How to Focus: Binoculars

To focus your binoculars properly, follow these easy steps:

1. Turn your main focus knob all the way to the right. Locate your diopter focusing piece (either another focus knob or a movable eyepiece [usually the right eyepiece]).
2. Choose a distant stationary object on which to focus.
3. Looking through the binoculars, using the center focus wheel, adjust the focus until a clear image appears.
4. Close your left eye (or cover the left objective lens with your hand) and quickly turn the diopter focus piece so that the image is clear and in sharp focus for your right eye. Lower the binoculars and rest your eyes for a moment.
5. Once you've achieved maximum focus, look at the settings for your diopter adjustment (most binoculars have symbols or numbers to indicate settings).

Remember where your optimal setting is, so you can automatically readjust your binoculars to that point should the setting be changed by another user.

Once you get your binoculars focused and the diopter adjusted for your own eyes, the only focusing you have to do is with the center focus wheel. For most birds that appear in the middle distance, say 30 to 60 feet away, you don't need to refocus at all. Closer or more distant birds require some focus adjustment with the center wheel, however.

Properly focused, your binoculars give you a crystal-clear image, and that's what bird watching is all about, after all.

Tip: You can get fast at focusing by practicing on stationary objects. To set my binoculars, I always pick an object with lots of contrast, such as a dark tree branch against a light sky or a black-and-white highway sign or billboard. Before long, focusing becomes second nature to you.