Opera glasses

[duncan]

Couldn't find a preexisting thread, searching with "opera" + "glasses" directs me to wine drinking...

We have been using a pair of cheap 8x21 binoculars on theatre visits but one channel has died. As the season of rampant consumerism approaches a replacement pair would make a good gift for the significant other (and, as with all the best gifts, one I would also benefit from!).

Standard opera glasses seem to be x3 or x4 magnification which seems rather low unless one is sitting in the stalls (we're very much not) so another pair of compact binoculars is the other option. I'd be very interested if someone has used both.

We're both shortsighted to differing degrees so they would have to be compatible with specs or have the capacity to adjust to compensate for the users vision. A modern design is preferable to Victoriana; small is good but they do not have to be minuscule.

Thoughts?

[Petrushka]

It's very many years since I last went to the opera but I found a pair of 8x21 compact binoculars to be fine. I also wear specs so got some binos with rubber covering which helped prevent the annoying clatter of plastic on glass. A downside turned out to be pressing binocs to specs made the glass on specs smeary so I actually preferred watching without.

[duncan]

It's very many years since I last went to the opera but I found a pair of 8x21 compact binoculars to be fine. I also wear specs so got some binos with rubber covering which helped prevent the annoying clatter of plastic on glass. A downside turned out to be pressing binocs to specs made the glass on specs smeary so I actually preferred watching without.

Thanks. Any other suggestions?

[Cockney Sparrow]

In my younger days, long distanced from the stage in the cheapest seats in the Coliseum, I recall using those coin operated glasses and they helped a bit IIRC.

I picked up some opera glasses from a curio stall at the local market - Soviet made 25 x 24 x 65. When I remember to take them they do help.

At a somewhat different price, you'll no doubt find some guidance to specifications, generally here (if not from a search on the Internet):

https://www.swarovskioptik.com/gb/en/outdoor/products/binoculars/cl/tech-spec/cl-curio-7x21

[Ein Heldenleben]

Thanks. Any other suggestions?

If I’m in the amphitheater I use my Leica compacts. They are not cheap but they double up as birdwatching binoculars which can be carried around without weighing the neck down. Leica also make ROH branded opera glasses for £750. Hmmmm……

[jayne lee wilson]

Budget permitting of course....

I compared the Leica Ultravid 10x25 Compacts with the Swarowski 10x25 CL....it was soon clear that the Swarowskis were the easier to use (simply nicer to look through), probably because of their slightly wider eye relief....I kept the Swarowskis. I use them everyday to watch Garden Birds.

All compact binocs, especially at 10x, will be a little less easy to use than larger models (the Leica 8x42 are still the classic birders' binocs (you know as soon as you use them), but far heavier & hardly for Opera... ). But with the Leica Compacts I was always aware of peering though something very small - the attendant compromises.... but with the Swarowskis.... just a pleasure to look through.

I found some careful online comparisons which did seem to confirm this....but personal physiognomy is crucial of course.

[Cockney Sparrow]

Criticisms have been levelled at me that I'm a canary fancier opera enthusiast, which isn't fair or true but otherwise I can't claim to be much of a birdwatcher. I have been on birdwalking group walks, accompanying Mrs CS and when I'm not managing to focus on the black spot in the sky (rapidly disappearing) I'm using arcane binoculars on semi-stationery birds or those on reservoirs etc. I did buy Mrs CS some Zeiss "trad" binoculars about 20 years ago and they are our best pair....

As it happens, I complained to the optician about not being able to focus sufficiently on vocal scores - in particular the poor quality or bashed about yellow printings I have been asked to sing, often in less than ideal lighting conditions. Which resulted in choosing my new lenses for the Cataract operation - I've always been long-sighted and chose the same again. In the opera house I can see the stage pretty clearly so only use the opera glasses intermittently. Hence the cost of the Swarowski would be disproportionate for me. I'm sure the Soviet ones are pretty basic but they let me see the expression on the singer's face and any other detail I'm interested in.

