Celestron Regal ED 8x42 Mini Review. (1 Viewer)

[albie...]

My replacement showed up this past Thursday . My first impression on Thursday was good . Yesterday it was bad, very bad (more on this later) . This morning with the early morning sun behind me the Regal's impressed me alot . I don't want to say too much until I've had more time with them . Did a bit of comparing with the Monarch HG 8x42 and a Manfrotto Pistol grip Monopod yesterday . I will say that the Monarch HG for me is leaps and bounds ahead of the Regal as far as how it feels in my hands . It's just feels better the shape and texture AND the 3.5 oz difference in weight .
I am not the reviewing kind of a guy but I feel I know a good view when I see it . So I will add to this thread when I have had more time playing with the bins .

 

[dries1]

I see a lot of snow there, dodged the bullet here in SE Pennsylvania.

 

[albie...]

Well after 4 days of playing with the Regals and comparing them to my Nikon MHG , I have decided I won't be keeping the Regals . At some point in the near future I will be selling them . I know it's not a fair comparison considering the different price points , even still the Regals did quite well considering .
What do I like about the Regal ED ? It has a wonderfully sharp,flat and wide field of view . The fit and finish is nice for the price . Almost as sharp as the Nikon but not quite , the Nikon resolved detail better than the Regal , as it should .
Getting back to my comments in post #21 . My first day with the Regal provided me with views that were sharp, contrasty and free of severe aberrations , I was pleased . The second day with the Regal it showed severe CA , it was horribly distracting and no matter how I held the binocular it was there . Third day was like the first and the fourth day was like the second day . I don't know what was different that caused me to see severe CA , perhaps positioning of the bin with my glasses on was enough to cause the abberation on day 2 and 4 . The Nikon did not suffer the CA problem at all other than a tiny bit of it towards the edge of the fov at times .

 

[Binocollector]

Sounds to me like it is the glasses that are to blame.

 

[albie...]

Sounds to me like it is the glasses that are to blame.

Can you elaborate ? The glasses are a two week old prescription so they're new , they are progressives , no tint and they are Nikon lenses . I have no CA issues at all while wearing the glasses with the Nikon MHG 8x42 . Maybe the Nikon is easier to get the ipd set correctly and or get the positioning of my glasses correct , OR the Nikon is just a lot better at taming CA than the Regal . I believe the latter .

 

[Binocollector]

It might just be a weird combination. Maybe the lenses in the Regal just somehow don't work with your glasses. Otherwise, why would they have CA one day and none on the next? Just a guess, but can you not just do some tests to find that out?
Wear the glasses, look at some high-contrast targets, see how they perform.
But sure -- IPD could be a cause too. If the images are not perfectly centered, CA can creep in.

 

[BKoh]

Progressive eyeglasses change prescription as you move from top to bottom. So if you are looking through a different part of the eyeglasses because your eye shifted or the glasses shifted, you may have to refocus the binos to get them sharp, or CA may be visible no matter how you refocus.

It's possible that you hold/use the MHG differently enough that the eyeglass/eyeball shift doesn't occur, so no CA is seen.

Try the Regals with your old glasses or with no glasses. If there is no problem then it's your new eyeglasses.