When the brand new NL 10x and 14×52 mm binoculars have been introduced by Swarovski, regardless that I discover this collection a bit outsized for my tastes, I used to be nonetheless curious in regards to 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 for the time being and satisfied me to attempt the 14s, saying they have 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 following morning, I used to be nearing my native patch of Beljarica Floodplain to check the 14s at my standard stomping grounds the place I’m used to native species and panorama, at their standard distances from the observer, so I might instantly spot a special expertise. After a fortnight heatwave, the temperature was mercifully within the low 20s. But, as I used to be quickly to find, after the latest heavy showers, the mosquitoes have been rife. And hungry, too.
My first chook was a Black Stork, fairly shut by. And that was the second of reality: for the primary time, I reached for the NL 14x52s. It has been about 20 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 have been shiny 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 Frequent Pheasant.
Their ergonomic wasp-waist actually does make them snug to deal with. If you maintain them by the waist, you’ll be able to raise all 4 fingers and go away them solely in your thumbs – properly balanced, they continue to be horizontal, not falling ahead or backward. 14x52s are unexpectedly snug to make use of for standard brief observations, 10 to twenty seconds, but I had a Wryneck preening itself proper in entrance of me, and I needed to look at its flying silhouette, so I waited for minutes for the chook 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 a couple of moments, and once 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 aspect, 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 massive. To my utter shock, the bins felt so pure as if I have been utilizing them for a very long time and never only for the final quarter-hour! The sector of view felt solely barely narrower, and the birds have been seen so properly and wealthy in particulars! Black-crowned Evening Herons, Nice White Egrets, all of them have been flying backwards and forwards, whereas Pygmy Cormorants have been going upriver, from their evening roost to unfold over the a lot wider feeding grounds. I might hear a metallic, insect-like tune 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 additional assist. But if that’s what you would like for, there’s a fast launch, agency and straightforward tripod adapter for NLs.
Watching distant birds with 14s is definitely rewarding, however are you able to comply with 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’ll be able to simply comply with them, however having a close-by flock of swallows chasing bugs in madly erratic flight, the reply is generally (however not definitively) no.
A birding pal requested me whether or not 14x has manner an excessive amount of magnification for birding functions? I’d have thought so too if I hadn’t tried them. 14s should not an excessive amount of in any respect, you see way more element, a lot so that you simply often 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 average distances. And the reply is generally (however not definitively) sure.
One other query was: isn’t it unattainable on your picture to not shake, to not have tremors with 14x, irrespective of how regular your hand is??! Reasonable weight and good stability make it doable. “You might be fully defeating the aim of a scope!” Ought to I drag over 2 kg of optics, or just one kg? I vote for 1 kg.
I ought to add, I did use it with a brow relaxation, a snug third level of assist, notably helpful with bigger magnifications reminiscent of 12s and 14s, however a pal 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 kind you often chook. With 14s, stay away from forests or woodland-savannas, for which the FOV shouldn’t be large, nor deep sufficient, and it turns into laborious to find the chook earlier than it flies off, or to focus it in time. NL Pure 14×52s come as a powerful, specialised beast, nice for bigger however distant waterbirds and raptors, but in addition small, but nearer larks and pipits, and for open habitats reminiscent of grasslands, open savannas, deserts, lakes and marshes, cliffs, scree and mountain-tops above the tree-line, and shore-to-sea watching.
Lastly, one insider information: many Swarovski customers have been complaining in regards to the high quality of their rubber-armouring. Apparently, the difficulty is solved and sooner or later it shouldn’t occur.