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Jeronimo Cruz
sage
Reged: 09/01/08
Posts: 234
Loc: Tucson, AZ
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Hi all,
Last night I was enjoying the night sky through binoculars. I was using my Pentax. It has a nice focus lock. It made me wonder...
...Why don't binoculars have a similar interpupilary distance lock? It would be great for my 50mm porros that I like to keep in a backpack. Whenever I reach for them, I always have to adjust the IPD. It would be nice to have a lock of some sort.
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Jeronimo
TeleVue 101 + Gibralter
Celestron NS11 GPS/wedge + Hyperstar
Photon Instruments 127mm + SV F50W2
Lunt Solar Systems LS60DS Ha + Celestron CG-5
Naglers, Panoptics, Pentax, Nikon binoviewer
Fujinon 10x70 FMT-SX, 7x42 CD; Canon 15x50IS;
Pentax 7x50 PCF WP, 10x50 PCF WPII, 10x50 DCF SP
Work
20" R/C RCOS on Paramount + Tak FSQ
16" R/C RCOS on Paramount + TEC 140
16" Meade LX200 SCT + TV 76
Ethos, Naglers, Panoptics
Coronado Solarmax 90mm Ha
Coronado Solarmax 70mm Ca
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EdZ
Professor EdZ
Reged: 02/15/02
Posts: 15347
Loc: Cumberland, R I , USA42N71.4W
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IMO, it would add unnecessary cost. In 10 yeras, out of over 70 binoculars I've used, I can remember ONE, maybe two, that would not hold the IPD setting.
edz
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Teach a kid something today. The feeling you'll get is one of life's greatest rewards.
member#21
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Erik D
Post Laureate
Reged: 04/28/03
Posts: 3738
Loc: Central New Jersey, USA
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I am with Ed.
I usually have about a dozen binoculars out of the case around the house. 1/2 dozen by my 2nd floor bay window where I do lots of bird watching & winter star gaziing. A pair by the large window of the exercise room. A pair or two by the kitchen window. They are all set for my exact IPD of ~65 mm. Also store my less used 6x30, 7X50, 10X40(roof), 12X60, 20X80 and 25X100 in the case set for my IPD. Sometimes a pair could sit around for over a year. When I take them out of the case the IPD remains the same. Sometimes I leave my binos in the car for weeks during the summer. Don't recall them losing IPD setting either.
My current stable of 2 dozen+ binoculars include roof prisms, porro prisms, compact reverse porros. Single hinged roof prism subcompacts. Don't have a problem with drifting IPD settings with any of them. Sometime I do Very minor adjustment to get the IPD and eye relief just right. But that takes only a second or two. I spend more time fine tuning the focus than that.
The only IPD issue I have is with of the double-hinged subcompacts roof prisms. They usually require more care to set the IPD exactly to my liking. Then I have to fold them to store. The next time I take them out I have to start over. That's the main reason I go out of my way to search for single hinged subcompact binoculars for air travel.
ERik D
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Mark9473
Post Laureate
Reged: 07/21/05
Posts: 3436
Loc: 51°N 4°E
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I am with Jeronimo on this one, and have wondered exactly the same. Any hinge not so stiff as to be difficult to operate, would benefit from a lock.
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Mark
Leica 8x20; Nikon 7x35; Vixen 8x42; Swift 8.5x44, 10x50 and 20x80; TS 7x50; Orion 15x63; Docter 15x60
WO Megrez II 80 FD
APM 107mm f/6.5 on GR3-DX
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pcad
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/17/05
Posts: 1879
Loc: Connecticut
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Vintage binoculars will sometimes have IPD locks or thumbwheels. Perhaps they weren't designed to have sufficient friction to hold the IPD adjustment and relied on tightening a thumbwheel to maintain an IPD setting.
Can't think of a modern binocular with one at the moment. A couple of mine could use one though. 
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Peter
Telescopes 25 - 318 mm
Binoculars 15 - 88 mm
Microscope 50x - 1000x
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DJB
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 02/23/05
Posts: 1677
Loc: Lisle NY
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Hi all,
An IPD lock would certainly add to the cost. However, I feel that most mfgs. don't offer this as, again, probably most binoculars would be used by more than one individual. This could create a confussion issue, to say the least.
I think that this is not a design implementation for most modern bincoulars. Nice idea though. Just my take on it.
Best regards,
Dave.
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BillC
on a new path
Reged: 06/04/04
Posts: 2454
Loc: Washington, USA
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IPD locks . . .
They do; It's called hingepin grease.
In some binos like my 8x32 SEs its pleanty tight.
Cheers,
Bill
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William J. Cook, Chief Opticalman, USNR-Ret.
Optical Mechanic, WG-11, Navy, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard
Founding Editor, Amateur Telescope Making Journal
20-year vet. of Captain's Nautical Supplies, Optics Dept. Mgr.
Optics Mechanic, WG11-3306, Ft. Lewis, Tacoma, WA
Contributing Editor (Instrumentation), Dockside Magazine
Yata, Yata, Yata . . .
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ronharper
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 02/14/06
Posts: 1347
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It's not unheard of, like feature #3 on this Loop-holed:
http://www.ambientsw.com/gs46481.html
Ron
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RichD
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 11/08/07
Posts: 759
Loc: Derbyshire, UK
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unnecessary on any bino worthy of the name
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Clear skies
Rich
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Erik D
Post Laureate
Reged: 04/28/03
Posts: 3738
Loc: Central New Jersey, USA
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The Leupold Gold Ring series is their premium line. Supposed to be a cut above the Green Ring Olympic roof( 12X50) I own. I noticed they said this in the product description:
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"Interpupillary Distance Lock (IPD) — lock in the distance between your eyes, so no adjustments are necessary during use. You can easily use your binoculars one-handed."
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I do use my my 8X32 and 10X42 roof prisms one-handed from time to time. Never felt I needed an IPD lock. In fact, I expect my 20X80s and 25X100s to maintain correct IPD without a lock. The Leupold Gold rings are heavy a pair of 8X42s weigh over 33 oz. My 12X50 Olympic weighs 25.7 oz. I wonder how much HD glass and IPD lock contributes to the additional weight.
I travel with my Leupold Olympic 12X50s quite a bit. I have them in a sling pack or shoulder bag all day when I am touring overseas. Take them out when I want to observe distant vista every now and then. They may go in and out of the pack up to a dozen times a day and still maintain IPD.
ERik D
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94bamf
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 12/15/08
Posts: 985
Loc: Kansas City,Mo
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I like both focus locks and IPD locks, I haven't yet found a binoculars that offers both.
One decent binocular that I own that does feature a IPD lock is the Zen Ray Summit 10x42..
Ken
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Telescopes:
Celestron C6 SCT
Celestron 8 inch Starhopper Dob
Celestron Oynx 80ED
Binoculars:
Bushnell Legend Ultra HD 8x42
Zen Ray Summit 10x42
Celestron 10x42 Noble
Celestron 10x42 Regal
Celestron 10x50 Noble
Pentax 12x50 PCF WP II
Celestron 15x70 Skymaster
Zhumell 20x80
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Simon S
professor emeritus
Reged: 01/07/07
Posts: 590
Loc: Crawley West Sussex UK
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Some of the early service binoculars have an ipd indent to aid in quick setting and some allowed locking via thumbscrew. This made it a bind when putting the binocular away in its case.
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My binocular collection recent first
http://www.flickr.com/photos/binoculars/
My binoculars in Alphabetical order http://www.flickr.com/photos/binoculars/sets/72157613812824211/detail/
Over 2000 years of history in my cupboard!
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