Viewing Special
There's more ways to spot them than just with a pair of polaroid sunnies...
TREE CLIMBING ADVICE FOR BUDDING HEARN/SHARP'S
1 Don't climb in inclement weather. When a tree is slippery, the chance of falling is greatly increased, as are when there's dew or there's been a frost.
2 Climbing: both feet and both hands, taken together, provide you with four points of support. At any given time while climbing, at least three of these points should be securely supporting your weight.
3 When using a branch for support, use the part of the branch nearest the trunk where it is the strongest. Don't use branches which slant down from the trunk, only use those which slant up or are perpendicular to the ground.
4 Don't wear baggy clothing or articles which can catch in branches.
5 Wear footwear that provides good traction.
BEGINNERS GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING BINOCULARS
Magnification
As a general rule, the higher the magnification, the narrower the field of view, the larger the image appears, and the duller the image becomes in low light. High magnification binoculars vie a reduced depth of field and the higher the magnification, the more natural handshake affects the image. For normal hand-held use, magnification of 8x or 10x is recommended.
What the numbers mean
Say for example you have an 8 x 40 binocular, the first figure refers to the magnifying power, so this binocular magnifies by 8x, making objects seem eight times nearer to you than they actually are. The second figure refers to the width of the objective lens measured in mm. The wider the lens, the more light is admitted to the binocular, so this 8 x 40 model will admit twice as much light as an 8 x 20 model.
Focus
On auto-focus binoculars, the focus is pre-set at infinity, so no adjustment is necessary for different distances. Most auto-focus binoculars will be in focus from about 20m to infinity. Manual focus binoculars are needed for observation at shorter distances and the minimum focus distance varies with different models.
Recommended models
Under £25 Barska 10x25
Under £50 Opticron Vega 8x25
Under £100 Pentax Papilio 8.5x21
£100+ Bushnell Excursion 8x32
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