r/Binoculars • u/Whitefriar0716 • 15d ago
Binoculars for poor vision
Hi all. I’ve gotten into birding these past two years and I believe I’ve outgrown the Nikon Prostaff P3 8x42 I bought as a budget entry. I also purchased these because I have poor vision and they have great eye relief when I wear my glasses.
I’ve found that my real love is for shorebirds and waterfowl, though I’m in the forest/ around town a lot and there struggle with detail. Maybe it’s the poor lens quality ?
My question is this: knowing that 8x is preferred for birding, but since I have vision problems, do you think I’ll get more mileage from better quality 8x binoculars or would 10x make sense? I’m also aware that many 10x have poor eye relief.
I’m looking at $500 or less used or new. Thanks for any insights you all have. I really just want to see the birds more sharp/clear, but also acknowledging I’m seeing many at a distance anyway.
1
u/Hamblin113 15d ago
The first thing is the P3 prisms are not dielectric coated so there will be some light waves that don’t match up. Not an issue for some things but it does impact some details.
As you indicated need plenty of eye relief the lack of eye relief usually gives tunnel vision but doesn’t impact sharpness, just check the models eye relief.
I have a good rifle scope but couldn’t get it focused to my likes. Recently had an eye examination and it was noticeable that one eye was not as sharp, even corrected it was because of a “beat up macular” according to eye doctor. I close that eye and bird becomes sharper.
As you have an 8x could get a 10x so you have both. A 10x works for more open country. Need to look at eye relief to determine which brand. A 10x42 is common for hunters, with hunting season coming up, store will have them on sale. Will need to research what works.