RandyWales Posted July 29, 2012 Share Posted July 29, 2012 Hi again... A couple of weeks ago I reminisced about watching the trains go by with my late uncle Hugh. Our elevated viewpoint in a park was over a mile away from the tracks, so we used binoculars to observe the movements. I wondered what it would be like use binoculars to watch the trains go by on my layout - Costleigh - and I found the experience very exciting. I posed the question whether there were binocluars available that would allow closer focus a the image got blurred as the train got too near the lens. Pentax supply the Papillio (above), which is intended for observing insects and butterflies - they focus right down to eighteen inches They aren't cheap, but my wife and I now each have a pair - the other hobby is rambling. This opens up a whole new world of detail for modellers. It's like being "inside" the miniature world. If you see me using them at an exhibition, please don't think "He's loopy!". Introduce yourself as an RMWeb member and I'll let you have a go. I couldn't make the RMWeb trip today, but I will be visiting Pendon myself in the coming week - I can't wait to see the glorious detail close-up. Read about my observations here: http://www.rmweb.co....gh/page__st__25 Randall Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Physicsman Posted August 1, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 1, 2012 An interesting idea, Randall. I can just imagine the view, looking down the track as the loco heads towards you - must appear a bit like the original films in the late 1800s where the cinema-goers thought the trains were going to come out of the screen! I don't see why anybody should consider your idea "loopy" if it enhances your enjoyment of the hobby. Good for you! Jeff Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandyWales Posted August 1, 2012 Author Share Posted August 1, 2012 I can just imagine the view, looking down the track as the loco heads towards you.... Hi Jeff... Exactly that... the preceived realism was totally unexpected and took me by surprise. All the distractions around the layout become unnoticed, and I feel at one with the scene. To continue the cinemascope analogy, it's in moving3D, too. Unlike a close-up photograph. I'm fortunate that I have a large layout which increases the possibilties for viewing positions. However, just watching a loco creep along a siding can be a spectacle, too. Randall Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Physicsman Posted August 1, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 1, 2012 Hi Jeff... Exactly that... the preceived realism was totally unexpected and took me by surprise. All the distractions around the layout become unnoticed, and I feel at one with the scene. To continue the cinemascope analogy, it's in moving3D, too. Unlike a close-up photograph. I'm fortunate that I have a large layout which increases the possibilties for viewing positions. However, just watching a loco creep along a siding can be a spectacle, too. Randall Maybe I should have extended my analogy... it's clearly model railways in IMAX!! Have fun. If I had a suitable pair of binocs i'd certainly give it a go! Cheers, Jeff Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
34theletterbetweenB&D Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 ... I can't wait to see the glorious detail close-up... Nothing eccentric about this at all. You should see the opera glasses deployed when the latest young thing starts up on 'my heart is busted / my handies is cold / phwoar, I really fancy him/her, I hates you, I does'. (The lyrics of grand opera really are that banal, it just sounds a lot better in Italian.) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Barry Ten Posted August 1, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 1, 2012 Can't wait to try this! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandyWales Posted August 1, 2012 Author Share Posted August 1, 2012 ...it's clearly model railways in IMAX!! Not quite IMAX, but It is rather good observing AND hearing my sound-equipped loco's. Haven't quite mastered the art of controlling both the binoculars and the train controller at the same time, though. Nothing eccentric about this at all. You should see the opera glasses deployed when the latest young thing starts up on 'my heart is busted / my handies is cold / phwoar, I really fancy him/her, I hates you, I does'. (The lyrics of grand opera really are that banal, it just sounds a lot better in Italian.) I love the opera glasses analogy, too. I suppose Model Railway Exhibitions are comparable to a staged performance. A choreographed pageant of trains passing by... Randall Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
34theletterbetweenB&D Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 The best (exhibited) layouts operate on a theatrical understanding. There is a coherent scene placed before the audience, the actions on that scene are consistent with a plot, and it has that certain something that encourages the audience to examine more closely and engage with what is going on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandyWales Posted September 3, 2012 Author Share Posted September 3, 2012 Hi again.... I gave the Pentax Papillion binoculars their debut at the small exhibition in Swansea at the weekend. "Naturol" was in attendance with his excellent Castle Works, and chwarae teg (fair play), the layout was the highlight by some distance. Paul looked at me in astonishment when I whipped out the binoculars and pointed them at the layout. I introduced myself and handed them over to him.... Paul posted this in the WAG Area group earlier: "The sceptic in me had the idea of binoculars to view a layout at close quarters as very much a bit whoop whoop, But........ what a fantastic experience, I can liken it to the moment that Chris Nevard showed me pictures of layouts taken in studio conditions with decent light and no background interference for the first time, none of my hotch potch 3 pixel tatt with a flash. A first class 3D experience which easily fools the mind to beleive you are in the scene, in real life, ( helps having a very good quality loco to focus on mind, with fine detail a plenty ( Hornby -08 ) and then a Dapol 67 in EWS livery on the N gauge layout next door, Yes I can confirm. the binocular view is highly recommended." As Paul says, you feel as if you are part of the scene, and this was especially so with Castle Works due to the tall steelworks buildings framing the field of view. He's also being diplomatically polite and politically correct in his above description. In reality, his first word began with the letter "F". Randall Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackRat Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Tried this at home, must admit it works! Mind you, not sure about taking bino's to a show tho! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Barry Ten Posted September 4, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 4, 2012 I tried it but none of my binos focus down close enough - or is it that my train room isn't big enough? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackRat Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Al, you need a bigger train room! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandyWales Posted September 5, 2012 Author Share Posted September 5, 2012 I tried it but none of my binos focus down close enough Hi BT Maybe I was fortunate trying this for the first time with a pair of relatively low-powered bino's. They gave an excellent impression when the trains were more than six feet away, but anything closer was blurred. However, I was stunned enough by the realism to do a Google search for binoculars that allow close focus. The Pentax Papillio are the only close-focus binoculars available. And, as Naturol said, "They are well worth the price of a sound-chip". If I bump into you again at Cardiff next month, you can have a go... I guarantee it'll blow your swede. Randall ps. Just previewed the layouts booked for Cardiff, and I'm drooling at the prospect of viewing layouts of the quality of Brookford, Allt y Graban Road and Cornwallis Yard through these optics. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandyWales Posted October 20, 2012 Author Share Posted October 20, 2012 Just previewed the layouts booked for Cardiff, and I'm drooling at the prospect of viewing layouts of the quality of Brookford, Allt y Graban Road and Cornwallis Yard through these optics. Hi again... Just returned from the Capital city... Brookford was absent from the line up, but Allt y Graban Road and Cornwallis Yard more than met with expectations. I returned time and time again to watch Allt y Graban through the Papillio binoculars - what a superb effect they gave. Owner Bernie had a go and now he wants to buy a pair... I was also hugely impressed by Naturol's Sanatorium Road...I spent ages watching the movements of his superb (hand-buit) Infrastructure vehicles. I'm not really a fan of contemporary railways, but this layout was captivating through the binos. Several layout owners and spectators had a go and I can only draw satisfaction from their reactions of genuine astonishment. Geoff Kent's superb buildings looked amazing (even though he said so himself). I was only ridiculed by one obnoxious individual who was 'representing' the O Gauge Guild. regards Randall Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandyWales Posted October 21, 2012 Author Share Posted October 21, 2012 Hi again... Now I have had more time to reflect on my visit to the Cardiff show, I’d like to share my thoughts in relation to the surreal experience of using binoculars to view layouts “out in the field”. At the outset, I was feeling pretty self-conscious about taking them out of their case at a large exhibition with hundreds of fellow modellers and members of the public roaming around. Wandering around the halls I was trying to find an appropriate moment to have the courage to whip them out and point them at a layout without looking like a dork. I stopped at the stand where the Two Geoffs (master modellers Geoff Kent and Geoff Taylor) had their demo pieces set up – they were advertising their new books. I started talking to Geoff Kent and I chose my moment to whip out the Papillios and handed them over to Mr Kent. He focussed on a bus standing on a bridge and said “Wow!” He then whipped out a brush and wiped dust from the roof, “I didn’t realise it was so dirty”, he said. He then had another look at some of his own masterpieces from eighteen inches away and said, tongue in cheek, “I am good, aren’t I?” We had a chat about using bincoluars to view layouts the size of Retford, and I eulogised about having used the Papillios at Pendon. Geoff said he would never have thought he would be so impressed, and I could tell by the look in his eyes that the seed had been planted. The chat with Geoff gave me the confidence to keep the Papillios out of their case and I made my way to Naturol’s Sanitorium Road layout. Paul was my first guinea pig at a small show in Swansea, and he’d been gobsmacked when he tried them out. I paid many visits to Paul’s layout throughout the next few hours and was standing next to the layout totally oblivious to anyone else and their opinions of the mad fool standing alongside them. I could tell some were intrigued, and handed the binoculars over to them. Every single person who tried them was impressed (apart from the rude @rse manning the O Gauge Guild stand). I did make use of the binoculars at most of the layouts at the show, and Cornwallis Yard was a highlight, but I couldn’t get near enough to get a good view “You had binoculars!”, I hear you say...Yes, but I’ve only got little legs (which is a distinct advantage as I’m at the perfect viewing height for most layouts). Anyway, I kept getting drawn to Bernie Baker’s Allt-y-Graban Road, as this was the perfect layout to view using the binoculars. It’s a layout with plenty of highly detailed scenes. Bernie is from my neck of the woods, and we had a chat. He was keen to give the Papillios a try, and he wasn’t disappointed. He asked me how I got hold of them, and the cost. Another recruit? I’ll end by trying to describe my own impressions of using these binoculars, with Sanatorium Road and Allt-y-Graban as the subject matter. Sanatorium Road: Naturol has managed to encapsulate the atmosphere of a contemporary yard in bucket loads. This is made increasingly palatable for viewing by his incredible hand-built Infrastructure vehicles which as far as I’m aware, are unique on the modelling circuit. The amount of atmospheric detail Paul has incorporated into the construction is emphasised one hundredfold by viewing the layout through the binoculars – because you can see it all close-up. And in 3D. I could even see the individual train times on the station platform display boards. Paul didn't have time to spit, never mind try out the binocluars, which is a pity. Allt-y-Graban Road: Just watching the trains entering and leaving the yard through the binoculars is a captivating, hypnotic experience, enhanced by movement against the gentle optical soft focus of the scenery, lineside structures and the photographic backscene. Describing something as REALISTIC makes me think “MODEL!” Through the binoculars, this was REALISM! Should you get a pair? Standing at the side of a layout along with the other spectators, you see a layout with trains shuffling about, operators moving around, and an unrealistic overview of structures. With the binoculars, you become lost in the world of the miniature landscape because you can totally ignore the real world artifacts and distractions and concentrate on the quality of the modelling and the trains moving majestically through the scene. If you think you’d feel self conscious using them in public, buy them for use at home or on a club-night. I guarantee you won’t regret it. I’d go as far as to say you’d need to ration their use at a club as people won’t want to give them up for someone else’s turn. No..I've no affiliation with Pentax! regards Randall Edited for spelling Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Happy Hippo Posted October 22, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 22, 2012 When your spectacle lenses are as thick as mine, you are using binoculars all the time! Regards Richard Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
naturol Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 Hi Randall, Thanks first for the kind comments on sanatorium road, as a side line comment, i have recently commisioned a web site for my design work outside of modelling, during a chat with the web designer we were discussing images for the site primarilly of building work underway, he offered a camera man who takes highly detailed close up photos with some HD camera, whatever one is, and then to soft filter the surroundings, his words then struck a cord, the image looks like a super detailed 3D model he continued. seems you have competition, hope to see you at Newport in two weeks when the teething issues should be sorted and I can spend some time and chat, and hopefully get a coffee in as well. TTFN Rol jnr Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandyWales Posted October 19, 2013 Author Share Posted October 19, 2013 Hi again... I paid a visit to the Cardiff Show today, where no less than Gordon Gravett endorsed the binocular view.... Viewing his Pempoul through the Papillio close focus binos, Gordon was suitably impressed. Also, I was absolutely amazed when Bernie Baker of "Allt y Graban Road” fame pulled a pair of Papillio binoculars out of his bag and waved them at me. Bernie was impressed enough to buy his own after he tried mine at last year's Cardiff show. He told me that they drew lots of positive comments when he made them available to the public for viewing Allt y Graban Road at this year's Scaleforum. I understand Chris Challis of RailWells is a big fan too.... To namedrop further, Bernie said Andy York was also impressed... Randall Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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