Telescopes can have multiple uses depending on their design. Refractors and Cassegrains can provide a "correct-image" view, so they can be used for daytime land viewing as well as astronomy. Reflectors render the image upside down so they are not recommended for daytime viewing. This is not an issue for astronomy, however, because there's no "right-side up" in space.

A measure of the enlargement of an object seen through an optical instrument. More specifically, it is a measure of the angle subtended by an image viewed with optical aid divided by the angle subtended by the same object without optical aid. Magnification is determined by dividing the focal length of the telescope (or binocular) by that of the eyepiece. Hence a telescope with a 1200mm focal length and an eyepiece of 40mm yields a magnification of 30x. The human eye is considered 1x magnification.

The optical diameter (also known as aperture), is the size of the telescope's main light collecting lens or mirror, measured in millimeters or inches. As the diameter increases, more light is collected and the resolution increases.

The field of view expressed as part of a 360-degree circle. Holding your pinky finger out at arms length is approximately 1-deg wide. To convert this to the linear measurement of "feet at a thousand yards", multiply by 52.5. For example, at 1000 yards distance, a 7-deg binocular will see a width of 367.5 feet (7 x 52.5)

The edge-to-edge angular diameter of the light emerging from the eyepiece as seen by the eye. It is an inherent specification for a given eyepiece type or design. The apparent field of view of an eyepiece is directly related to the true field of view seen through the telescope; for a given focal length eyepiece, the greater the eyepiece's apparent field of view, the greater area of sky will be seen.

The distance, measured in millimeters, between the observer's eye and the eyepiece lens in which the entire field of view remains visible. Eye relief varies with the optical design but generally increases with decreasing magnification. Long eye relief is advantageous for observers who wear glasses, as they don't have to put their eye directly on the eyepiece to see the entire field of view, nor do they have to remove their eyewear.

The diameter of the circle of light exiting the telescope eyepiece. It appears as a distinct disk when the telescope is pointed at a bright source like the Moon. Also known as the Ramsden disk, the exit pupil varies with both aperture and magnification.

The minimal distance at which a binocular and/or spotting scopes can attain focus. Near focus is an important quality for bird watchers and wildlife devotees who want to get as close as possible to their quarry.

Lenses are coated with an anti-reflective material to ensure that as little light as possible is reflected away, thus more gets to your eye. Good lenses are at least "fully coated," with a single layer of magnesium fluoride applied to each air-to-glass lens surface. Multiple layers of coatings are even more effective; the term "multi-coated" means one or more lens surfaces have multiple coatings. "Fully multi-coated" is superior because all lens surfaces are multiple-layer coated. Mirror star diagonals are coated with a reflective material similar to telescope mirrors in order to reflect the light into the eyepiece. Standard aluminum coatings reflect between 88%-92%, and enhanced aluminum reflects 97%. Dielectric coatings use a different process to deposit a coating that reflects 99% of the light. In addition to the higher reflectivity, Dielectric coatings are much more durable than aluminum coatings, so they last longer and can be cleaned with less risk of damage.

Porro Prisms: A binocular prism system that contains two right-angle prisms in each barrel offset from one another, requiring that the objective lenses be spaced farther apart than the eyepieces. Optically, Porro prisms often perform better than their Roof prism counterparts. Roof Prisms are a compact binocular prism system that allows the objective lenses to line up directly with the eyepieces and hence yields a more portable binocular. Roof prism binoculars lose slightly more light to reflections than Porro prism binoculars. High-quality roof prism binoculars compensate for this with special optical coatings.

The distance between the two pupils of an observer's eyes. Binoculars can be adjusted to accommodate variations in a person's interpupilary distance.