Stirring the Pot
I have to take a "Descent of Man" opinion here and suggest that Leica and Zeiss stick with what the models have, and just make some minor changes to improve their bin's functionality such as making the Ultravid's focuser a bit easier to turn.
Eeking out another 2% or 3% light transmission or a droplet more color saturation to keep up with the Joneses isn't worth the price of advancement, and therefore isn't really advancement in the Egalitarian sense. I don't think the human eye can even detect such a small difference, but your wallet will.
Neither is giving all alphas field flatteners a good idea (backwards step in the SV EL for those who see the "rolling ball").
If birders keep calling for incremental improvements, they better be prepared to pay for them through the nose and out the anus. Another Leica upgrade is going to cost them $3,000. Is that what they want to pay for binoculars?
If they are doctors, dentists, Ph.D.s (in a technical field), senior non-Ph.D. engineers, IT managers, hedge fund managers, or CEOs, they don't need to answer.
But if they are...
Just a slob like one of us
Just another bozo on the bus
Putting shoes on Baby's feet
Working hard to make ends meet
They are going to have to think through the financial ramifications of what they are asking.
After looking through the ZR 7x36 ED2 and the 8x32 SE, and wondering how much more those companies could do to improve the view and how much I would be willing to pay for those incremental improvements, I concluded that this quest for "optical perfection at any cost" has become a
reductio ad absurda endeavor.
Nobody, not even an ornithologist,
needs $3,000 binoculars, but that's exactly where we are heading with the next gen alphas.
I could buy a TeleVue TV-76 APO scope and complete package for $1,000 less. That's nuts!
Take a look at the guys with Trinnies who posted to the Leica thread (Upgrading from Trinovid BA to...). That's going to be of some of those now calling for Leica and Zeiss to make incremental improvements when in a few years the alpha prices finally go deeper than their pockets will allow.
Sales figures are going to drop for the alphas (Leica lost millions of dollars last year due to the recession and will have to make up for that shortfall), but the price per unit will keep going up, so they will survive. However, those improvements will price more and more would be alpha owners out of the market (or at least the new bin market).
Now that Leica has its "Goodwill Policy," it will take the worry about of buying used Leicas since they will be covered for repairs. I applaud Leica for doing that. It's about time. Nikon has been doing that for years. So has Swarovski.
I've seen some Leica refurbs, but not many like Nikons. Leica can help make up for the shortfall in new bin sales by beefing up its refurb market. So can Zeiss.
Now that the SLCs are priced within $300 of the SV EL (assuming that information is correct), they've lost their "second tier" line up.
Only Zeiss has a second tier line, and from what I've read, they could be better for the price point.
So what's going to happen in the future is that what once was the Mercedes Benz of bins is going to become the Rolls Royce of bins. Mercedes sells a lot of automobiles worldwide, and they also make trucks, Rolls doesn't.
The buck stops somewhere, and sooner or later, the buck is going to stop at your doorstep (the buck stopped at my doorstep in 1998! I was ahead of the trend
.
So what's a po' boy to do, 'cept to sing for a rock'roll band? Well, there is an alternative model.
I prefer Nikon's multi-tier Egalitarian approach. They offer entry level bins, second tier bins, and an alpha line. Something for everybody. And they stand behind their products, both new and used, with a No Fault warranty.
If I had the ears of the CEOs of Leica, Swarovski, and Zeiss, I would say to their translators: I only have one word for you, just one word - Nikon.
And that concludes my sermon, which I had intended to deliver on Sunday, but I had to work, being a man of the cloth (or at least a self-righteous poser).
Thank you all for coming, and please remember to leave a donation for the poor in the pot at the door on your way out.