Astronomy binoculars – general comments

January 30th, 2010

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January 27th, 2010

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December 29th, 2009

I want to take a quick moment here to thank the folks at
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Cheers to all,
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It’s been so long – without telescope binoculars

December 3rd, 2009

Hi- To all and sundry-

Sorry I haven’t posted for so long, a combination of illness in the family and new work responsibilities have hit me hard.  But… I have some new items I want to add in the next weeks to bring more helpful information on where to find great accessories for telescope binoculars.  So stay tuned..

At Long Last… An Affordable Telescope Binocular Mount

September 14th, 2009

(Special thanks to Brent Parrish for his interest in sharing his hard work. Brent gave me permission to publish his new article on how to make a usable mount for big astronomy binoculars.  As anyone who has ever used telescope binoculars for a length of time knows, the challenge is to hold without shaking!  Not only that, but to have a comfortable way to view, without twisting your body – well, that’s a challenge with almost any store-bought system. Tripods just don’t cut it.  So – take a look at a terrific solution to a painful problem!)

Bino mount

An Affordable Binocular Mount

Having been bitten by the astronomy bug, I’ve been champing at the bit to buy a telescope. I decided to talk to a few amateur astronomers and read a few books before I made the leap into an expensive purchase. It became clear that it might be a good idea to learn the sky first and a good pair of astronomical binoculars should do the trick. I’m glad I took this advice. Astronomical binoculars are good for wide-field viewing and offer a good starting point for learning how to align yourself with objects in the sky. Additionally, large apeture binoculars are an excellent way to scan the sky in concert with a telescope.

I settled on a pair of Celestron Skymaster 20x80 Binoculars. I appreciated the fact that the Celestron’s came packed in a thick foam and a nice big box, but most importantly the optics are good. Eager to view the night sky with my new binos I realized that it would be nice to have some kind of mount for vibration-free viewing. I determined to mount my Celestron 20×80s to an inexpensive digital camera tripod I had bought a short time ago.

Removal of the hinged camera mount on top of the Carson tripod was accomplished by using an X-ACTO Fine Razor Saw. A razor saw is good for cutting plastic and was perfectly suited for the job. In the above photo you can see the protruding 5/16″ diameter 1″ T-Nut where the mount will be secured. Also, a 1/2″ hole directly behind the T-Nut is visible and will be used as a registration hole for the wooden mount. Adhesive-backed aluminum oxide sandpaper was also affixed to the top of the tripod mount as a frictional surface for securing the wooden mount.

Following removal of the hinged camera mount, an oversize hole was drilled through the top of the tripod mount for a 5/16″ diameter 1″ T-Nut. It was a tight fit to get the T-Nut into the hole from underneath the mount, hence the short length. The hole was offset from the center and is located toward the front of the tripod. A large rubber and steel washer was used to help dissipate the pressure when the wooden mount securing knob is tightened.

The dimensions of the wooden mount are roughly 9 1/2″ x 7 1/2″. The hinged Rigel Quikfinder mount stands approximately 6 1/4″ high. 3/4″ birch plywood and poplar stock was used for construction. A 3/4″ diameter Forstner bit was used to countersink a hole for the mount-securing knob to a depth of roughly 3/8″ on top of the custom bino mount. Countersinking is necessary since the securing T-Nut mounted underneath the tripod mount is only 1″ long. A 5/16″ hole was then drilled through the countersunk hole. The rubber pad from the discarded tripod camera mount was salvaged and acts to hold a retaining clip around the bincoluar-securing knob. This prevents the knob from falling out when the binoculars are not mounted.

A 1/2″ dowel center was used on the tripod mount to precisely mark the registration hole on the bottom of the wooden mount. A 1/2″ hole was countersunk into the bottom of the wooden mount and a 1/2″ oak dowel was glued in place.

In the above photo is shown the 1/2″ oak dowel on the bottom of the wooden mount which acts as the registration pin. 3/4″ Forstner bit was used to countersink a hole for the 1/4-20 threaded male binocular securing knob to a depth of 3/8″. A 1/4″ hole was then drilled through the center of countersunk hole. The 1/4″ stud of the securing knob threads into the binocular’s vertical tripod adapter post and secures the binoculars to the wooden mount. A small square of 1/4″ baltic birch plywood was glued to the bottom of the wooden mount to provide a shelf for the hinged Rigel Quikfinder mount to rest upon.

A Dowl-It Jig was used to center a hole on the edge of the wooden mount which accepts a threaded insert for the knob that secures the hinged Rigel Quikfinder mount. The jig automaticlly centers the hole and steadies the drill bit so the hole is square to the edge.

