minolta activa 12x50 $80 shipped (binoculars)

[savagemikel]

Merry X-Mas!!

You guys may have already seen the cameraworld sale notice over at t'bargns. I didn't look around too much but they have some minolta binoculars for up to 50% off. Note that some are open box, etc... They activa 12x50 are new though. I thought I'd put it up here as I see posts for telescopes once in a while which get some attention. I'm a total newbie for astronomy but everything I've read says to start with a decent pair of binoculars. Also from what I've read these should do just nicely and I think $80 shipped is warm enough to warrant passing it on.... hope you do to.
Linkified
just look in the clearance section.


now...let's be safe out there,
savagemike

 

[SupaCh1nk]

couldn't find it, do you have the direct link?

 

[savagemikel]

looks like my hot deal is dead already as I don't see them now either...
it was on the second page of three of the binocs and stuff here
here

i don't see it anymore though... just 7x50s and a few others... the 12x50 and 10x50 both seem to be gone... sorry

 

[ChopOMatic]

Pointing a pair of just decent binoculars at the night sky will show you that there are SO many more stars up there than you thought. My wife has an old pair that she inherited from her grandfather; they're nothing special from a quality standpoint and even they are cool to look through. A buddy of mine picked up a pair of Zeiss 10x56B a few days ago from an ignorant pawnbroker for a song and I'm trying to get him to sell 'em to me. They'd be awesome at night. (~$900ish new)

 

[jschner]

I'm no expert but if your going to pick out a pair of binoculars for astronomy you need to take a few things into account.

1. EXIT PUPIL: If your under 40 try to get a pair of bino's with an exit pupil size around 6 or 7mm. Over 40 it could vary from 5 to 7mm depending on your eyes. The reason is at night your eyes dilate and you want the light coming from the binoculars to use every bit of your pupil size for light gathering. Doing this will maximize the light gathering to your eyes and make things brighter at night. Anything over your pupil size is just wasted light. Anything under is dimmer than what you capable of. To figure out a binoculars exit pupil size just divide the objective size by the magnification. Example: a pair of 10x50 are 50/10= 5mm exit pupil. A pair of 9x60 are 60/9=6.7mm. My 11x80's have a 7.3mm exit pupil. The 12x50 Minoltas mentioned in the thread have an exit pupil size of 4.2 and would not be the best for Astronomy. A pair of 7x50's would be much brighter considering the lens quality was the same.

2. WEIGHT: If you get bino's over 60mm then you will get arm pump trying to hold them steady. When bino's are not steady you won't see things as well as you could.

3. MAGNIFICATION:Also if you get a magnification over 10 then they will have a smaller field of view and be harder to keep steady without some kind of tripod.

4. QUALITY: I know this is a hot deal site but you almost always get what you pay for with binoculars. Astronomy is tough for bino's because the optics may not be clear to the edge or have color problems or will show alignment problems you wouldn't normally see during day use. My $150 used 11x80's work fairly well but they are definetly no where near the quality of a pair of $500 Fuji's.

There is more but anyway good luck!
Jim