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Taking advantage of edge of field of view aberration cancelling out my eyes aberration from binoculars sharper vision?

Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2020 4:16 am
by realflow100
my binoculars cometron 7x50mm have slight aberration at the edges of the field of view and my eyes also have some form of astigmatism (vertically i think)
if I aim my binoculars up and look near the bottom edge of the field of view instead of in the center. I can actually see pin-point sharp stars that way. whereas in the dead center they look like tiny very short shakey vertical lines

so the aberrations of my eyes and the binoculars cancel each other out when using them that way.
taking advantage of this fact I was able to see jupiters moons at only 7x magnification reasonably well! whereas before they were completely invisible entirely just looking normally in the middle of the field of view

I can see stars about a magnitude fainter than I normally can if I use it this way.
is this a reasonable way to get around my eyes astigmatism without using glasses or contacts?

I can see "reasonably" clear enough in normal day to day tasks. up close and far away. im not near sighted or farsighted. can read text up close thats like a millimeter or two tall and things far away look about the same clarity as up close

I see a similar issue with stars in my telescopes middle cause of my eyes. but the aberrations dont cancel out like they do with my binoculars so looking at the bottom edge of the view doesnt make stars sharper.

I thought this was interesting!

Re: Taking advantage of edge of field of view aberration cancelling out my eyes aberration from binoculars sharper visio

Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2020 8:09 am
by notFritzArgelander
It is interesting! Too often we make discussions "all about the gear" and neglect the profound differences individual physiology have on how things work, or not. I think a lot of the religious wars over equipment are because folks don't appreciate that the eye is part of the system as well!

Re: Taking advantage of edge of field of view aberration cancelling out my eyes aberration from binoculars sharper visio

Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2020 8:55 pm
by realflow100
wow thats fascinating.
my binoculars also work great in the day or night.
I found if I put a convex lens in front of them (camera lens up close filter adapter) I can focus super close with them almost like a microscope lol