A Phone-Binoculars Adapter

By Al Washburn

I recently received a pair of Ronhan 20X50 binoculars (Jeni ordered them for birdwatching in our back yard). They arrived with an i-phone adapter! I already have an expensive (~$100) Orion adapter which is much more technical and “much harder” to couple to my i-phone 7. I have used this setup with success on my Orion 6” reflector (Dob) but the connection takes patience and a little bit of time.

The Ronhan adapter (no name on it) is much cheaper, less technical but is much quicker and easier to set up. First, it has a spring loaded i-phone holder (no thumb screws). Next you align the binocular eyepiece adapter over the i-phone camera lens. There is a thumb screw to secure this position. The “circular” binocular eyepiece connector is now fitted over the binocular eyepiece and a thumb screw tightens it into place. If secured on an angle the image will not be clear from side to side with the focus you get from the normal binocular focusing ring. Check for this. Reset if necessary. This whole process takes me about a minute. Image steadiness is an issue and you may need to address this with a tripod or place the setup on some object to stabilize it. The magnification of the binoculars will affect this. I do use the 3-second timer setup to reduce shaking when taking a picture. A final thought is that smaller, less massive i-phones might better hold fast to the binoculars although I have not tested this.

I have enjoyed taking pictures with this easy setup during the day and will see how it works with night time subjects.