SuperDuty
Well-known member
Your good ole binocular buddy SD here with some more musings, ramblings, just some more plain ole fun.3
Since I've had a look at all of the 10X Swarovision models, I decided to give the 8.5 a try, I'll keep it short since both of these have been covered extensively in these forums, and you can't really go wrong with any one of the lineup. My main objective was to eliminate the slightly bothersome ( to my eyes, not necessarily anyone else's ) CA that I find in the 10X50, while retaining the ease of view and overall stellar image quality of that model. The 8.5 view is not quite the slap it up to the eyeballs and (bang, there it is) effect of the 10X50, but without direct comparison I would find absolutely no fault in that regard. Most of the differences between these two are naturally related to the 1.5X less magnification of the 8.5, basically if you want to see more fine detail go with the 10X. To my eyes the 8.5 has ease of view second only to the 10X50SV, it has obviously slightly less detail retrieval than the 10X50 but looks more crisp, sharp, and has better contrast. Of most importance to me, I can have the SV experience without seeing a level of CA that brothers me. Less intense CA coupled with a 54 ft larger FOV make it much easier to avoid the florescent purple and greenish yellow fringes I see in the 10X50 (just) out of the center FOV. This is what I see, and I understand that most people don't have the CA problem I have. Overall, to my eyes, the EL8.5X42SV is the finest optic I have yet seen, they don't match the 10X50 in some ways that will be more important to others, but they tick most of the boxes that are of most importance to me. Here's one for Brock, my 10X50 has a near perfect focus knob action, my 10X42 and this example of the 8.5 are acceptable but nothing special, the 10x32 I used a few days back, absolutely horrific. They were totally unacceptable, as is this level of inconsistency in a line of binoculars costing between two and three thousand dollars retail. Maybe owners of the new series won't have to worry about this issue. I would enjoy hearing what anyone else has to say.
Robert
Since I've had a look at all of the 10X Swarovision models, I decided to give the 8.5 a try, I'll keep it short since both of these have been covered extensively in these forums, and you can't really go wrong with any one of the lineup. My main objective was to eliminate the slightly bothersome ( to my eyes, not necessarily anyone else's ) CA that I find in the 10X50, while retaining the ease of view and overall stellar image quality of that model. The 8.5 view is not quite the slap it up to the eyeballs and (bang, there it is) effect of the 10X50, but without direct comparison I would find absolutely no fault in that regard. Most of the differences between these two are naturally related to the 1.5X less magnification of the 8.5, basically if you want to see more fine detail go with the 10X. To my eyes the 8.5 has ease of view second only to the 10X50SV, it has obviously slightly less detail retrieval than the 10X50 but looks more crisp, sharp, and has better contrast. Of most importance to me, I can have the SV experience without seeing a level of CA that brothers me. Less intense CA coupled with a 54 ft larger FOV make it much easier to avoid the florescent purple and greenish yellow fringes I see in the 10X50 (just) out of the center FOV. This is what I see, and I understand that most people don't have the CA problem I have. Overall, to my eyes, the EL8.5X42SV is the finest optic I have yet seen, they don't match the 10X50 in some ways that will be more important to others, but they tick most of the boxes that are of most importance to me. Here's one for Brock, my 10X50 has a near perfect focus knob action, my 10X42 and this example of the 8.5 are acceptable but nothing special, the 10x32 I used a few days back, absolutely horrific. They were totally unacceptable, as is this level of inconsistency in a line of binoculars costing between two and three thousand dollars retail. Maybe owners of the new series won't have to worry about this issue. I would enjoy hearing what anyone else has to say.Robert
