OpticsBlog – Thoughts and reviews of binoculars, telescopes, scopes, sights, and much more - birdwatching, astronomy, target shooting - pretty much anything related to optics, nature, and life!

I bought a new camera. Okay, well, I bought a camera, but it is anything but new and that is not a bad thing, in this case. It's an old Sears TLS 35mm SLR with a f1.4 lens, circa 1970 or so. It was made for Sears by Ricoh. Bought it from my fellow product specialist, Bob, who also has an appreciation for these old mechanical cameras. Now why would anyone buy an old 35mm film SLR camera with absolutely no automation in this day and age of electronic and digital everything? The thing weighs a ton.

I bought this old manual Ricoh SLR with its old screw mount lens for what it does NOT have, instead of what it does have. It has no computer or automatic programs - in fact, it has no electronics of any kind except for the simple light meter. It has no plastic. It has no autofocus. No auto rewind. No auto film speed reading. No auto anthything. In other words, I get to do everything, myself, and that's exactly what I wanted. That's part of the fun. Don't get me wrong. I have nothing aginst digital SLR cameras or electronic cameras and, no, I don't buy into the notion that all mechanical means more reliable, blah, blah, blah. I've had enough experience with both old mechanical film SLRs and all modern digital SLRs and everything in between to know better. Today's digital SLR cameras are about as reliable as it gets.

What I wanted is a camera that could take me back to another day and time when I could take a great shot and know that it was me, not the camera or software in the camera that worked all the magic, made all the adjustments, correctly estimated depth of field, correctly focused, did it all. I want to do the thinking and the work. That's what makes photography fun for me. I want to slow down, challenge myself, again, and go back to my earliest days when I carried an old Pentax SP with a broken, non-functional light meter. I want to relive that moment when my borther-in-law handed me that old SLR Pentax camera and said, "Here, this old Pentax will teach you all the basics of photography if you take the time to understand what it is doing. If you can take more good pics with than bad with a roll of film, you will be a photographer." Wow! I'm going to the store to buy film, again. Who says you can't go home?

As a constellation with objects for my astronomy binocular or telescope, Bootes is not that exciting, though it contains some nice double stars. As a constellation with some personal significance for me, Bootes is a different story. To me Bootes, when placed at a comortable positon for viewing in the sky, has always been the herald of spring. It's usally April, around here, when I can also sit on my patio and enjoy this constellation. May not have much going for it from an astronomy binocular or telescope point of view, but I enjoy tracing the outline of Bootes, the herdsman, starting of course, with the star of the show, Arcturus, then working my way around the perimeter with Muphrid to the side, then on up to Seginus, Nekkar, on around to Alkaurops, then down to Pulcherrima (Izar). Alkaurops is a nice bincular double star and Izar is a nice double in a telescope. Not that far away, though, there is a fine globular, M3, just over the border in Canes Venatici. Most spring nights, though, it is such a joy to sit under the stars and breathe that sweet air. Sometimes its as much being there as what you do when you get there.

A thin crescent moon and Venus made a stunning close pair as I pedaled to work this morning (April 22). Seeing these close conjunctions of the moon with a planet or bright star always gives me a sense of other worldliness or perhaps Earth from a distant time. It's the kind of spectacle that takes us out of our day to day routine and reminds us that we are indeed the third rock from the sun. A close pass (conjunction) of celestial objects is also one of those events that can be enjoyed without the aid of an astronomy binocular or telescope, though I can often squeeze both objects into the field of view of a telescope if they are close enough. This morning, though, I just pedaled due east, into their glow and enjoyed myself, thoroughly. Nothing like arriving at work with a smile on my face.

If you have any interest in birds, at all, you should visit the Cornell Lab website. We birders have known about it for some time, as the Cornell Lab is very active in the birding community and that's why we support it. I especially like Cornell's Cornell's Celebrate Urban Birds, a cause very close to my heart. My most frequent visit to Cornell Lab, though, is to browse and use their excellent on-line birding guide, All About Birds. No, it won't replace one on my precious birding field guides, but it offers such a wealth of information, I just can't pass it up. Should be on every birder's Favorite or Bookmark list. Also highly recommended is Project Feederwatch. Both Steve Ledin and I feed birds, but no one is more faithful than sending in results for Project Feederwatch than Steve. Atta boy, Steve!

This is new moon week, but so far, the weather does not look promising for any astronomy. In fact, we are supposed to have some snow mixed in with rain for the next few days, though temperatures are supposed to rebound into the 70s at the end of the week. Makes the concept of a grab and go telescope all the more viable, as far as I am concerned, when you live in a place where the weather can change so drastically. It's one of the reasons I so dearly love my astronomy binoculars. A good binocular is the best grab and go telescope there is, but a small high grade refractor, such as the Televue 76 is next on my list. Sure, a larger telescope offer more performance than either a binocular or small refractor, but around here, by the time you set up a larger scope and let it cool down, the clouds have often rolled in to shut you down for the night. That's why so many amateurs in our area keep an astronomy binocular or small telescope at the ready and line up the big telescope behind when conditions allow.

With Jupiter climbing ever higher in the sky as I pedal to work in the early morning darkness, I am getting more and more tempted to stop and take a look with my compact binocular, though, of course, a telescope is the preferred way to view this planet. Jupiter, though, is still too low in the sky to be at its best, but later this summer, it should be well above the horizon and perfectly placed for better viewing with a telescope. With Saturn currently hiding its rings, Jupiter will be the best show in town for a planet in a telescope this year. Even the smallest telescope will reveal some cloud belts, so get that telescope dusted off and be ready this summer. Saturn gets all the ooohs and aaahs for its rings, but in terms of surface detail, Jupiter is still the king of planets for a telescope.

