• 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.

Final consideration: Swarovski SLC 8X56 WB or Zeiss 8x56 FL (1 Viewer)

T

tuan

Member
Hi all,

I have decided to buy an alpha 8x56, and am leaning towards the Swaro. But I want to know your thoughts before making the final decision.

Justification:

- I have always like 7mm exit pupil, but it seems all high end 7x50s have too small FOV for me.

- I like low power. I have 7x42 slc already. But i miss the powerfull image of more aperture binoculars, such as the 10x50 Fujinon FMT SX I used to have. But I don't like 7x50 for the above reason. 6x is not available, so the choice is 8x.

- I want a brightest possible handheld binoculars to observe scenery at sunset and sunrise. Weight of a 56mm is no issue because I used to love the Fujinon.

- i have some money to spend on one of "the best".

Requirements:

- the binoculars should provide an image of neutral or warm tone, as I like the colours of sunset and sunrise.

- large FOV/sweet spot and good edge sharpness are prioritised, because I will observe landscape, not birds.

- best available quality is desired.

I have seen beautiful reviews of the Swaro slc wb and the Zeiss fl on here. Both are surely great although the Swaro look like it suits my requirements better in image tone and edge sharpness. I am just not sure which one is brighter.

Please let me know your thoughts. And thanks.

Tuan
 
To add to the above. Since selling the Fujinon 10x50 FMT-SX, I have always missed its powerful image. the colour saturation at sunset is incredible. Just like a glass of good cognac full of flavours. but I don't want to come back to 10x and individual focusing. I hope the 8x56 will give me that kind of image.
 
tuan said:
To add to the above. Since selling the Fujinon 10x50 FMT-SX, I have always missed its powerful image. the colour saturation at sunset is incredible. Just like a glass of good cognac full of flavours. but I don't want to come back to 10x and individual focusing. I hope the 8x56 will give me that kind of image.
Click to expand...

Hi Tuan,

Among the currently available 8x56 binoculars, I like the Swaro SLC the best. The Zeiss 8x54 is smaller and lighter, but its edge sharpness is inferior.

None of them is truly wide angle. Perhaps you wait for the Nikon 7x50 super wide angle with 10.7° to appear later this year. Disadvantage: Individual focus, and it will require more than a substantial investment (perhaps 5000-6000 US$), but it will be the best of the best.

https://togetter.com/li/1090629

Cheers,
Holger
 
Thanks, Holger. The 50mm superwide is AMAZING. Do you know how certain that Nikon will actually release these later this year?

At 2500g it will not be handheld for me. So I should still need a 8x56.

But those Nikons are irresistible!!!
 
tuan said:
Thanks, Holger. The 50mm superwide is AMAZING. Do you know how certain that Nikon will actually release these later this year?

At 2500g it will not be handheld for me. So I should still need a 8x56.

But those Nikons are irresistible!!!
Click to expand...

Hello Tuan,

The Nikons will come - I got the confirmation about that on the IWA in Nuremberg. They haven't told me a date, most likely in autumn when Nikon is going to celebrate their 100 year anniversary. I agree, they are irresistible, and I am in continuous negotiations with my wife regarding the importance of such a purchase in order to maintain world piece and other benefits o:)

Cheers,
Holger
 
RobMorane said:
Hi Tuan,

Have you read the awesome comparaison from Erik Bakker?
https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/446051-swarovski-slc-56-wb-vs-zeiss-victory-fl-56/page-2

To summarize quickly, If you want the largest sweet spot, the best edge sharpness, the most neutral presentation of the image, go for the SLC (as Holger said :eek:)
Click to expand...

Thanks. Yes I read that post by Erik three times. :). And the obvious internal reflection in the Swaro that he showed us, compared to the absence of such in the Zeiss, is what annoys me most about the Swaro. How could that happen!!!! But on other points, the Swaro wins me so far, just as you advised.
 
Holger Merlitz said:
Hello Tuan,

The Nikons will come - I got the confirmation about that on the IWA in Nuremberg. They haven't told me a date, most likely in autumn when Nikon is going to celebrate their 100 year anniversary. I agree, they are irresistible, and I am in continuous negotiations with my wife regarding the importance of such a purchase in order to maintain world piece and other benefits o:)

Cheers,
Holger
Click to expand...

Thanks. I hope you will success with the negotiations.

I agree, peace in the world is gone for me, the moment I saw those Nikon superwide.
 
Tuan,

The SLC image, towards the edges of the field, has much less astigmatism than any of the big Zeiss 8x binoculars. Field curvature is main aberration deteriorating the image, and this is much more benign in my view. Also, the sweet spot is wider than in Zeiss Victory FL or HT.

The false pupils shown in the exit pupil photos will stay outside of your eye pupil vision in daylight viewing, so should not influence the image.

I second Holger's opinion that the SLC is currently the best large binocular. Personally, I like the 10x56 SLC best, but the 8x56 is also beautiful.

