I ordered a pair today, just had to try them after reading FrankD's review. How many of you out there have pulled the bino trigger & done the same ? ..gwen
I have these on my radar, but they are sort of in a holding pattern in the background for now. I am waiting until I see how the new Prime HD does before I do much. I also think I'm pretty good to go with the 7x36 ZEN ED 2 for now for a 7x glass, and I like the fact it smaller than the x43 big brothers. I do wish the x36 would have made it through to the ED 3 configuration.
This is the first post I have seen from anyone that has received a production unit of the 7x43. I didn't even know if they shipped on schedule....Charles never got back to me.
Any issues with them? Any play in the focusing mechanism? Are the dreaded crescents found in the first generation of the 7x36 ED2 noted under any conditions? Anything else to find fault with besides the long eye relief?
I received the 7x43 ED3s a couple of days ago. Didn't do any scientific testing but visually, backed with over 50 years of collecting binoculars, I thought the image was superb indoors and out in sunny and cloudy conditions. Great contrast, sharpness and brightness. One negative is the extreme eye relief. With the eye cups fully extended I still have to hold the binoculars a bit away from my face. I remember having to do this with my venerable Zeiss 7x45 Night Owls (sold several years ago). I wear glasses but never wear them when using binoculars. I think I will now start.
Any feedback from others about the eye relief?
Sweet.
Speaking of sweet, how wide would you estimate the sweet spot of image in focus and free of distortion is in your unit? 60%? 70% 80%?
I just want to see how the production unit stacks up to the prototype I reviewed.
good i hope to see some more good reviews,how are they in low light
To my eyes the sweet spot appears very wide. Maybe 80%. But the overall image is so excellent that you just see this nice clear view and are not distracted by any possible out of focus area--at least I'm not.
80% out? Catch me, I'm going to faint! Ugh. Too late, ouch, that's smarts.
The better of the two EPs in the two models I tried were sharp to 70% but gradually faded until going blurry at the very edge. Most of the edge could be focused out as field curvature.
User's accommodations of the field curvature are bound to produce different perceptions, but 80% would be fantabulous.
But here's the $64,000 question. How mild/severe is the pincushion distortion?
Is panning smooth or do you see the "Funhouse Effect"?
Tilting works even better. The best way to test for excessive pincushion to stand about 100 ft from a tree line and then tilt the ED3s up and down the trees. People's eyes vary in their ability to adopt to pincushion or rolling ball, but if you are sensitive to it and the pincushion is at the same level as the 7x ED2, you will experience a distorting effect as you tilt the bins.
Brock
One negative is the extreme eye relief. With the eye cups fully extended I still have to hold the binoculars a bit away from my face.
I received the 7x43 ED3s ............................................................ One negative is the extreme eye relief. With the eye cups fully extended I still have to hold the binoculars a bit away from my face. I remember having to do this with my venerable Zeiss 7x45 Night Owls (sold several years ago). I wear glasses but never wear them when using binoculars. I think I will now start.
Any feedback from others about the eye relief?
I think this is a design problem and comes from the binocular's eyecups being too short for the eye relief
Eitanaltman also has the same problem and I have experienced it.
If you brace the eyecups up against the bottom of your eyebrow ridge with a very minute upward tilt of the binocular rather than pushing them back into your eye sockets when you use them it might be enough to solve the problem but if this does not work you will probably have to either go back to wearing your glasses while using them or try another brand.
Give it a try and experiment a bit with how you hold them up under your brow ridge.
Bob
Yes, that is what I've been doing with binoculars with long eye relief and you are right it does help.
I just ordered a pair of 8x43 ED3 for no logical reason at all. I just want them.