Eyeglasses, Eye Relief and Binoculars

November 26, 2009 | Posted by Best Binocular Reviews

Another common question I get asked is: If I wear eyeglasses, do I need to buy special binoculars? Unfortunately the answer is not just clear cut and I will try and explain as best I can:

It often depends on why you wear glasses. If you wear glasses to correct far or near sightedness, you may not need to wear glasses when using your binoculars, this is because the focusing mechanism will allow for adjustment, thus correcting your vision. If however you wear glasses for other reasons, like Astigmatism you will need to wear your prescription glasses when you use the binoculars, or you will sacrifice valuable image sharpness.

The other problem is even if you don’t need to wear your glasses whilst using binoculars, is what to do with them when you are looking through them. Many people remove their glasses, put them down or wear them around the neck with a safety cord. This sounds simple enough, but doing it all the time can get really annoying and then there is always the risk of forgetting where you put your glasses, loosing them or missing that once in a lifetime sighting whilst you were swapping over.

The solution: Binoculars with Long Eye Relief.

What is eye relief?
Eye relief is the optimum distance distance between the ocular lens and your eyes when using the binoculars. If you wear eyeglasses, you should pay extra attention to this measurement because your eyeglasses increase the distance between the ocular lenses and the eye.

Any pair of binoculars that has an eye relief of greater than 10mm is considered larger then standard, but in my opinion to be considered to have long eye relief you should be looking for a binocular that has more than 16mm. In most cases an eye relief of 14 to 15mm is enough for most people who wear eyeglasses to be comfortable. Ideally though you should look for binoculars that have an eye relief of 16, 17 or even 18mm.

For More Information:

• Read my article on Long Eye Relief Binoculars
• View all binoculars with Long Eye Relief (greater than 16mm)

Categories: Buyers Guides | Tags: Eye Relief, Eyeglasses, Long Eye Relief | No Comments »