..and I'd be interested to know others' views (whether in agreement or otherwise). Especially so from Konstantinos, who recently has (or has had) the same binoculars as me but is replacing them with the equivalent Conquests. He has talked a little about his reasons, but I (for one) would like to know more, especially the trade-offs between better performance and the (substantial) increase in price. That's not a "right or wrong" thing, more a "how did you calculate the value equation?" thing...
...Mike
First of all, I was curious, after reading all these comments in CN and BF about alpha and almost alpha binoculars.
I made the full road in Telescope optics, from Celestron Plossls to Televue Ethos and Delos (couldn't do the same with Obsession and Astrophysics telescopes but I find all my chinese optics fine for what they are intended to do, no astrophotography thankfully). So I knew that you gain a minimal to mediocre upgrade by spending twice to four times as much. In the same time there are people that describe that change as jaw dropping or overwhelming, so I now know that I am a more reserved person. At the same time people complained about things such as edge of field brightness, astigmatism at the extreme edge, coffee tints etc, things that didn't bother me much, so I knew I was more forgiving. Maybe I am a higher f person or have a barlow in mind
But I work a lot, I have some money to spend for myself (around 5% of my income), and since I don't like horseracing, gambling, drinking, womanizing etc, it's all about books, music and hobbies stuff. You know what, books and mp3s don't cost that much today.
On the other hand I was raised a poor boy, so I feel regret after nonsensical spending for luxurious and empty staff. That makes me search for the golden ratio, the best cost/effective choices and equipment that have a beneficial value to price quote. I drive a Hyundai Matrix for 12 years and I need nothing more than that.
Back to binoculars now. I know about optics so I know what I want. Reliable brands amf products that do something better than others. Pentax gave me the short focus, Canon the IS and one of the big 3 (or 4) would give me a glimpse of what makes a quality binocular.
I chose Zeiss because it is a available here. And Terra as an entry, because of the low risk expense.
It was more than I hoped for. The Canon 18x50 IS costs almost 3 times as much and the Terra was better in many respects. Clarity, compactness, ruggedness, ergonomy etc made it my goto binocular. Keeper.
I had a few complaints.
Color aberrations, the italian flag phenomenon. It is non important 95% of the time and situations. But that black shag on a rock had an ugly lateral coloration and a similar green yellow tint followed the shallows flying in a brightly lit sky background.
And I was getting spikes on intense light sources.
And the 56 degrees felt narrow.
These are all. So the Terras are good as an all around binocular, but could be better. Enter Conquest.
I wanted to keep the 8x42 Terra and add a 8x32 Conquest. But a friend sold me his 10 days old 8x42 Conquest.
It has marginally more AFOV. Moderate upgrade here (8x32 has more AFOV).
Spikes are ultra thin and less bright, almost invisible.
Color is there but it is further from the center, paler (more a pale yellow and pink rather than bright green and magenta) and almost absent when I follow that black shallow around (something I enjoy a lot).
They are heavier and longer, but still portable (inside the Terra's velvet string bag).
They had one fragile cord for the objectives covers, so I exchanged cords with the Terras and now they stay in place.
They have too much eye relief, so I get kidney beaning. I don't have the longer eyecaps. I might try the O-ring solution.
Resolution without amplifiers is almost the same.
So it is better but not that much. But better is better so I reach always for the Conquest and not the Terra now. I would use also the Terra if it was a 8x32 or 10x42 though.
I expect Victory HT to be as much better than the Conquest as the Conquest is from the Terra, but since Conquest solved my main two problems with the Terra I don't feel the need to. I just want a lighter 8x30 for more frequent carry and Zeiss Terra, Conquest, Kite Ibis and Maven B3 are in my randar, but I might try a Victory FL, who knows?