Color rendition is as close to perfect as they come, you will not be able to see a brightness difference between these and the Zeiss models (if there even is any), but the SLC's have better contrast, which you will see.

For your needs and preferences, I think you will not regret it if you get the SLC.

The Nikon super wide is a tripod-only instrument, and as such fills a completely different niche. If I were a rich collector, I'd place an order on one. As is, although it is likely to offer the best image quality to have been seen in binoculars, it is not of use to me. On a tripod, I will keep having a scope, and as a hand-held binocular, will keep using the best available IS bino, supported by a short and lightweight finnstick.

Kimmo
 
And the obvious internal reflection in the Swaro that he showed us, compared to the absence of such in the Zeiss, is what annoys me most about the Swaro. How could that happen!!!!
Click to expand...

To complete what Kimmo said, I'm not sure internal reflections is such a big deal.
Swaro is not the greatest regarding this issue, especially with the EL's, but the EL are still amazing Binos.

A good read is this one (if it can help a bit):
http://www.scopeviews.co.uk/Swaro10x56SLC.htm
They are about the SLC 10X56 but they are just a bit less bright than the 8x when Erik compared them.

Another good reading is this one (in German though)
http://www.manfred-alberts.de/fileadmin/090_095_56_Vergleich_DJZ_0914_1.pdf
they tested most of the 8x56's of the Market.

Having tried the 3 Zeiss and the SLC, at the end, the "complete" picture given by the SLC won me over.

I was planning to buy the 8X56 but after having tried the 8x, 10x and 15x,
I bought the 15x instead, to be able to see more details far away,
without having to carry around a tripod and a spotting scope on difficult terrain.

Not mentioning if it's to carry more than 1Kg of Binos, I prefered to get the extra magnification
(I know, that's quite a stupid statement ;o)

To use in a Forest or Birdwatching, I would have surely bought the 8x, calmer view, great FOV etc.

Be careful, don't under estimate the weight of the 56 Binos.
They still are Heavy Binos.
Meaning despite of being 8x, your arms are getting tired quickly.
A Finnstick can be useful.
 
Last edited:
Thanks all for the info and advice, which answered my question well. I managed to read the docs given by Rob, but not the one by Gijs, somehow the link doesn't work for me.
 
Gentlemen, now on my wish list is a translation into English.

I cannot get this with the translator I am using.

Thanks in advance.

Jerry
 
Hi Tuan,

I stood for the same decision as you are right now.
I was looking for the ultimate binoculars for my dusk and nighttime badger observations.

My lineup were the:

Leica Ultravid 8x50
Zeiss Conquest 8x56
Zeiss Victory HT 8x54
Swarovski SLC 8x56

The Leica was simply to dark in the dim lit part of the shop of Jan van Daalen / House of Outdoor obviously and was put aside immediately.

The Victory HT / Conquest / SLC were left.

The HT seemed a bit darker than the Conquest and SLC and also didn't felt so well balanced which would annoy me if I have to keep te bins for many minutes in front of my eyes observing badgers. So, also the HT was put aside.

Left were the Conquest and the SLC.

To be honest this was a tough decision. The Conquest was just a shade (in the poorly lit shop) darker, but had a very smooth and precise focus knob. The SLC was just a bit brighter, but the focus knob was a bitter stiffer.

Also the price difference was tempting to pick the Conquest over the SLC and I really had a discussion with myself if this amount of money was worth it, for that tiny bit of extra brightness.

In the end my wife was the smartest of us both, as always.

She told me to buy the SLC, since I would get used to the focus knob and I would ever be doubting if the SLC was a better choice when it would be really dark.

So I ended up with the SLC and a few months later I was watching my badgers in the dark with a friend, with a Conquest, and he was suggesting to go home, because it became to dark to see anything and I was surprised because I had still quite good vision over the badger sett and we exchanged the bins for a while and the tiny bit in the shop, made a huge difference in the real dark world and the extra sum of money was well spend on the SLC.

For me the best buy ever.
 
Malloot,

Quite a story to tell and very well writen. Thank you.

The news of the Nikon WX has shaken all my plans. But I have been thinking a lot about the SLC in the last few days and your story may make me loose sleep again :).
 
Warning! This thread is more than 7 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.

Similar threads

T
First Love Rekindled
Replies
8
Views
809
Tringa45
T
C
Zeiss conquest 8x56 review
Replies
4
Views
318
Craig77
C
etc
A quick review of Swarovski 12x50 EL versus Zeiss 10x54 HT
Replies
11
Views
2K
Scott98
S
tenex
Choosing SLC over NL... (Swaro please read)
5 6 7
Replies
126
Views
20K
[email protected]
D
P
Upgrade from Nikon 8x30 EII to Zeiss Victory 7x42 FL?
Replies
10
Views
1K
PedroP
P

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top