Binoculars will come in handy if you do trainspotting. It may be tempting to just buy the cheapest ones from your local supermarket, but in reality, you get what you pay for. The most expensive part of binoculars are the lenses – and cheap lenses will not get you a good view. It’s also worth considering that great magnification is not really necessary for viewing trains – extra zoom also adds extra weight to the binoculars and you may end up needing a tripod in that case.
It makes most sense to get a reasonable brand with 8x magnification, since 10x can already be too much.
The best choice will depend on your budget, but here’s a review of a couple of good models:
Very affordable and yet highly praised, these binoculars offer the optimal zoom and a fairly large lens diameter (40mm). The latter means that they are well-suited for viewing in low-light conditions, such as at dusk or dawn, and also in cloudy weather. They are sturdy, have a comfortable grip and are a generally good all-round model.
If trainspotting is your thing, you might want to consider using binoculars that have a built-in camera. As trainspotting often comes with taking photos or videos, it is a lot more practical to have your camera within your binoculars so that you will not have to look for your camera to take pictures and potentially miss the right moment. Luckily you can find several of these types of binoculars nowadays.
These binoculars were made for observing and recording fast moving objects, such as a train. They have a high definition digital camera built in with an LCD screen which makes switching between functions quick and easy. The digital camera and the binoculars are perfectly blended together thanks to the HD telescope.
You can take 8 megapixel still images with the camera built into these binoculars and it holds up to 160 images. It has a 4.6-degree angular field of view. It is great for taking photos and videos of trains and it is also very affordable.