Thrifty camera/binocular recommendations

[vacationlover_mn]

Any recommendations on a cheapish camera/binoculars for an Alaskan cruise?

- I don't want to spend tons of money, since we may never use them again

- I don't need photographer quality pictures, but I want to make sure that the camera has fast enough shutter speed for us to get wildlife photos. Also want camera to have enough stability control so that photos from ship aren't blurry.

 

Thanks!

 

 

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[JT1962]

We picked up a pair of Sharper Image 7 x 50 binoculars at a local close out store for $ 10 and they worked fine for us. I just did a Google search and they are listed as low as $ 8 online. They won't win any awards for best binoculars, but are lightweight and did the job for us.

 

 

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[Sequim88]

Binocular are a "get what you pay for" sort of thing. Although our cabin on the recent Alaska cruise came with a pair of them I bought a much better pair before we left. After a bunch of research settled on the Nikon Global Compass 7X50 with fully coated optics. The quality of the glass and coatings makes a huge difference. My wish list was for Carl Ziess binoculars but at over $900 so compromised on the $249 Nikon. On board I did a side by side with the much cheaper (probably $40) Bushnell binoculars that Holland America provided and the difference was stunning. Then again moving from MN to WA state last year makes the investment much more worth it.

[new_cruiser]

TLDR: Celestron Nature DX 8x42 (about $110) or for larger field of view the Celestron Trailseeker 8x32 or 8x42 (about $190 each, the 8x32 is lighter, the 8x42 has even larger field of view)

 

I have little idea what your definition of thrifty might be, but I've just finished researching which binoculars to buy for our Alaska trip and testing my final candidates. I have an old pair of very compact binoculars that I never used much - I think that this is because they didn't deliver a great image and their field of view was small so it was hard to find things and keep them in view. So, my goal was to get something that was comfortable to use and that produced a great image while still being reasonably light.

 

I agree with Sequim88, but the good news is that the cost of quality glass and coatings to produce a very good image has been coming down so there are some good choices now at lower price.

 

My husband has Celestron Nature DX 8x42 that he bought a few years ago. He chose them because reviews saying that they deliver very good value for money. I found glowing reviews of the Celestron Trailseeker 8x42 as the best binocular under $200. Athlon Midas 8x42 was more expensive but praised highly.

 

These 8x42 binoculars were all around a pound and a half. I decided that I wanted something a bit lighter if it didn't sacrifice too much. The Celestron Trailseeker 8x32 has specs very close to the 8x42 and weighs a pound so I decided to try it too. The Athlon Midas line doesn't have a smaller binocular. I looked at some other Athlon series, but they gave up too much field of view so I didn't try them.

 

On paper, these all had pretty similar specs and features. All are waterproof/fogproof and have long eye relief (so that they can work for people wearing glasses or not). The main difference is that the Trailseeker 8x32 has ~5% less field of view than the Trailseeker 8x42 and Athlon Midas 8x42 and the Celestron Nature DX 8x42 has about 9% less field compared to the Trailseeker 8x42 and Midas 8x42.

 

So, after spending a couple of hours over the day trying the different models I found that I couldn't detect any difference between the image quality and handling of the Midas and the Trailseeker 8x42s. Both delivered a very clear image, even in fairly low light, and were easy to focus.

 

The Nature DX 8x42 was pretty close to those except that it produced a dimmer image in fairly dark conditions (not much of a concern for Alaska in the summer) and it gave up about a tenth of the field of view. Still it is a very good choice.

 

The Trailseeker 8x32 image was also great. It's slightly narrower field of view was noticeable but not that much. I could still get things in view pretty easily including a plane that happened to fly overhead. I figured the best binocular is the one you have with you and, at 16 oz. I was more likely to have it with me. This is the one I kept.

 

There is a Nature DX 8x32 but it gives up even more field of view and I was concerned about some other specs (less eye relief and smaller exit pupil) so I didn't try it. It does save a bit more weight (it's 12 oz).

[samandlibby]

For a camera we've purchased a Panasonic Luminex with 30x zoom. DMC-zs60. Got at Costco for $299--gets good reviews--we'll see. We did not want to spend more than this-there are obviously much higher quality zoom cameras with much higher price tags.

 

 

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[vacationlover_mn]

Thanks everyone!

 

 

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[zqvol]

If you don't want to invest at least $300 in a camera use your phone.