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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Help with Habicht 8x30 (1 Viewer)

Arielelf

Well-known member
I have fallen in love with the idea of having a new pair of Habicht 8x30's but am concerned that I would not be able to use them with my glasses. I have recently bought a pair of Nikon 8x30 E, the first E not the new ones which are better for glasses. I do not have any trouble using them with my glasses and seem to be getting the full field of view. I love this format and size and would much prefer to have the waterproof swaro versions.

Does anyone here use these with glasses? If I were to use them with glasses would I just loose part of the fov or would I just get blackouts. I would love to buy these new to get the lifetime warranty but don't want to spend the money to find out that they don't work for me.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
I'm very biased but do use my Habicht 8x30s with glasses and am fine. But apparently I'm not near as sensitive as other folks with FOV. No blackouts for me though.
 
That is hard to tell. A lot will depend on the type of glasses you wear, their frames and the thickness of the lenses. You probably will have to try one out to be able to buy one with full confidence.

The Habichts have a bit shorter eye relief than the Nikon 8x30 EIIs (12mm to 14mm) which have thin fold down rubber eye cups. It looks to me like the Habichts rubber eye cups are thicker than the Nikon EIIs based the EII I own. (See picture of the Habicht in link below.) And I believe that the original Nikon 8x30 E had hard eye cups.

http://www.cameralandny.com/optics/swarovski.pl?page=swarovskihabicht8x30

The poster in post #10 in the thread below says the Habichts eye relief is too short for eyeglass wearers, but that applies to him.

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=117352

There is more discussion on them here:

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=30398


Bob
 
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The nikon E that I have has fold down rubber eye cups. I believe that the first generation E's had less eye relief than the Eii's but I am having trouble finding actual numbers for eye relief.
 
I have an 8x30 Habicht, and there's no way I could use it with glasses. IIRC, Swarovski states the eye relief is only 12mm, so these would not work for the majority of eyeglasses wearers.
 
For whatever reason, the idea hasn't caught on that your eyeglass prescription plays a major role in determining your eye relief needs. In general, near sighted folks can get away with shorter eye relief than far sighted people. The optical explanation has to do with how the prescription lenses move the effective location and size of your eyes' entry pupils.

Ed
 
I am nearsighted, but it sounds like it probably won't work out for me. There are no dealers near me with them in stock so I would have to order them sight unseen which makes me feel a little uncomfortable. Sounds like its not going to work out. Oh well. Maybe I will go for a newer Nikon Eii with more modern coatings and bring my Swaro Pocket 8x25's along in my bag in case of wet weather.
 
Unfortunately the Nikon 8x30 E IIs are not sold in the USA anymore. They seem to be still available in Europe.

You could also check the used market for them.

Bob
 
I am nearsighted, but it sounds like it probably won't work out for me. There are no dealers near me with them in stock so I would have to order them sight unseen which makes me feel a little uncomfortable. Sounds like its not going to work out. Oh well. Maybe I will go for a newer Nikon Eii with more modern coatings and bring my Swaro Pocket 8x25's along in my bag in case of wet weather.

You could check with a frequent poster here, a Swaro. seller, he
had one that was returned from a frequent returner, that one may
be available.

Check post #2. I have an idea this is one guy I would like to deal with.:t:

Jerry
 
I am nearsighted, but it sounds like it probably won't work out for me. There are no dealers near me with them in stock so I would have to order them sight unseen which makes me feel a little uncomfortable. Sounds like its not going to work out. Oh well. Maybe I will go for a newer Nikon Eii with more modern coatings and bring my Swaro Pocket 8x25's along in my bag in case of wet weather.

From what I recall, ER = 14mm for Nikon's 8x30 E2. That is perhaps 2mm more than the Habicht 8x30, but it's still short. Your pocket Swaro is 17mm by comparison.

Try before you buy.

Ed
 
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You could check with a frequent poster here, a Swaro. seller, he
had one that was returned from a frequent returner, that one may
be available.

Check post #2. I have an idea this is one guy I would like to deal with.:t:

Jerry[/QUOTE]


That return is the one that stays in my car and is used all the time. So, he kind of did me a favor?
 
You could check with a frequent poster here, a Swaro. seller, he
had one that was returned from a frequent returner, that one may
be available.

Check post #2. I have an idea this is one guy I would like to deal with.:t:

Jerry


That return is the one that stays in my car and is used all the time. So, he kind of did me a favor?[/QUOTE]



If you don't bring it in at night let us know how its focus wheel functions on a cold December morning.;)

Bob
 
How about a cold Nov. morning, 15 degrees this AM. The focus wheel needs a good push to get it going but then it's about the same, maybe a smidge more, tension as usual (what most folks refer to as stiff).
 
If you don't bring it in at night let us know how its focus wheel functions on a cold December morning.;)

On my Habicht 7x42 the focus wheel loosened up a bit since I got the pair. OK, it's still quite stiff compared to most other porros I know (including the SE or my old Zeiss West porros) and certainly far stiffer than most modern roofs, but it's not that bad really. Low temperatures don't seem to make a difference so far, but then it's not really cold here yet.

By the way, I remember someone from Norway posting here about the Habicht 8x30 several years ago. He apprently didn't have any real difficulties with the focusing, and it *does* get pretty cold in Norway in the winter ... ;)

Hermann
 
On my Habicht 7x42 the focus wheel loosened up a bit since I got the pair. OK, it's still quite stiff compared to most other porros I know (including the SE or my old Zeiss West porros) and certainly far stiffer than most modern roofs, but it's not that bad really. Low temperatures don't seem to make a difference so far, but then it's not really cold here yet.

By the way, I remember someone from Norway posting here about the Habicht 8x30 several years ago. He apprently didn't have any real difficulties with the focusing, and it *does* get pretty cold in Norway in the winter ... ;)

Hermann

I can second that. I'm in Norway and although the winter has not kicked in in it's full yet we've had many nights and days below freezing. The focus wheel have loosened up some since I got them earlier this year and in normal temperatures it's not to bad. In cold temperatures when I have not used them for an hour or so the wheel needs a bit of extra force to get it going. After that it's still a bit stiff but not to the point where it causes much troubble. With big gloves or mittens it is ofcourse harder because the wheel is quite narrow and does not offer that good grip. In it's price range I would recomend the 8x30 Habicht over anything else that I've tried. They make other binoculars in this segment feel like toys. Only other binoculars that compare, that I've tried, are other swarovskis and zeiss's.
 
I do not have deep set eyes and my glasses are small frame. Full FOV couldn't be acheived even with eyepieces folded down. The only way is to remove the eyepieces completely.
 
Well, at 9 degrees this AM, got the focus wheel working fine but with the short ER and without glasses on, my eyeballs fogged up the oculars. Happened to have my CL 8x25s and they were fine. A not to frequent Bald Eagle in the neighborhood. Did I have my camera with me? Nope.
 
I ordered a new Nikon EII from Japan on eBay from a seller with good feedback. I am hoping it will be a bit more contrasty than my EI, since it has modern coatings. I will keep my Swaro 8x25's in my bag if the weather gets wet. Thanks for the help everyone!!
 
Just don't let it fog or use it in a heavy rain.
The leather covered Habicht has a solid eye cup with very short eye relief, the rubber covered one has the folding eye cups.
Art
 
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