Corvane Lark 15x70 binoculars

Specifications

Description

The Lark 15x70 is a large Porro-prism binocular with 70 mm objectives and 15x magnification. Its objectives collect about twice as much light as those of a 50 mm binocular, which shows fainter stars and makes deep-sky objects easier to see.

At 15x, the Lark 15x70 sits between hand-held binoculars and small telescopes. Globular clusters such as M13 and M22 appear as round glows with bright centers, the Ring Nebula shows as a tiny disk, and galaxies such as M31 show their bright core and dust lane edges under dark skies. The 4.4-degree true field still frames the Pleiades and the Double Cluster.

The exit pupil of about 4.7 mm gives a bright image without a washed-out sky background. The BaK-4 prisms show round exit pupils, and the main optical surfaces are multi-coated.

Hand-holding a 15x binocular is hard for more than a short look, since every tremor shows. A tripod adapter and a sturdy photo tripod are the usual solution, and a parallelogram mount makes looking high in the sky more comfortable. The central tripod socket accepts a standard adapter.

The central focus wheel and right-eye diopter suit most users. Because large binoculars rely on precise alignment of the two optical paths, check the collimation by looking at a bright star: you should see a single sharp point without strain. At 1,380 g, the Lark 15x70 is light for its class and easy to pack for a trip to darker skies.

Collimation drift is a known weakness of large, low-cost binoculars, so handle the Lark 15x70 gently and keep it in its padded case. If the images ever stop merging, a binocular repair service can realign the prisms.

About this configuration

All configurations of the Corvane Lark 15x70 binoculars share the same magnification and objective size; the options below change the package and finish. This package contains the binoculars with their strap, lens caps, and case, without any mounting hardware. Binoculars alone suit hand-held scanning of the Milky Way, bright star clusters, and the phases of the Moon. The multi-coated version suits casual scanning of the night sky as well as daytime nature viewing.

Olive rubber armor offers the same protection as the black version in a different color. The 2023 edition uses the same prisms and objectives as later years, with small differences in the eyecups. The magnification, field, and exit pupil figures in the specifications table apply to every configuration of the Lark line.

What's in the box

• Binoculars with padded neck strap
• Objective and rain guard caps
• Padded carrying case
• Lens cleaning cloth

Compatibility notes

• The central tripod socket takes a standard L-shaped binocular adapter with a 1/4-20 thread.
• Fits photo tripods and parallelogram mounts rated for at least 2 kg.