The shop-made jig above is the one to best ways I’ve discovered to install threaded inserts. Typically, folks will use a large flat-head screw driver to install a threaded insert and then quickly discover how difficult it is to keep the insert square in the hole, meaning it goes in cock-eyed! The jig above prevents this dilemma by using a long 5/16″ stove bolt with two 5/16″ nuts (one nut acting as a locking nut) which threads into the thread insert. Using a wrench or ratchet to turn the stove bolt, the threaded insert will thread easily and stay vertical during installation.

Above is the first mounting of the binoculars. The hinged Quikfinder mount makes it easy to secure the binos to the mount. Also visible is the securing knob for the Quikfinder mount, which threads into the previously installed threaded insert, and the sercuring knob below the custom mount which threads into the binocular’s vertical tripod adapter post.

A simple cabinet hinge was used for the Rigel Quikfinder mount. The Rigel Quikfinder has an adjustable reticle that allows you to more precisely point your optical device at objects in the sky. Powerful optics see a very small sliver of the sky and a device like the Quikfinder can greatly aid in aligning your view to the desired object.

Celestron Tripod Adapter Weakness Unveiled

While observing Jupiter one fine August evening, I found that my binoculars had come off the mount in my hands — fortunately! I thought that the securing knob must have come loose. To my surprise I discovered that the part below was the culprit.

The above part screws into the bottom of the Celestron Binocular’s vertical tripod adapter post and is used to secure the binoculars to the tripod or desired mount. There’s an inherent weakness with this design and it has to do with the multi-threaded part that threads into the center of the knurled disc. (See below)

The part in question has a smaller diameter non-standard thread on one end that screws into the tripod adapter’s vertical post. The photo above shows the broken part to the right of the knurled disc in two pieces — should be one! The thread only extends less than 3/8″ into the post. The other end of the part has a larger diameter thread that screws into the knurled disc. Additionally, the part is bored out internally for a 1/4-20 thread. This is where the weakness lies: since the small thread only extends into the post a very short length and the part is bored out internally, any sway or torque on the post will easily cause the part to break. You can see in the photo above how thin the wall is from the internal thread to the outside thread. This could lead to disaster and almost did! Fortunately, the binos were in my hands when the part failed.

I thought about getting a new part from the manufacturer, but then I simultaneously thought that if it happened once it would happen again. My solution was to punt the small multi-threaded part and knurled disc and provide a more stable and rigid arrangement for mounting the binoculars. Unfortunately, the inside diameter of the vertical post was a non-standard size — around 11/32″. This was close enough to 3/8″ standard size and I decided to tap the post using a tap and die set. Additionally, a 3/4″ thick square of oak measuring 2″ wide by 3 3/4″ long was glued to the top of the wooden mount. A 5/8″ hole was drilled into the oak block for the vertical tripod adapter post. This design greatly improves the stability of the post.

A hex head insert was installed to provide a 10-32 thread for a clamping knob. A hex head insert can be installed with an allen wrench and is easier to thread than a standard threaded insert. The clamping knob is located in front of the newly added oak block and helps to reduce the binocular’s tripod adapter post from moving left or right.

I was unable to find a male knob with a 3/8″ stud and was required to make my own. A 3/8″ diameter carriage bolt measuring 2 1/2″ long was used for construction of the knob. A one inch long piece of oak dowel was centered drilled using a 3/8″ bit and a drill press. A square piece of 1×2 pine was used for the knob. Before cutting the 1×2 to shape, a 7/8″ Forstner bit was used to countersink a hole to roughly 1/4″ depth and then a 3/8″ drill bit was used to drill a center hole in the countersunk hole. A chisel was used to square out the top of the 3/8″ hole for the square portion of the carriage bolt. Epoxy was used to secure the 2 1/2″ carriage bolt in the pine knob and the oak dowel was secured with carpenter’s glue. A 3/8″ nut was used to clamp up the assembly while the glue cured.

It was necessary to tap the Celestron Skymaster’s vertical tripod adapter post for a coarse 3/8″ thread using a 3/8″ tap. The post was threaded to a depth of roughly 7/8″. Be patient when tapping a new thread if you have never done it before. Too much torque and pressure can snap the tap. The secret is to turn the tap a 1/4 to 1/2 turn, depending on the hardness of the matrial, then back it out a few turns to clear the shavings, then keep repeating the process. It takes some time and elbow grease, so once again be patient and apply only enough pressure as needed to hog out the material. It took about 15 minutes to tap the post to a depth of 7/8″.

