It would be interesting to see the results of the same tests using a Finnstick to steady the binoculars.
> —–Original Message—– > From: birding-aus-bounces@lists.vicnet.net.au > [mailto:birding-aus-bounces@lists.vicnet.net.au] On Behalf Of > Trevor Ford > Sent: Monday, 14 March 2011 1:05 PM > To: Birding Aus > Subject: [Birding-Aus] Stability of binoculars and > binocular-user: “The Venezuela Test” > > G’day, > > There is one important aspect to consider, often overlooked, when > selecting a pair of binoculars. See below some very > interesting comments > from my good friend, Ron Johns, about his observations when > working in > London, UK. > > “Some years ago whilst I was helping In Focus at their optics / > book store in Piccadilly, I developed a quick and easy test to help > people buying binoculars to demonstrate that x10 binoculars would > not necessarily make it easier for them to see fine detail on birds. > The Venezuela Test, as it became known, was to read the > names of the > authors shown in small typeface on the spine of the /Guide to > the Birds > of Venezuela/ – the unusual names (De Schauensee and Phelps) > would have > been unknown to most people, which meant that they couldn’t > easily guess. > > Even using top-rated binoculars at c20 yards in ideal > conditions (i.e. > very well lit and with no wind shake to contend with) more > than 50% of > the people couldn’t read the details on the spine of the book > with x10, > but more often than not could with x8. I attributed this to the > inability of the majority of people to successfully hand-hold x10 > binoculars. Some people couldn’t read the detail with any > binocular! > It was also interesting that when using a newly introduced 10×50 > binocular from a leading German manufacturer none of the > people tested > could read the names, although many could with a cheap pair > of Russian > 6x30s! By this time I had rather lost faith in claims by avid > sea-watchers to be able to see minute detail on distant > seabirds in poor > light and strong wind.” > > Cheers – Trevor Ford. > =============================== > > To unsubscribe from this mailing list, > send the message: > unsubscribe > (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) > to: birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au > > http://birding-aus.org > =============================== > ===============================
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