10x50 Wide Angle - How can this be? (1 Viewer)

Hi,

I have a couple sets of bins. One is the Olympus 7x50 Pathfinder. One is the Simmons AETEC 10x50 wide angle.

Interestingly the FOV for the 10x50 is 344, whereas the FOV for the 7x50 is only 303. Both bins are 50mm objectives.

Is this a foul on the manufacturer's part? How can a 10x50 bin be wider than a 7x50 with the same objective? How can its magnification be greater than the 7?

In looking through both of them, I swear they have the same size image but I haven't done any real testing of that. Interestingly, the 10x50 bin has significant CA compared to the 7x50.

They're both on the better end of their respective brands but I think the Olympus is the clear winner by all its qualifications.

I'm just curious if these Simmons can live up to their rated values or are a product of marketing hype. They're still pretty good quality but in comparison ever so slightly darker and have the CA compared to the Olympus.

Cheers,
Matt

Didn't simmons get bought up by Meade?

Hi Matt,

Field of view and magnification are generally determined by the design of the eyepiece. In order to maintain a high quality view, it usually costs more to achieve the wider field at the higher magnification. The wider field of view on the 10x maybe creating the same "apparent" view and image size as the narrower field at 7x. Hold both pairs up to your eyes and look through one side of each binocular at the same time...you can then directly compare the actual image size against each other. It takes a few seconds to get the image from each binocular in line so they are superimposed over each other !!!!

Doug......