Not shown in the photo above are the extra steps taken to protect the lenses while threading the post. Painter’s tape was used to secure the lense covers and the binos were then wrapped in visqueen plastic with only the bottom of the vertical post poking through the plastic. Additionally, a two foot piece of 1×2 pine stock, with a 5/8″ countersunk hole on one side and a 3/8″ center hole drilled in the center of the 1×2, was used to steady the tap vertically while threading the post. The 1×2 is placed perpendicular to the post, with the post being inserted into 5/8″ hole. The tap was then inserted into the 3/8″ hole which aided in keeping the tap square to the post.

I decided against the use of a lubricating oil while threading the post. I can’t think of anything worse for optics than oil and metal shavings! Great care was taken to ensure that nothing got to the lenses. I also used some compressed air to blow out the shavings from the post and shavings that had collected on the bottom of the binocular’s vertical post securing knob with the lenses covered. DO NOT USE COMPRESSED AIR TO CLEAN YOUR LENSES!

Conclusion

Now that the teething problems have been resolved, the custom binocular mount serves it purpose well. The solid 3/8″ bolt and the stablilizing oak block firmly secure the binos to the mount with little risk of failure. I couldn’t be happier with my Celestron Skymaster binoculars regardless of the aforementioned weakness with the tripod adapter. This is not the ultimate setup, but a good start. Due to the inexpensive quality of the tripod itself, vibration is still an issue, but it beats holding the six pound binoculars by hand. It was a real thrill too see Jupiter and her four major moons for the first time. Yep, I’m hooked now! Looks like my next project might be a parallelogram binocular mount. Stay tuned!

(Thanks Brent! We are looking forward to your next installment. In the meantime, you are invited to check out our selection of telescope binoculars for your viewing pleasure.)

Choosing Binocular Astronomy – Part 8 & Final

September 7th, 2009

(This is the final installment of this terrific article. Many thanks again to Ed Ting for permission to serialize his article here. I think it’s mandatory reading for anyone who is considering telescope binoculars for astronomy viewing. Ted)

Keep It Simple

Let me offer one final caution: Keep it simple. As a rule you should avoid zoom binoculars, at least for astronomical use. Good zoom eyepieces require a very high (and expensive) standard of precision manufacture that’s usually not met.

Likewise, binoculars with built-in cameras may be okay for casual daytime use, but not at night. They’re gimmicky toys.

Most binoculars have center focus, meaning that you focus both barrels at once by turning a knob or a rocker in the center. This is great for when the distance of your target often changes, such as in birdwatching, or when you often pass the binoculars back and forth between people. But the night sky always stays at infinity focus, and you’re probably observing it alone. So eyepieces will do just fime. This not only saves you money but provides better mechanical stability and gets rid of a common cause of eyepiece misalignment (slight tipping of the center-focus mechanism).

But no matter what imperfections you have to live with (and face it, optical perfection does not exist), you’ll find that binoculars can show you more of the universe than you probably imagined.

(Note:  I want to thank Ed Ting again for his permission in reprinting this thorough primer on starting with Binocular Astronomy. Based in Amherst, New Hampshire, Ed Ting reviews stargazing equipment for his website, www.scopereviews.com.  This article appeared previously in Sky and Telescope.com.

For a great selection of telescope binoculars for astronomy viewing, please visit our site and check out our astronomy binoculars Ted)

Choosing Binocular Astronomy – Part 7

August 20th, 2009

(Thanks to Ed Ting for permission to serialize his article here. I think it’s mandatory reading for anyone who is considering telescope binoculars for astronomy viewing. Ted)

Testing Under the Stars

If and when you do get a chance to test binoculars under the stars, take it.  A star at night is the most stringent indicator of optical quality. You may even find a daytime “artificial star” such as sunlight glinting off a distant insulator on a power pole or a distant piece of shiny metal.

Center it in the field of view. Looking with one eye at a time, can you bring it to a perfect point focus? Or, as you turn the knob, do tiny rays start growing in one direction before they have shrunk all the way in the direction at right angles? This astigmatism is especially bothersome when viewing stars. If you have astigmatism in your eyes, be sure to wear your glasses when doing this test.

If, as you turn the focus, little rays start growing out of the star in all directions before the rest of the star comes down to focus, you’re looking at spherical aberration. This problem too may be in your own eye, even if you’re wearing your glasses. If it is, all binoculars with a given size exit pupil will show the same problem. To reduce it, choose higher-power binoculars; these yield a smaller exit pupil for a given aperture. Unfortunately, your eye’s spherical aberration cannot be corrected with glasses.

