Another Swift ED glass - Ultralite 8x44 ED

[dozercsx]

Swifters,

I have been intrigued by the ongoing discussion of ED glass and air-spaced objectives for the Audubon 804c which, unfortunately, are effectively unavailable today - I then recalled that Swift actually offered another ED glass, alongside the 804c - the Ultralite ZCF 8x44 ED (interestingly, also described in the same Steven Ingraham article reviewing the then-new Audubon 820 on BVD).

Does anyone have any experience with this particular Ultralite? I wonder whether it, too, has air-spaced objectives (I presume it would) and what the practical effect of 8x would be (vs. 8.5x in the Audubon) - on paper, it would seem to be a wonderful glass, of similar optical quality to the Audubon, except for a narrower FOV (but substantially longer eye relief); I would be very interested to hear from any owners or reviewers...

[elkcub]

I've never used this glass, but will be interested to follow the discussion.

ED
PS. Incidentally, it's listed as Model 765ED.

[clschmalz]

I've never used this glass, but will be interested to follow the discussion.

ED
PS. Incidentally, it's listed as Model 765ED.

Referencing my 2000 catalog again - The description for the 8x44 765ED emphasizes ED glass but says nothing about air spaced objectives.

Descriptive material for the 849ED 80mm spotting scope doesn't mention an air spced objective, but includes a cutaway drawing with what looks like a 4-6 mm air space between the two objective elements.

Charlie