- Jul 11, 2001
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Chanced on recent guest essay in The New York Times by the birdwatcher (Christian Cooper) who civilly asked a woman in Central Park to leash her dog but she instead threatened to call the cops on him saying she was being menaced by an African American man. I think the link will work to get beyond the paywall for 14 days, i.e. until June 12, 2023. I believe that Cooper started taking video of this encounter to protect himself. This did not go well for the woman.
Cooper's lifelong love of birdwatching has taken off in a big way since the Central Park dust-up. He has a forthcoming book, his new born career promoting birdwatching is taking off in a big way!
Well, the article is very well written and from the heart. His ambition in writing it was to inspire others with his passion. I'd like to get out more, get into hiking and, it seems to me, birding could dovetail into that.
I figure step one in becoming a birdwatcher is to get ahold of a decent pair of binoculars. Cooper mentioned that his father gave him a Swarovski for his 50th birthday. That would likely cost over $2000 in today's money.
Well, frankly, until a few days ago when I read the article I knew next to nothing about binoculars. I have had Nikon 8 x 23mm binos for a couple decades, rarely use them for anything. It's something but would be considered inadequate by real birders.
Well, 2-3 days ago I started researching binoculars online. It's complicated, there's lots of stuff available, and my sense of it is that most of the sites that review them cut corners and are short on honesty. I suppose they are mostly after the cut they get if you go and order from their links. Of course, it's not only birders who are interested in binos. There's hunters, there are stargazers, people who want to see insects up close without disturbing them, seafarers, and more, of course. That makes it more difficult to zero in on binos that are well suited to birders.
I ordered a pair but subsequently discovered what wasn't easy to find, which is negativity about what I ordered (Athlon Midas 8 x 42 UHD ED, $207 presently at Walmart). ReviewMeta.com couldn't come up with an updated evaluation of Amazon reviews for some reason, but it did say that a handful of reviews were deleted, which is suspicious. Anyway, a couple of other sites (and one Canadian review at Amazon) suggest that the focus knob on this particular bino is too stiff, a serious shortcoming. Also, it's a bit heavier at 25 oz. than it needs to be. Well, it is relatively cheap, however the image is evidently competitive with that of binos in much higher price ranges.
I may return the Athlon when I get it if it seems tough to refocus... I figure a birder needs to have a really good focusing mechanism. Smooth, easy, but not so easy to be accidently changed, also have a range that's not too big, not too small, maybe 1 1/2 turns one end to the other. Another criticism of the Athlon is that the close focus limit published (6.5 feet) is anything but conservative. The Canadian guy said it's more like 8 - 10 feet, depending on what you get.
Well, after ordering I came upon the Celestron Nature DX 8 x 42, which is cheaper ($125 right now at Amazon), doesn't have as good image, but close, not as good a field of view (7.4 degrees versus the Athlon's 8.1 degrees) but has likely a legit 6.5 foot close focus, is ~3 ounces lighter, has not as robust a body but according to what I read, a really good focus knob, just perfect, it appears, for my anticipated usage, which will be for lots of stuff, but I want it to be especially suited to birding. Possibly, according to what I read, it's much better for low light (?) than the Athlon, if true, a significant factor. Extensive review of the Celestron Nature DX 8 x 42.
Anyway, according to reviews it's apparently a good idea to compare binos in person before coming to a decision to purchase.
I'm in Berkeley, CA, San Francisco Bay, a metropolitan area, and I figure I should be able to find B&M stores where I can handle and compare a variety of binoculars, hopefully a good selection, play with the focus mechanisms, diopters, eye pieces, look across the store in various lighting and get a sense of what I like and why.
Can I get some suggestions of what stores and where I could do this?
Cooper's lifelong love of birdwatching has taken off in a big way since the Central Park dust-up. He has a forthcoming book, his new born career promoting birdwatching is taking off in a big way!
Well, the article is very well written and from the heart. His ambition in writing it was to inspire others with his passion. I'd like to get out more, get into hiking and, it seems to me, birding could dovetail into that.
I figure step one in becoming a birdwatcher is to get ahold of a decent pair of binoculars. Cooper mentioned that his father gave him a Swarovski for his 50th birthday. That would likely cost over $2000 in today's money.
Well, frankly, until a few days ago when I read the article I knew next to nothing about binoculars. I have had Nikon 8 x 23mm binos for a couple decades, rarely use them for anything. It's something but would be considered inadequate by real birders.
Well, 2-3 days ago I started researching binoculars online. It's complicated, there's lots of stuff available, and my sense of it is that most of the sites that review them cut corners and are short on honesty. I suppose they are mostly after the cut they get if you go and order from their links. Of course, it's not only birders who are interested in binos. There's hunters, there are stargazers, people who want to see insects up close without disturbing them, seafarers, and more, of course. That makes it more difficult to zero in on binos that are well suited to birders.
I ordered a pair but subsequently discovered what wasn't easy to find, which is negativity about what I ordered (Athlon Midas 8 x 42 UHD ED, $207 presently at Walmart). ReviewMeta.com couldn't come up with an updated evaluation of Amazon reviews for some reason, but it did say that a handful of reviews were deleted, which is suspicious. Anyway, a couple of other sites (and one Canadian review at Amazon) suggest that the focus knob on this particular bino is too stiff, a serious shortcoming. Also, it's a bit heavier at 25 oz. than it needs to be. Well, it is relatively cheap, however the image is evidently competitive with that of binos in much higher price ranges.
I may return the Athlon when I get it if it seems tough to refocus... I figure a birder needs to have a really good focusing mechanism. Smooth, easy, but not so easy to be accidently changed, also have a range that's not too big, not too small, maybe 1 1/2 turns one end to the other. Another criticism of the Athlon is that the close focus limit published (6.5 feet) is anything but conservative. The Canadian guy said it's more like 8 - 10 feet, depending on what you get.
Well, after ordering I came upon the Celestron Nature DX 8 x 42, which is cheaper ($125 right now at Amazon), doesn't have as good image, but close, not as good a field of view (7.4 degrees versus the Athlon's 8.1 degrees) but has likely a legit 6.5 foot close focus, is ~3 ounces lighter, has not as robust a body but according to what I read, a really good focus knob, just perfect, it appears, for my anticipated usage, which will be for lots of stuff, but I want it to be especially suited to birding. Possibly, according to what I read, it's much better for low light (?) than the Athlon, if true, a significant factor. Extensive review of the Celestron Nature DX 8 x 42.
Anyway, according to reviews it's apparently a good idea to compare binos in person before coming to a decision to purchase.
I'm in Berkeley, CA, San Francisco Bay, a metropolitan area, and I figure I should be able to find B&M stores where I can handle and compare a variety of binoculars, hopefully a good selection, play with the focus mechanisms, diopters, eye pieces, look across the store in various lighting and get a sense of what I like and why.
Can I get some suggestions of what stores and where I could do this?
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