hi guys,
i was lucky to find a brand new leica BN 8x42 from my local dealer. its in green color, and looks amazing. i got a bit bargain with the price, basically pretty happy with the binoculars, especially the sharpness.
i got a question, what does " CA " ans "SA" stands for ? i saw you guys talked alot about these parameters .
Pippen,
Congratulations! you Lucky Snoop Dogg. I always wanted a green BN, but in the 7x42 configuration. It looks new. Previously owned by a little old lady from Beijing, apparently.
As to what CA means, the best person to ask is Bob, he has never seen it, but he's read a lot about it.
It depends on how sensitive you are to chromatic aberration on whether or not it will bother you. Leica added "HD" glass (low dispersion glass) to its second generation Ultravid, but depending on who you talk to, it did or didn't make a difference in controlling CA. Not sure why this was so, because the ED bins that I've tried or owned handled CA very well.
It's best to NOT purposely look for chromatic aberration. If it's bad enough, it will find you. But if you go looking for it, you might become fixated on it and not be able to tune it out. That was Steve Ingraham's advice from Better View Desired, and I wish I had taken it!
As I'm sure Henry expounded on above, SA stands for spherical aberration. Try out a Zeiss 54mm HT to see what that look like. Haven't heard any reports of SA being a problem with the BN series.
The funny thing about your post is that somebody recently wrote that people from China really like Leica optics and cameras, and here a few days later, you show up and prove the case!
It's not that Americans don't like Leica products (though some have issues with the company's customer service and some with repairs), but at least on these forums, the perpetual dueling seems to be between Swarovski and Zeiss fans.
Perhaps when Leica finally comes out with a new model, it will catch the attention of the forums, which thrives on the "latest and greatest." Me, I like the classics, mostly Porros, but I'm also curious about not-so-old roofs such as the BN.
Enjoy!
Brock
