It’s not my thing, but there are a lot of people who take nature photography. And a lot of people who are “twitchers” – bird watchers to you and me (although if you watch Midsomer Murders you’d know the term).
Put the two together and you get a lot of people who birdwatch and take photos, and I am reliably informed to do this at its best, you need a combination of a good camera with a telephoto lens or two, and a decent set of binoculars to suss out your photographic quarry much more easily than by camera alone.
I’ve only ever owned one set of binoculars, bought for me for my birthday by my dear old Mum who really couldn’t think of anything else to buy me I guess. Anyway, they were a Fujinon set and were superb, used a lot not for birdwatching per se, but sea bird scouting to find schools of fish off Cockburn Sound in WA while boating (that is south of Rottnest Island where the quokkas reside for non Sandgropers).
Anyway, that leads me nicely into an email received today from Fujinon telling me they upped their warranty conditions to 3 years of protection for all Non-Optical Components and 10 years of protection for all Optical Components, which considering the bashing binoculars can get is a good deal I reckon.
There is a minor catch in that the warranty only applies to FUJINON binoculars purchased in Australia from FUJIFILM Australia or an authorised distributor, dealer, or retailer on or after 1 October 2025, with full details available via the Fujifilm House of Photography website.
5 Comments
I recently purchased the Fujinon Techno Stabi 14X40 binoculars.
I use them for sailing, as I am a safety officer and on the bridge. The binoculars are quite heavy; however, having the neck strap does help.
The optics are high quality, and I can clearly see the sailors and their sail numbers from the bridge and about 750 meters offshore. The image stabiliser is terrific.
Makes the job so much easier, and I would say comparable to a medium to high-end digital camera in terms of optics and the image stabiliser function.
The only downside is the neck strap. The neck strap was broken when I opened the box, and I have asked for a full replacement.
Quality control seems to be an issue, as the retailer stated it’s common with certain brands. Not everything works, is missing, or, in my case, broken.
I purchased these binoculars for $1420.00, which I regard as good value.
Kind regards
Gav Milne
Thanks Gav. I knowm Fujifilm read my website but I will pass that on as it is unacceptable for a new item (especially one with that sort of value). But yes, the optics of Fuji kit is amazing. I love the lenses In have for my X-S10!
Hi Gav, thanks for your comments about quality and performance, it’s wonderful to hear you’ve had a positive experience in those regards! Thank you also for mentioning the issue you’ve had with the strap – this is a new one to us and we’d love to help you, and to ensure the retailer is up to speed on our processes.
We encourage you to reach out to our support team at ffau.digital@fujifilm.com who have been informed of the matter. We’re keen to make sure you’re looked after.
Whether the products are binoculars, digital cameras or lenses, our expectation for ‘out of the box’ is everything works and nothing is missing. It sounds pretty standard, doesn’t it! It’s one of the reasons why the warranty we offer in Australia for our mirrorless cameras was extended to 3 years, which we’ve now extended to binoculars. Hope to hear from you soon, cheers.
Thanks Neil. Much appreciated.
David
Dear Neil and David,
Thank you for reaching out to me, and I am grateful for your replies.
I have sent a private email with a photo of the issue. I also want to make a sincere apology. It is not the neck strap itself; it’s the rubber eyecup for the neck strap, which was cut when I unpackaged the binoculars. I have contacted the seller, and they have misplaced the replacement order for the eye cup.