Now move the star from the center of the field to the edge. It will go out of focus unless you have a perfectly flat field and freedom from various other aberrations. As a rule of thumb, no degradation should be visible until the star is at least halfway to the edge of the field.

All our Barska telescope binoculars and astronomy binoculars have limited lifetime warranties from defects.

Choosing Binocular Astronomy – Part 6

August 9th, 2009

(Thanks to Ed Ting for permission to serialize his article here. I think it’s mandatory reading for anyone who is considering telescope binoculars for astronomy viewing. Ted)

Next, if you wear glasses for astigmatism, make sure you can see the entire field of view with your glasses on. If you’re merely near-sighted or far-sighted, you can observe with your glasses off and just refocus as needed. If you’re astigmatic, sorry — you’ll have to use the binoculars with your glasses on, so this test will be important.

Next: see if you can detect whether the binoculars’ two barrels are out of optical alignment, or “collimation.” Experienced users can pick up on this relatively quickly, but beginners have a harder time of it, because your eye and brain automatically try to compensate for any misalignment. The best way I can describe this is that out-of-alignment binoculars will make you feel slightly “seasick.” In really bad cases you may have trouble merging the two images into one, at least right away. Or maybe you’ll have a mild sense of relief when you stop looking through them. Reject such units.

Finally — at last! — look through the binoculars.

Notice the size of the field of view: the wider the better. But the edges of a wide field may have poor optical quality. Is the view near the edge blurry when the center is sharp? Some binoculars are much better in this regard than others.

Waterproof binoculars

Keep ‘em dry! The most common binocular problem, aside from getting knocked out of alignment, is moisture-related stains (often fungus) forming on the internal prisms and lenses. So be sure to let yours dry thoroughly after stargazing on a dewy night, or after bringing them into a humid house from the outdoor cold. If you expect dew and humidity to be a problem, consider sealed, waterproof binoculars such as these. (Note:  Most of our binoculars at TelescopeBinoculars.com  are waterproof as well.)
Night Sky: Craig Michael Utter

Sweep the field at right angles across a straight line, such as a door frame or a telephone wire. Watch whether the line bows in or out near the edges. This distortion should be only slight.
Look at sharp lines dividing light and dark, such as dark tree limbs or the edge of a building against a bright sky. Do they have red or blue fringes? No instrument is perfectly free of this chromatic aberration, but some are better than others.

Follow these steps and you’ll go a long way toward selecting quality binoculars right there in the store. If you’re ordering from an online or mail-order distributor, this kind of test drive won’t be possible before you make the purchase. So make sure the sales policies allow you to return defective or unsatisfactory units, then check the pair thoroughly once they arrive.  (Note:  At Telescope Binoculars we have lifetime guarantees on virtually all our binoculars.  We work directly with the manufacturer and will ensure that – in the highly unlikely event of defective workmanship – you are completely satisfied with your binoculars and our service.  Ted)

Choosing Binocular Astronomy – Part 5

August 4th, 2009

(Thanks to Ed Ting for permission to serialize his article here. I think it’s mandatory reading for anyone who is considering telescope binoculars for astronomy viewing. Ted)

Testing Binoculars

Of course, the best way to see if a telescope binoculars model suits you is to give it a good tryout at night. Do stars focus down to pinpoints better in one pair than another? Your local optical shop, however, may not be thrilled with the idea of letting you play with lots of equipment overnight on a loaner basis.

Luckily there are ways to tell right in the shop how well binoculars will likely perform. These tests really work (I’ve done them for years), and if you learn them well you’ll gain a reputation as an expert on binocular optics. Ready?

Looking into the objective lenses

Inspecting the front lenses. The darker the reflections in the lenses look, the better their optical coatings. This means more light is transmitted through the glass to your eyes, and less light is scattered around adding haze to the view.
Night Sky: Craig Michael Utter

First, pick up several binoculars and look at their objective (front) lenses. Do this with a bright white light coming over your shoulder from behind. You’ll notice right away that in some objective lenses, the reflection of the light will be brighter than in others. Pick the models with the reflections that look darkest (and no doubt deeply colored); this is a sign of quality lens coatings. Good coatings increase the transmission of light through the glass and reduce the amount of scattered light hazing the view.

Now, while still looking in the big front lenses, tilt the binoculars around a bit and look for more reflections deeper inside. They should all be colored, not white. A white reflection is the sign of a glass surface that has no coating at all.

