Hi Jim
Nice to hear from you.
First off, the product plan by me was make-believe, a stab at describing where the Zeiss range of bins might go next. Some of what I describe pivots around the marketing stance Zeiss has adopted with some bins rather than an argument based solely on technical characteristics.
Second, both FL and HT are both called Victory by Zeiss.
Third and most important of all, Zeiss has publicly linked the Schott High Transmission Glass and the relatively large (but light-efficient) Abbe-Konig prisms together as the HT Concept and as fitted to the HT 42mm models. The A-K prisms are too big to be fitted to a properly compact 32mm bin so the High Transmission Concept (as defined by Zeiss) isn't transferrable to the 32mm format.
But as hinted at above this discussion is as much about the marketing stance Zeiss has already adopted and which I used as a sort of spring-board to then build up a theoretical future product range.
Away from the world of the marketing concepts and down to earth, you are right in that the Victory FL 32mm is bright (I own one) and a lovely instrument. It would seem logical that if the HT glass benefits the HT 42mm bins, why can't the same glass bring benefits to a 32mm version that could perhaps be a bit brighter than even the FL? Well maybe this could happen, but Zeiss couldn't call it an HT because of the reasons mentioned above. Also, for all I know (I am not an optical expert) it maybe that the HT glass gives its best benefit in large lumps of glass like the A-K prisms Zeiss uses in its HT 42mm models. Perhaps there would be little or no discernable benefit with the smaller S-P prisms used in the 32mm bins.
I hope this has cleared this up for you, but if not please post again.
Lee
Hi Lee,
Ok, now I'm confused |:S| :h?: ......
I always though the HT stood for
Hunters
Type ?! :'D (ROTFLMFAO !! terribly sorry - just couldn't resist that! ...... =) 8-P
You are right in that HT glass + A-K prisms = "HT Concept" or HTC - not to be confused with THC :hippy:
You are also right in that Zeiss won't shove whopping great A-K prisms in the compact 8x32. They'll stick to the S-P prism system.
Even though the Schott HT glass shows most benefit in the long A-K prisms, Zeiss
will shove it in the 8x32's S-P prisms to show a minor light transmission improvement (up to ~1.5% - but not more than!
), along with all the other attendant colour balance and contrast improvements that will bring, as you currently enjoy in your 8x42 HT. :t:
I'm sorry :cat: but you are partly wrong in saying it won't be called the HT. For sure it won't be called the "HT Concept", since that bit of marketing jiggerypoo© is already taken. What it will be called though is the HT "something" ......... c'mon chuck some words around .......
* the "HT Lite" - hmmm - I don't think that will go down to well in the US, perhaps the "HT Upsize Value Happy System"?
* the "HT Revelation" - hmmm - will be warmly received in Vatican City, but might have limited success in the Islamic world - I'm sure the "HT Paradise" would be a bigger hit there - although there might be some legal wrangling with Opticron's "Oasis" coating!
* the "HT Vive La Minute Différence" - sure to be a big hit in France.
* the "HT Fair Dinkum Mate" - will of course get big wraps Downunder.
* the "HT Molly-Koddled No Konsequence Feralz" - will be a must have for the younger crowd,
and I'm certain there are at least one or two others
Although the benefits of the HT glass will be minute (~1.5%, Holger and I did the maths somewhere), I'm sure having seen the HT benefits yourself, that at least you'll agree, they will be well worth it. One thing I could never get answered to my satisfaction though - is just how the heck does the existing 8x32 FL manage to transmit 94.6 +/-1% ? - and why the bleedin' hey! aren't all S-P roofs on the market up to this level ?!
Chosun :gh:
