When the brand new NL 10x and 14×52 mm binoculars had been introduced by Swarovski, though I discover this sequence a bit outsized for my tastes, I used to be nonetheless curious concerning the 10s. I imply, which birder makes use of 14s? Have you learnt anybody utilizing such a excessive magnification? Precisely, neither do I.
But, my regional gross sales rep didn’t have any 10×52 in the meanwhile and satisfied me to strive the 14s, saying they had been made with birders in thoughts. Yeah, proper, I used to be pondering, it’s only a gross sales pitch. I lived to vary my thoughts.
Round 6 am the subsequent morning, I used to be nearing my native patch of Beljarica Floodplain to check the 14s at my ordinary stomping grounds the place I’m used to native species and panorama, at their ordinary distances from the observer, so I might instantly spot a unique expertise. After a fortnight heatwave, the temperature was mercifully within the low 20s. But, as I used to be quickly to find, after the current heavy showers, the mosquitoes had been rife. And hungry, too.
My first fowl was a Black Stork, fairly shut by. And that was the second of fact: for the primary time, I reached for the NL 14x52s. It has been about twenty years since I used 50 mm lenses—I really like smallish binoculars and usually use NL 10x32s. Though heavier than my customary bins, about 1 kg (1020 g/36.0 oz)—they didn’t strike me as hefty. They felt good. They felt proper. Expectedly, the views had been vivid and crisp, targeted edge to edge. The stork flew into the willow grove in entrance of me. I might hear the loud, rasping name of a Widespread Pheasant.
Their ergonomic wasp-waist actually does make them comfy to deal with. While you maintain them by the waist, you may elevate all 4 fingers and depart them solely in your thumbs – effectively balanced, they continue to be horizontal, not falling ahead or backward. 14x52s are unexpectedly comfy to make use of for ordinary brief observations, 10 to twenty seconds, but I had a Wryneck preening itself proper in entrance of me, and I wished to watch its flying silhouette, so I waited for minutes for the fowl to take flight. And that’s the place the distinction in weight grew to become pronounced. Used to about 0.6 kg (640 g/22.8 oz), after a number of minutes with 1 kg in my arms frozen of their place, I began to really feel drained, sufficient to place them down for just a few moments, and after I put them up once more, my woodpecker was gone.
Climbing the levee, I can see the flooded expanse on my left, and the grassland on my right-hand facet, the place younger Brown Hares are chasing one another. Little Egrets and Black-headed Gulls are flying above the flooded poplars. Used to 10s, I used to be afraid that 14s would really feel odd, even surprising to see the birds so confusingly giant. To my utter shock, the bins felt so pure as if I had been utilizing them for a very long time and never only for the final quarter-hour! The sphere of view felt solely barely narrower, and the birds had been seen so effectively and wealthy in particulars! Black-crowned Night time Herons, Nice White Egrets, all of them had been flying forwards and backwards, whereas Pygmy Cormorants had been going upriver, from their night time roost to unfold over the a lot wider feeding grounds. I might hear a metallic, insect-like music of a Savi’s Warbler.
A hunter-friend of mine commented that 14s can be utilized solely with a tripod. Although, birding from a automobile, I generally relaxation my elbow on an open window, but, very often I don’t. From my expertise, NL 14x52s don’t want further assist. But if that’s what you want for, there’s a fast launch, agency and simple tripod adapter for NLs.
Watching distant birds with 14s is definitely rewarding, however are you able to observe flying birds? Particularly close-by flying birds? The reply is each sure and no. When coping with birds with extra directional flight, like woodpeckers, you may simply observe them, however having a close-by flock of swallows chasing bugs in madly erratic flight, the reply is usually (however not definitively) no.
A birding buddy requested me whether or not 14x has manner an excessive amount of magnification for birding functions? I might have thought so too if I hadn’t tried them. 14s will not be an excessive amount of in any respect, you see way more element, a lot so that you just normally don’t want a telescope! Usually, I carry a scope with me, however with 14s I intentionally left the scope behind, desirous to see if this magnification can change the scope at shorter to reasonable distances. And the reply is usually (however not definitively) sure.
One other query was: isn’t it unimaginable in your picture to not shake, to not have tremors with 14x, irrespective of how regular your hand is??! Average weight and good steadiness make it attainable. “You might be fully defeating the aim of a scope!” Ought to I drag over 2 kg of optics, or only one kg? I vote for 1 kg.
I ought to add, I did use it with a brow relaxation, a cushty third level of assist, significantly helpful with bigger magnifications resembling 12s and 14s, however a buddy of mine fortunately makes use of the brow relaxation on his 8s and has solely superlatives for it.
With NLs, select your mannequin after the dominant habitat sort you normally fowl. With 14s, avoid forests or woodland-savannas, for which the FOV will not be large, nor deep sufficient, and it turns into arduous to find the fowl earlier than it flies off, or to focus it in time. NL Pure 14×52s come as a robust, specialised beast, nice for bigger however distant waterbirds and raptors, but in addition small, but nearer larks and pipits, and for open habitats resembling grasslands, open savannas, deserts, lakes and marshes, cliffs, scree and mountain-tops above the tree-line, and shore-to-sea watching.
Lastly, one insider data: many Swarovski customers had been complaining concerning the high quality of their rubber-armouring. Apparently, the difficulty is solved and sooner or later it mustn’t occur.
