If you love to go bird-watching, you probably already have a set of binoculars designed just for this activity. However, what should you do if you suddenly find yourself needing corrective lenses and you need to learn how to use birding binoculars with glasses? If you’ve never worn glasses before, you might be in for a very unpleasant surprise the first time you go bird watching and try to use your binoculars with your glasses. Fortunately, there is a solution. Keep reading to find out more information.
It’s Called Eye Relief
Binoculars have something called eye relief, which is the distance that you can hold the binoculars from your face and still see an image clearly without it being distorted or covered in any way. The problem with using a standard set of binoculars while wearing glasses is that most of them don’t allow you to hold the binoculars that far away from your face and still see much of anything. If you have to wear glasses while looking through your binoculars, you’ll have to make some adjustments in order to see things clearly.
Potential Issues with Some Binoculars
Most standard sets of binoculars have an eye relief of about 15 mm or less. Basically, this style cannot be used while wearing glasses. It just doesn’t work. If you try, you end up with a very constricted field of vision. In other words, whatever you’re trying to look at is only going to be partially visible. You’ll be able to see the center of whatever you’re trying to focus on, but you won’t be able to see the outer edges. It will look as if someone put a cover over the outer edges of the binoculars.
Obviously, this isn’t a good thing to have happen when you’re bird watching. Fortunately, you don’t have to settle with only seeing partial images, and you certainly don’t have to give up bird watching all together. You just need to find the right set of binoculars.
The Solution for People Who Wear Glasses
What you really need is a set of binoculars that have long eye relief. That’s an important term to remember because it will make all the difference when it comes to what you can and cannot see when you look through them. You want something that has an eye relief of 16 mm at a minimum. Preferably, you should search for something with an even larger number. This will allow you to wear your glasses and comfortably look through your binoculars without sacrificing the images that you focus on.
The Benefit of Using Binoculars with Long Eye Relief
If you go bird watching with someone else who doesn’t wear glasses, it’s important to know that the two of you can share set of binoculars with long eye relief without either one of you sacrificing the enjoyment of your hobby. Binoculars that are specially designed for people who wear glasses can be adjusted for those that don’t so that the image remains clear without being constricted.
Therefore, if you wear glasses, it’s always best to choose a set of binoculars that offer long eye relief. It’s also a good idea to buy this style even if you don’t currently wear glasses. This way, if you find yourself wearing corrective lenses somewhere down the road, you won’t be forced to invest in a brand-new set of binoculars.
The most important thing for you to remember is that it’s vital to keep an interest in your hobbies. If you’ve been frustrated in the past because you tried someone’s binoculars who didn’t wear corrective lenses and you couldn’t see anything, you now know the reason why.
By the same token, this might also be why you have problems now if you’ve never worn glasses in the past and now you have to wear them all the time. The most important thing to remember is that there is almost always a way to continue enjoying your hobby. You just have to find the right equipment to do it.
In this case, binoculars with a long eye relief can get the job done. This, in turn, gives you the opportunity to continue to enjoy a hobby that you might have a real love for. There’s no reason that wearing corrective lenses should alter the things you love to do in life, especially when there is a simple solution.