[duncan]

Budget permitting of course....

A crucial omission on my part. Let's just say if I could afford Leica or Swarowsky prices I'd be buying seats close enough not to need opera glasses!

[Keraulophone]

.
I also used to use a pair of cheap 8x21 binoculars at the opera, until I found myself at the back of the balcony at the Met, from where the sound was magnificent but the view distant. So I went to a local store in NYC and bought a reasonably priced pair of Bushnell Dual Power Compact Porro Spectator 5x-10x binoculars. They're slightly bulky and heavy at 544g but they effectively solved the distance problem. (Can't find them on Amaz*n UK and 'currently unavailable' on their US site, so maybe only marketed in the US?)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0034SOMEU/

[Bryn]

I hope nobody is thinking in terms of these:

[pastoralguy]

I keep a pair of small Zeiss binoculars that were a gift from a friend in the driver door pocket of our little motor car. They are very good for examining the Forth Bridge and looking at the players in the RSNO. They came in very handy when we saw Miah Persson in Le Nozze da Figaro in The Edinburgh Festival five years ago…

[Old Grumpy]

Criticisms have been levelled at me that I'm a canary fancier opera enthusiast, which isn't fair or true but otherwise I can't claim to be much of a birdwatcher. I have been on birdwalking group walks, accompanying Mrs CS and when I'm not managing to focus on the black spot in the sky (rapidly disappearing) I'm using arcane binoculars on semi-stationery birds or those on reservoirs etc. I did buy Mrs CS some Zeiss "trad" binoculars about 20 years ago and they are our best pair....

As it happens, I complained to the optician about not being able to focus sufficiently on vocal scores - in particular the poor quality or bashed about yellow printings I have been asked to sing, often in less than ideal lighting conditions. Which resulted in choosing my new lenses for the Cataract operation - I've always been long-sighted and chose the same again. In the opera house I can see the stage pretty clearly so only use the opera glasses intermittently. Hence the cost of the Swarowski would be disproportionate for me. I'm sure the Soviet ones are pretty basic but they let me see the expression on the singer's face and any other detail I'm interested in.

Wot, not a birder. Surprised your not wotchin all those other sparrers darn in the smoke.

I share your problem with spectacles and binoculars, I have to take specs off to use them. I had the same problem in my working life when using a binocular microscope.

[David-G]

I have been away for a while. Good to be back. Am catching up on various threads.

I can give you a definitive answer. (Am afraid this may be too late though if you were getting a pair for Christmas.)

I go to the opera a lot. For years I have been telling myself that I needed a better pair of binoculars. I had a 40-year-old Nikon 8x20; they were excellent initially, but latterly have become very dim, and something inside has fallen across the view of the right eye.

So - I saw, and fell in love with, the Swarovski CL 8x25. It's virtues are:
* fairly compact, easy to wear, easy to use
* beautifully ergonomic to hold in the hands
* very sensitive controls
* stunning optical quality
* the perfect magnification for the opera house or theatre
* easy to hold absolutely still
* easy to get precise focus

When I first used these, at Glyndebourne this summer, sitting up in the Upper Circle, I trained them on the orchestra in the pit. The field of view extended to the cluster of front desks around the conductor. And it felt as though I was there in the pit! The optical clarity and the stability are simply amazing.

Typically, the field of view will encompass a couple singing to each other at a reasonably close distance apart. My friend has binoculars of 10x magnification - the field of view of these is I feel rather too small. 8x magnification is perfect.

For me, the optical quality is illustrated by my needing to subtly refocus when my view switches between the front and the back of the stage. (Easy to do.)

These binoculars have transformed my opera-going experience. I recommend them without question. Worth every penny of the quite-high price.

The standard colour is a birdwatching green. But you can order black which for the opera is perhaps more appropriate.

[Sir Velo]

(Am afraid this may be too late though if you were getting a pair for Christmas.)

.

13 months too late in fact!

[David-G]

Indeed... Well, the recommendation may be useful to somebody else.