoculars with magnifications of between 12x and 20x

I hope that at least some of the advice I have given is useful and that you are able to find the right long distance viewing binoculars for your needs and within your budget. If you or anyone else has any more questions related to this topic, please don’t hesitate to ask it in the comments section at the bottom of this page.

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