• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

BTX Binoviewer for ATX scopes (1 Viewer)

Jan
Sorry to say I have never worked for sights of Nature!!
Nor I have advantage promoting them
I only put on the forum what I hear from different sources

I look forward seeing the BTX though

The Dutch Swarovski rep is planned for visiting our shop coming Thursday but I can't call that a primeur;)

The way you posted it like you did made it look otherwise.

@Henry
Spot on!
At least that's what I've understood of what I've been told yesterday but it would take me three pages to decribe what you just did in one sentence:-C

Jan
 
Last edited:
Jan

What I meant by primeur is that for the first time , normal birdwatchers can admire the BTX at the shop of sights of nature in the Benelux
When the sales rep from Swarovski comes, will Dutch birdwatchers be able to see the BTX and test them ?
 
Jan

What I meant by primeur is that for the first time , normal birdwatchers can admire the BTX at the shop of sights of nature in the Benelux
When the sales rep from Swarovski comes, will Dutch birdwatchers be able to see the BTX and test them ?

If they would stumble in at the same time he does, they could. If they would stumble in at any other store the rep visits, they could have the same experience.
The official launch/deliverydate is first week of May 2017
;);)

Jan
 
First mention of a (apparent/possible) 3D effect...

"But it’s far more than simply a lack of squinting at play here, because that second eye, until now an obstacle to the scoping experience, becomes an active participant. So right off the bat, the image appears more three dimensional. Moreover, you’re at some level doubling your optical processing power, hitching two horses to your cart instead of just one. The resulting difference is dramatic, for me unexpectedly so."

http://blog.aba.org/2017/03/new-and...provides-an-eye-opening-scope-experience.html
 
Last edited:
First mention of a (apparent/possible) 3D effect...

"But it’s far more than simply a lack of squinting at play here, because that second eye, until now an obstacle to the scoping experience, becomes an active participant. So right off the bat, the image appears more three dimensional."

:-O :-O :-O

Lee
 
If this takes off I wonder whether Kowa etc will follow suit, or if we'll see lower-end models incorporating the feature?
 
If this takes off I wonder whether Kowa etc will follow suit, or if we'll see lower-end models incorporating the feature?

A binoviewer on the 883 would be an even uglier beast than the BTX.
But it will be interesting to see what competition will do.
 
If this takes off I wonder whether Kowa etc will follow suit, or if we'll see lower-end models incorporating the feature?

The device is too expensive for the mass market.
However, Swaro will be able to decide whether to offer such devices more broadly based on real market data. Presumably Swaro will have enough design patents to make the going challenging for would be competitive offerings.
 
I suspect the reason Swaro have been able to do this is because of their ATX design with separate objective and separate prism housing.

It would be a big step for a manufacturer to replicate on more traditional scopes where you're only changing out the eyepiece rather than prism housing as well....

First step for competitor would likely be replicating Swaro's *TX design concept in general and breaking the scope in half with a separate objective barrel and a separate prism/eyepiece housing..

cheers
Jeelan
 
I suspect the reason Swaro have been able to do this is because of their ATX design with separate objective and separate prism housing.

It would be a big step for a manufacturer to replicate on more traditional scopes where you're only changing out the eyepiece rather than prism housing as well....

First step for competitor would likely be replicating Swaro's *TX design concept in general and breaking the scope in half with a separate objective barrel and a separate prism/eyepiece housing..

cheers
Jeelan


Spot on, Swaro's modular design is a huge plus here.
Still, there are surely alternative approaches. At the extreme, replace the eye pieces with a cell phone screen. That would allow easy viewing, fully adequate resolution and improved brightness, at lower cost. Only downside is the scope becomes another gadget that eats batteries.
 
Just as a point of interest - regarding the eyestrain that is experienced when using a scope for extended periods. Surely this is largely down to the effort of keeping the other eye closed rather than strain on the eye in use? Many years ago I had to wear an eye patch for several days after an injury - whilst not an experience I would like to repeat I don't remember that my "good" eye got tired.

I've used an eyepatch while seawatching and apart from the constant stream of pirate gags from my mates found that it largely eliminated discomfort.

Obviously using both eyes is more natural and there's no 3D effect using an eye patch, but an eyepatch that allows the covered eye to remain fully open should eliminate most (if not all) of the eyestrain? Not to mention the huge strain on the wallet ;)

Ahaar

Phil
 
Last edited:
Phil,

About ten years ago I decided to stop squinting and start watching with both eyes open. Rather than using an eye patch like a pirate, which has the drawback of dark-adapting the idle eye whereby going back to binoculars takes a while, I adopted the trick biathletes and some other shooters use. This is to attach an obstruction in front of the idle eye, close enough so that eye cannot focus on it but far enough that stray light prevents dark adaptation. The first one, for my Fieldscope back then, was simply made out of a bit of copper wire holding a black disk about couple of cm in front of the eye, fastened around the eyepiece base. Now, on my ATX, I have a similar thing held in place by the rubber ring that holds the eyepiece cover. They have a black surface towards the eye. Neither looked very elegant, but they work fine. Enough off-axis light enters the eye that going back to binoculars causes no difficulties whatsoever, and with the scope I can view for as long as I please with no other discomfort except some neck strain that comes from viewing down into an angled scope for more than 45 minutes.

I'm planning on making a more elegant version of this soon, and when I do, I can post some pictures. Highly recommended.

Kimmo
 
Nice idea Kimmo,

I've got rather attached to my eye-patch (especially since the super-glue incident ;)) I guess I could drill some off-axis holes in it to prevent dark adaption (must remember to take it off first though).

Seriously though it would be good to see your design when you've refined it :t:

Phil
 
Here's an example of what an ultimate eye obstruction might look like. Perhaps I ought to get one of these and modify it to fit my Swaro. Looks a bit small for fitting around the ATX eyepiece barrel, though.

http://www.nordicmarksman.com/Ambidextrous-Blinder.html

Some contouring to match the curves of your face are beneficial, but it certainly does not need to be this complicated. My first effort was very much like the Bushwacker Henry linked, except that the disk needs to be further away from the eyepiece barrel than that hinge thingy would allow. My IPD is 66 mm, so the center of the obstruction needs to be about 66 mm to the side of the exit pupil of the EP.

If one wishes to use an eye patch, then an opaque grey patch would work better as it wouldn't cause dark adaptation. Pistol shooters especially use these. The other advantage of something fastened on the scope, though, is that there's nothing to take off of yourself before looking through your bins, nor anything to put on again.

Kimmo
 
Warning! This thread is more than 6 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top