Editing Binoculars (section)

==Optical systems and their practical effect on binoculars housing shapes==

The optical system of modern binoculars consists of three main optical assemblies:<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://birdsatfirstsight.com/binocular-lens-and-prism-glass/ |title=Binocular Lens And Prism Glass |date=16 May 2022 |access-date=2022-10-03 |archive-date=2022-09-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220928143031/https://birdsatfirstsight.com/binocular-lens-and-prism-glass/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
* Objective lens assembly. This is the lens assembly at the front of the binoculars. It gathers light from the object and forms an image at the image plane.
* Image orientation correction assembly. This is usually a prism assembly that shortens the optical path. Without this, the image would be inverted and laterally reversed, which is inconvenient for the user.
* Eyepiece lens assembly. This is the lens assembly near the user's eyes. Its function is to magnify the image.

<gallery widths="200" heights="160" >
File:Binocularp.svg|Binoculars diagram showing a Porro prism design
File:2020 Lornetka Baigish 8x30.jpg|Porro prism binoculars, with distinctive eyepiece/objective axis offset
File:Schmidt-Pechan prism-Binocular.png|Binoculars diagram showing a Schmidt–Pechan roof prism design
File:Prismendoppelfernrohr 1905.jpg|Binoculars diagram showing an Abbe–Koenig roof prism design
File:Vortex Diamonback roof prism binoculars.jpg|Roof prism binoculars, with the eyepiece in line with the objective
</gallery>

Although different prism systems have optical design-induced advantages and disadvantages when compared, due to technological progress in fields like optical coatings, optical glass manufacturing, etcetera, differences in the early 2020s in high-quality binoculars practically became irrelevant. At high-quality price points, similar optical performance can be achieved with every commonly applied optical system. This was 20–30 years earlier not possible, as occurring optical disadvantages and problems could at that time not be technically mitigated to practical irrelevancy. Relevant differences in optical performance in the sub-high-quality price categories can still be observed with roof prism-type binoculars today because well-executed technical problem mitigation measures and narrow manufacturing tolerances remain difficult and cost-intensive.