One of my favorite types of birding is hawk watching. Raptors have always been close to my heart and soul and occupy a special place in my spirituality. On a more technical note, hawk watching can be quite varied as to technique and equipment. Out west, driving the great wide open spaces, we often used a spotting scope to scan distant utility poles or bluffs for perched birds. This was mobile birding, to put it mildly, and a good birding spotting scope was essential due to the vast distances involved. More traditional hawk watching is done at hawk watching sites where large numbers of hawks migrate past during spring and fall. This type of birding is stand and watch, binocular in hand. Really no use for a spotting scope, here, as you are trying to identify flying hawks, rather than sitting hawks. In terms of number of hawks, this type of hawk watching can be quite amazing if you are in the right spot. It's also a lot of fun, socially, as you get to watch with other birders and share stories when the action is slow.

I feel bad for customers who purchase spotting scopes for target shooting and then discover the hard way that the spotting scope they have just purchased is not up to the task. That's one reason I wrote my article, Spotting Scopes for Target Shooting. Distance is everything for this kind of work and the most common stumbling point seems to me that legendary 1000 yard mark. Hey, everyone wants to become a 1000 yard shooter and, naturally, no one wants to walk 1000 yards every time they shoot to see how they scored on a target. A spotting scope, though, is not the answer for scoring at this distance. So what are all those spotting scopes doing at those 1000 yard shooting matches? Those spotting scopes are used for judging air currents and mirage and, indeed, it takes a quality spotting scope to be effective for this work. The darlings in the spotting scope world for target shooting have long been the Kowa spotting scopes, but even the finest Kowa cannot score targets at that distance. At those distances, remote cameras or spotters in pits are used to relay scores.

The newest trend in the spotting scope world, at least at the top of the spotting scope world, is the new wrinkle in premium spotting scope eyepieces. In the past, you had a choice between a great zoom eyepiece, if you wanted versatility, or a great wide-angle eyepiece if you wanted a large field of view. Getting both in one spotting scope eyepiece was an optical fantasy. No, more, though, at least from a techical point of view. Leica's new spotting scope, the Leica Ultravid HD spotting scope, will come equipped with a wide-angle zoom eyepiece in the 25-50x zoom range. Not to bhe outdone, Swarovski now offers a Swarovski Ocular 25-50x WW for their current ATS and STS series of Swarovski spotting scopes. Of course, these new spotting scope eyepieces will remain a fantasy in terms of price for many of us, but it is nice to know they are out there.

Have a hectic weekend shaping up, ahead of me, what with a blind date, a music get-together, a music rehearsal, some heavy duty shopping and more, but somehow my thoughts keep returning to the marsh and having a quiet day with the spotting scope and migrating birds. Sure, I could invite a certain someone to go with me, but asking a blind date if he would like to sit in marsh muck and smell marsh ooze all day is probably doomed to fail or, even worse, give him the wrong idea. In fact, at this point, I have no idea if he even knows what a spotting scope is or if he knows anything about birding. What's a girl to do? I should send this one in to Dear Abby.

Joanie's birding tip of the week. If you will be birding with a buddy or with a group, try to carry different field guides. You'll be surprised how helpful this can be when confronted with a questionable ID in the birding binocular or birding spotting scope. Sometimes one field guide will provide the best perspective to solve an ID problem, but sometimes it will be the other. Having a third bird guide to cross check is even better. No one field guide, in other words, is best for every bird and every birding situation. That's why I own more than one field guide and often choose a particular guide based on the bird group or groups I expect to encounter. As a bird watcher group leader, I try to make sure that we don't all have the same bird guide.

We start our annual product training classes this week, here at OpticsPlanet. Product classes cover most major product categories and are designed to help our employees with the basic technical questions they and our customers have on our products. We don't expect to turn anyone into experts, but we do feel that everyone benefits from coverage of the basics. As one of the designers, I am quite proud of this program and, especially, the breadth of topics covered. Training is one of my favorite job duties; I suspect that is the ex-science teacher in me. I teach classes on binoculars, spotting scopes, telescopes, microscopes and may add a couple more classes this year on tripods and cameras. Of course, we also have classes on riflescopes, mounts, night vision, radar guns and more. Okay, students, school is in session.

I sometimes find it hard to believe that I am nearing the age of retirement, but the clock just keeps ticking, so I have been thinking of where to retire. For sure, though, I will not retire in the Chicago area, even though I am grateful for all the area has given me. My dream is to head north and/or west to a smaller place, in terms of crowds, but a larger place, in terms of outdoor potential. My list of "must haves" for a place to live out my remaining years includes, not surprisingly, a place with great birding, all the better to use my birding binoculars and spotting scopes. It must also be a place with very dark skies, all the better to use my astronomy binocular and telescope. It must also be a pace with clear running trout streams, for a river truly runs through my heart, as it does for all who fly fish. Such a place must also have winters that provide consistent snow for my cross-country skiing and summers filled with lakes and streams for kayaking and canoeing. Okay, since this is my dream, it would be great to have a place with other blues musicians, so I could rock on the weekends. Last and actually most important of all, such a place must offer enough trails to challenge me an my mountain bikes and my road bikes. Okay, maybe I should try to find a whole state to retire, not a town, but for sure, this is one gal who will life to its most, right to the end.