You might think you could tell the quality of the coatings from designations such as “coated,” “multicoated,” or “fully multicoated,” but in practice these terms can be next to meaningless. The proof is in the looking, so look. (Note: Don’t be taken in by models hyping “ruby-coated lenses.”  All our Barska models have fully multi-coated lenses.)

Now turn the binoculars around and repeat the procedure, looking for colored versus white reflections in the eye lenses.

Next, face well-lit wall and hold the binoculars nearly at arm’s length, with the eyepieces pointed at you. You’ll see the exit pupils (disks of light) floating just behind the eyepieces, as was illustrated above. You might think that exit pupils would always be perfectly round, but this isn’t so. The ones on cheaper binoculars often have a slightly “squared off” look, as if someone shaved off, or dimmed, two or four edges. This is a sign of manufacturer’s corner-cutting that will slightly dim all the images you see.

Pick the units with round exit pupils; this tells you that quality prisms were used and that you’re getting all the light you should. (You can also check the specification sheet: the best prisms are made from BAK-4 glass, while others use BK-7 glass.) Since they’re hidden inside, the prisms are one of the first things manufacturers skimp on when trying to lower the price. Seeing “shaded” or “squared off” exit pupils is a sign of lesser-quality or undersized prisms. (Note:  See our spec sheets – our astronomy binoculars feature BAK-4 glass and a host of other quality features for a great optical experience.)

Choosing Binocular Astronomy – Part 4

July 27th, 2009

(Thanks to Ed Ting for permission to serialize his article here. I think it’s mandatory reading for anyone who is considering telescope binoculars for astronomy viewing. Ted)

Another recent innovation is image-stabilized binoculars. These employ the same ingenious mechanisms found inside the best video cameras. Push a button and the shaky magnified view suddenly calms down, almost freezing in place. The result is that you can use higher magnifications, get away with slightly less aperture, and yet still see more than with conventional binoculars.

Image-stabilized binoculars

Image-stabilized binoculars. Push the button on top, and the view holds miraculously still. Image-stabilized units are, however, expensive and a bit bulky, and they eat batteries.
Night Sky: Craig Michael Utter

I was skeptical when these little marvels were introduced, but I was quickly won over. When I first used Canon’s compact little 10×30 image-stabilized binoculars (shown at left) from a dark-sky site, I had no trouble picking out the galaxies M81 and M82 near the Big Dipper. In fact, I actually tried to jiggle the view, but it refused to budge!

You may be thinking that more magnification is better, but in practice once you get to 10x and above, it gets harder (and more tiring) to hold binoculars steady if they’re not on a mount or equipped with image stabilization.

There’s some debate on what magnification is best. Low-power advocates recommend staying with 7x or 8x, whereas the high-power types say that the increased detail and darker sky background provided by 10x units are worth the narrower field of view and extra jiggling.

My take on this? I’m in the low-power camp. I don’t find the visual difference between 7x and 10x all that great, but I’m noticeably less fatigued when using low-power glasses. If you get the chance, give both a good try and see which you prefer.

Looking at the exit pupils

The exit pupils are the little disks of light you see floating behind the eyepieces.
Night Sky: Craig Michael Utter

A related consideration is the exit pupil, the size of the little round disk of light that you see floating in the air behind the eyepieces when you hold the binoculars out in front of you toward a bright sky or a bright indoor wall. The size of the exit pupil is an important factor that’s often overlooked. To determine it, just divide the aperture by the magnification — and luckily these are inscribed right there on the back facing you. For example, 7×50 binoculars have about a 7-mm exit pupil, while 10×50s have a 5-mm exit pupil.

Why is this important? Because the bright disk of the exit pupil should fit inside the pupil of your eye. And not everyone’s eyes open to the same diameter in the dark. Young people (under age 30 or so) have pupils that open to about 7 millimeters across. While individuals vary a lot, the rule of thumb is that after age 30 you lose 1 mm of exit pupil every 10 or 15 years. So older eyes can’t take advantage of binoculars with large exit pupils and, as a result, might see no difference between 7×35s and 7×50s. The extra light collected by the bigger 7×50s isn’t fitting into your eyes; it’s just going to waste. Score a big point for the high-power camp, at least if you’re getting on in years; the higher the power, the smaller the exit pupil.

(Note:  Our large Barska astronomy binoculars, like all of our telescope binoculars for astronomy, when used with a tripod or stabilized in another way, will give you the closest experience to a telescope you can get, with top quality optics.  Ted)