In terms of crystal clarity, sparkle, brilliance, transmission, luminescence, etc, does the HT exceed SV, SF, FL, different varieties of Leica, or anything I'm missing ? I assume the Habicht would equal or exceed the HT, but eye relief rules it out.
Robert
WOW! Whoooooeeeeee! what a fascinating journey of amusing, largely subjective commentary, of a cat chasing its tail you have inadvertently unleashed Robert - I think we'd have better luck trying to define the best method for tracking Unicorns leaping over the pot of gold at the end of double rainbows! ........ :cat: :bounce: (o)<
A lot of the terms you have quoted don't actually exist outside of someone's errant definition and application to that weird dimension known as binoworld !!
I think you've got the wrong end of the stick with some of them, mixed a few metaphors, and the rest apart from transmission (which can be measured), are highly subjective :eek!:
Even the measured transmission curve over the visible spectra must then be interpreted by an individual's eyes, physiological pathways, and neural network and programmed life experiences and latent soul calling! So even this has a subjective component - colours etc o
To try and sort the wheat from the chaff of subjective definitions and how they apply to binoworld, I will offer the following definitions (some with reference to dictionary sourcing, and/or common usage here on the Forum) ..... others of course may (and probably will) disagree! However given that the etymology of many common 'sayings' is rooted in practical wisdoms ingrained in the cultural vernacular through the spoken word inheritance over many many generations, often with real life and death ramifications, we should take some heed to observe, pay our due respects and endeavour to standardise ours. :t:
1. "crystal clarity" ...... to me exists as an abbreviation or form of the common term "crystal clear". Not to be confused with the 'crystalline' view (of which Swarovski's SV product range is a prominent example).
The Oxford dictionary defines "clarity" as:
"The quality of being clear, in particular - "
1.2 The quality of being easy to see or hear; sharpness of image or sound:
the clarity of the picture, and
1.4 The quality of transparency or purity:
the crystal clarity of water.
This can also be described as "transparency" in my view. It is possible for a binocular to exhibit "clarity", "transparency", or be "crystal clear" over a portion of the view - typically the centre, without being entirely crystal clear or entirely transparent over the entire field.
Prerequisites for "clarity" or "transparency" are (but probably not limited to) :-
* Porro I, Porro II, or A-K prisms ....... nothing else cuts the mustard in my view (I haven't seen Perger prisms so can't offer comment there)
* High Transmission ...... I'm thinking 92%+
* Neutral Colour Rendition (ie. a flat transmission curve) ...... faithful colurs and true whites - no colour tints of any kind allowed here!
! NOTE ! All the other commonly referenced colour qualities of 'sparkle-arkle', 'vividness', 'saturation', 'Pop', and even 'crystallinity' by definition stem from transmission and control of glare and CA, since nothing is able to be added from the environmental view, only 'detracted' through losses, which must somehow show up as 'crudola' to the view.
* No Aberrations - Spherical, Chromatic, Astigmatism, Coma, Distortion, Field Curvature, of a magnitude to cause awareness and distraction, and assuming sufficient collimation and alignment.
* Glare Control ...... sufficient so as to offer an absence of presence of Glare (Veiling and/or Crescent), or other reductions in, or deleterious effects on Contrast etc
* Sharpness of image (resolution and contrast MTF )..... many times the resolution of the toughest critic with the best eyesight, ie. an absence of awareness of any issue.
OK, so this is achievable somewhat in the centre field. Bins that I have seen with this quality are the Swift Audubon 8.5x44 ED Porro, the Zeiss 8x42 HT (A-K), and the Canon 15x50 IS -Porro II (so long as the IS is not turned on, where I then detect 'artefacts' that mar the view). Interestingly the A-K Swarovski SLC x56 (HD)'s neve did it for me.
To combine this "clarity" or "transparency" over the whole field of sufficient AFov such that no restriction is registered (for me that's 70 degrees plus), whilst ensuring Glare Control and its dichotomous partner luxurious "Randpupille" is to achieve the "Holy Grail" o
of binoculars - sadly :-C I've never ever seen it --- still questing!
)
2. "sparkle" ..... this is a misnomer in my view, since the Oxford dictionary defines this as:
"Shine brightly with flashes of light:
her earrings sparkled as she turned her head" ....... I highly doubt that 'flashes of light' is at all desirable. Its better I think to term the intention of this descriptor as:
"
sparkle-arkle" a term familiar to Australians, and is something like a relaxed and perhaps cheeky 1970's form of "Je ne sais quoi" -
A quality that cannot be described or named easily,
"
vividness" -
"Producing powerful feelings or strong, clear images in the mind": memories of that evening were still vivid a vivid description
or,
"(Of a colour) intensely deep or bright": the rhododendron bush provides a vivid splash of mauve,
"
aliveness", or even the
"
crystalline" view.
Bins with this characteristic would be the Leica UVHD+, and the Swarovski SV.
3. "brilliance" ...... to my mind a redundant synthesis of "transmission" (brightness - provided sufficient EP conditions are met, and perhaps increasing intangibly as perceived with increasing objective diameter) and "vividness". A notion somewhat backed up by the Oxford dictionary definition:
"Intense brightness of light": the nights were dark, lit only by the brilliance of Aegean stars.
"Vividness of colour": lapis lazuli was highly regarded for the brilliance of its colour.
4. "transmission" ...... measured % over the defined spectral wavelengths of visible light (380nm to 750nm)
5. "luminescence" ...... a farcical and nonsensical term with reference to analogue or classical optics Imho, and far better reserved for describing the faint aura trails left by elusive Unicorns! 3
From the Oxford dictionary:
"The emission of light by a substance that has not been heated, as in fluorescence and phosphorescence".
....................................................................................
So to make sense of all of this subjective jargon with reference to your question, I would say:
"Clarity" -> Zeiss HT 8x42 only
"Crystalline" view -> Swarovski 10x50 SV (also with added WOW! incidently
, and to a lesser extent 8.5x42 SV only. This is a more intense experience and to a greater extent of:
"Vividness" -> Leica 7 & 8X42 UVHD+, and 10x50 UVHD+
Chosun :gh:
