As the 1st anniversary (March 29, ’23) of my Zeiss SFL 8x40 approaches, I thought it might be fun to revisit my prior post to reflect upon the purchase experience and share my observations about using my new Zeiss SFL 8x40. The context described in my previous post dated about November 18, 2023 is supplemented by my year’s use and observations described in this second post.
I will pick up with a few themes from the first post that were significant in the purchase process and explain how they played out. While a novice at using binoculars to observe the natural world, a few minutes with a friend’s Vortex Viper HD 10x42 caused the hulls to fall off my eyes as an enhanced vision of the natural world appeared thru them, and that completely changed my perception of binocular use for observational purposes. I was hooked.
My prior experience with binoculars was limited to a porro prism model with the predominant, if not almost exclusive use being coastal navigation. I actually tried my navigation binoculars on a photo safari in the Okavango Delta in Botswana and in the rain forrest of Costa Rica. I set them aside after basically one look. I relied on my eyes and the skill of the trackers to get me close enough to the game to observe with the unaided eye or used a telephoto lens to view the scene as well as capture an image of it. I realize now that my experience would have been very different if I had known then what I know now about binoculars and viewing the world through them. I will not be without my binoculars again. Lesson learned!
My home area in the USA did not have a retail store with binoculars available to examine and use, so I immediately jumped online and became overwhelmed with the information available— most of it repetitive at some point. I knew I wanted to use the binoculars for general observations of the natural world with an emphasis observing birds, butterflies, and small animals as those were the most accessible to me and my circumstances. After viewing a few youTube videos and visiting a few online sites, with the information on Birdforum being one of the most helpful sources, I settled on the 8x42/40 as being the best compromise for my general intended use although I have, and had, always been drawn to the greater detail seen in higher magnification lenses. I had already gotten the connection between hand shake and 10x or greater magnification on handheld use. The 40/42 ocular lens size appeared to match my dawn, dusk, forest, and open space/marsh/coastal viewing opportunities.
I knew that I was not a candidate for the used market as I was too inexperienced to sort through all the used binocular historical information as well as incurring the additional risks as a novice of buying second hand online for my primary binocular….so, new it would be for me. The sum of my life experiences described in the earlier post as well deciding to raise my budget from $1500 US to $2000 US allowed me to develop a list of several different binoculars, and as I have previously mentioned, I ordered the 8x40 Zeiss SFL model, and after one false start, I received and kept a “good” one.
I liked the modern, utilitarian appearance of the model with its black color and finish. The armor was thin yet it has held up to the use and exposure of the past year. I have tried to handle the binoculars with care as I am mindful that I have, for me, an $1800 item that I didn’t want to abuse; however, that expenditure did not cause me to shy away from any use that I desired, or to forgo taking the binocular because of geographical or meteorological circumstances or environment. The is armor still snug and there are no edges or corners of the armor that have separated from the body.
The body of the binocular is still “grippy” without being “sticky” even in the hot, humid summer weather of the NC coast where we experience days the dew point and temps often yield “feels like” weather of 100 degrees plus. In the winters we often have a series of days that the temperatures never rise above the freezing level, so the binoculars have been used during temperature extremes as well as more moderate conditions. The exterior has held up to the exposure without an obvious fault to date. The ocular covers and rain guard originally supplied have performed satisfactorily the entire year and they are still in use. Ditto for the eyecups.
Out of the box the focuser was very smooth and a little tighter or firmer than I prefer. Over the first two days of use, it loosened up a notch and has remained at the same level of firmness through out the year. I am able to move the focus wheel freely and easily with one finger in either direction from close focus to infinity with no change in effort required from near to infinity. The focus feel has always been “buttery “ smooth and precise with no detectable lag, overshoot, or lapse. In a word, it has been a “joy” to use. I hope that it is never replaced with the autofocus arrangements of the camera/lens world I have previously experienced. The focus wheel/mechanism performed flawlessly during all environmental conditions from below freezing temperatures to temperatures exceeding 100 degrees. I have always appreciated the size and location of the focus wheel for my hands and fingers as neither my focus finger muscles or hand muscles experienced stress from using the SFL for quick adjustments during long sessions of following small birds flitting from branch to branch in a thicket of wild olive or a forest canopy of pine and oak.
The SFL weight has never been a limiting factor for me and my use of the SFL. I do know that the heavier porro design I have is too heavy for comfortable extended use so, I have experienced a binocular that is too heavy for my current use but I have not used lighter models. I was able to use my SFL in all instances without weight being an issue.
I have several seed feeding stations along and on a deck railing that has Yaupon holly and Chinese privet, that are about 9 feet tall, growing alongside the railing. My optic epiphany occurred when I as able to follow 4 types of sparrows, a tufted titmouse, and finches, cardinals and warblers as they flew to an outer branch of the Yaupon and then hopped from branch to branch within the foliage. I followed the movement with precise focus adjustments , when and if necessary, as the bird flitted from the branches to its chosen seed on the railing. The colors were natural in that the optics did not appear to add anything color-wise that was not present or to emphasize a specific color’s intensity more than the other colors observed. I felt this made long viewing relaxing as neutral colors did not have a color veil that made greens “greener “ and blues “bluer” but also whites less white, ie, with a blueish, yellowish or greenish veil when the observed whites should be white. For viewing nature I have found that, for me, the more exactly my perception of the color reproduced through the binocular matched the scene as seen with my unaided eye, the longer I could view it without the stress that comes from having certain colors stand out or appear more “intense” or “saturated” than other scene colors. The problem with emphasizing a specific color(s) in the color spectrum is that you can not turn off the “emphasis” when that added intensity or lushness isn’t wanted because it isn’t in the scene observed. Therefore, for my general viewing I prefer color reproduced and appearing as natural and like the scene under observation. The SFL’s did reproduce colors with a high degree of fidelity to the original scene without being either “harsh” or “washed out”.
The birds and branches were all sharp with good contrast and resolution. I saw nuances in common patterns and colors appearing on bird’s feathers that I had not been able to see before and do not remember seeing in photographs. It was exciting to watch their journeys through the branches with enough “3 D” effect to have a sense of space between branches and leaves as the birds hopped from one branch to another within the depth of field inside the bush. The sense of depth of the scene and of spacing between elements (branches and leaves) in the scene created the sense that I was viewing the real world the birds were moving in and through. It was fascinating to experience.
While speaking of my optical experience with the SFL, I’ll mention that I did notice some slight CA along straight lines with high contrast. It never was a problem in viewing and often was the result of my eye position and/or a very slight focus adjustment. I am sensitive to the presence of CA and rejected the first pair of binoculars I received because of objectionable CA when I looked through them. The most extreme example I observed occurred when I was viewing a small hawk perched in the top of a tree against a light gray cloudy sky near sunset approximately 80 meters away and the hawk’s black silhouette had a small green edge around the head and along the back of the hawk. It did not interfere with the viewing experience yet it was noticeable and I would have preferred that it wasn’t there. I will say that sometimes a slight adjustment in binocular-eye position or slight focus adjustment made the CA vanish. I don’t know what, if anything, that might suggest. I have used the SFL 8x40 I retained without CA issues that interfered with my use of or enjoyment of my SFL.
Other than the view through the SFL, the factor that has come to mean the most to me is the ease with which I can use the binocular when bringing it up to my eyes to use. I am able to immediately view the scene and quickly/precisely focus without encountering blackouts, “doughnuts” or “half moons” and other visual miscues I have read about in reviews of other binoculars. I do not wear glasses currently to view through the binoculars. I use the eye cups in the fully extended position and my visual connection is immediate when I raise the binoculars to my eyes. The process is so easy and natural that I don’t think about it. More importantly, I have never refrained from peering through the binocular at an object or scene because I had to fiddle with adjusting it in some manner after bring it to my eyes to peer through it. There have never been any issues engaging its use that have subtlely caused me to pass on viewing something because I just didn’t want to fiddle with obtaining a clear complete view. I have noticed that type of fatigue when using other binoculars that were more finicky about the process of engaging the view through the binoculars.
The length of this post has slaughtered the brevity hounds now scattered around me so I will conclude it by saying that I have throughly enjoyed using the SFL 8x40 almost every day for the past year and look forward to using it for years to come. It seems to have been well designed and made for its intended use. I have also learned there are times when I have wanted a higher magnification to see more detail clearly, or view a duck sitting on the waters surface in more detail than I could observe with the 8 power. Those thoughts for another post. I am still learning about the natural world by viewing it through binoculars and loving it… and learning about binoculars too.
I will pick up with a few themes from the first post that were significant in the purchase process and explain how they played out. While a novice at using binoculars to observe the natural world, a few minutes with a friend’s Vortex Viper HD 10x42 caused the hulls to fall off my eyes as an enhanced vision of the natural world appeared thru them, and that completely changed my perception of binocular use for observational purposes. I was hooked.
My prior experience with binoculars was limited to a porro prism model with the predominant, if not almost exclusive use being coastal navigation. I actually tried my navigation binoculars on a photo safari in the Okavango Delta in Botswana and in the rain forrest of Costa Rica. I set them aside after basically one look. I relied on my eyes and the skill of the trackers to get me close enough to the game to observe with the unaided eye or used a telephoto lens to view the scene as well as capture an image of it. I realize now that my experience would have been very different if I had known then what I know now about binoculars and viewing the world through them. I will not be without my binoculars again. Lesson learned!
My home area in the USA did not have a retail store with binoculars available to examine and use, so I immediately jumped online and became overwhelmed with the information available— most of it repetitive at some point. I knew I wanted to use the binoculars for general observations of the natural world with an emphasis observing birds, butterflies, and small animals as those were the most accessible to me and my circumstances. After viewing a few youTube videos and visiting a few online sites, with the information on Birdforum being one of the most helpful sources, I settled on the 8x42/40 as being the best compromise for my general intended use although I have, and had, always been drawn to the greater detail seen in higher magnification lenses. I had already gotten the connection between hand shake and 10x or greater magnification on handheld use. The 40/42 ocular lens size appeared to match my dawn, dusk, forest, and open space/marsh/coastal viewing opportunities.
I knew that I was not a candidate for the used market as I was too inexperienced to sort through all the used binocular historical information as well as incurring the additional risks as a novice of buying second hand online for my primary binocular….so, new it would be for me. The sum of my life experiences described in the earlier post as well deciding to raise my budget from $1500 US to $2000 US allowed me to develop a list of several different binoculars, and as I have previously mentioned, I ordered the 8x40 Zeiss SFL model, and after one false start, I received and kept a “good” one.
I liked the modern, utilitarian appearance of the model with its black color and finish. The armor was thin yet it has held up to the use and exposure of the past year. I have tried to handle the binoculars with care as I am mindful that I have, for me, an $1800 item that I didn’t want to abuse; however, that expenditure did not cause me to shy away from any use that I desired, or to forgo taking the binocular because of geographical or meteorological circumstances or environment. The is armor still snug and there are no edges or corners of the armor that have separated from the body.
The body of the binocular is still “grippy” without being “sticky” even in the hot, humid summer weather of the NC coast where we experience days the dew point and temps often yield “feels like” weather of 100 degrees plus. In the winters we often have a series of days that the temperatures never rise above the freezing level, so the binoculars have been used during temperature extremes as well as more moderate conditions. The exterior has held up to the exposure without an obvious fault to date. The ocular covers and rain guard originally supplied have performed satisfactorily the entire year and they are still in use. Ditto for the eyecups.
Out of the box the focuser was very smooth and a little tighter or firmer than I prefer. Over the first two days of use, it loosened up a notch and has remained at the same level of firmness through out the year. I am able to move the focus wheel freely and easily with one finger in either direction from close focus to infinity with no change in effort required from near to infinity. The focus feel has always been “buttery “ smooth and precise with no detectable lag, overshoot, or lapse. In a word, it has been a “joy” to use. I hope that it is never replaced with the autofocus arrangements of the camera/lens world I have previously experienced. The focus wheel/mechanism performed flawlessly during all environmental conditions from below freezing temperatures to temperatures exceeding 100 degrees. I have always appreciated the size and location of the focus wheel for my hands and fingers as neither my focus finger muscles or hand muscles experienced stress from using the SFL for quick adjustments during long sessions of following small birds flitting from branch to branch in a thicket of wild olive or a forest canopy of pine and oak.
The SFL weight has never been a limiting factor for me and my use of the SFL. I do know that the heavier porro design I have is too heavy for comfortable extended use so, I have experienced a binocular that is too heavy for my current use but I have not used lighter models. I was able to use my SFL in all instances without weight being an issue.
I have several seed feeding stations along and on a deck railing that has Yaupon holly and Chinese privet, that are about 9 feet tall, growing alongside the railing. My optic epiphany occurred when I as able to follow 4 types of sparrows, a tufted titmouse, and finches, cardinals and warblers as they flew to an outer branch of the Yaupon and then hopped from branch to branch within the foliage. I followed the movement with precise focus adjustments , when and if necessary, as the bird flitted from the branches to its chosen seed on the railing. The colors were natural in that the optics did not appear to add anything color-wise that was not present or to emphasize a specific color’s intensity more than the other colors observed. I felt this made long viewing relaxing as neutral colors did not have a color veil that made greens “greener “ and blues “bluer” but also whites less white, ie, with a blueish, yellowish or greenish veil when the observed whites should be white. For viewing nature I have found that, for me, the more exactly my perception of the color reproduced through the binocular matched the scene as seen with my unaided eye, the longer I could view it without the stress that comes from having certain colors stand out or appear more “intense” or “saturated” than other scene colors. The problem with emphasizing a specific color(s) in the color spectrum is that you can not turn off the “emphasis” when that added intensity or lushness isn’t wanted because it isn’t in the scene observed. Therefore, for my general viewing I prefer color reproduced and appearing as natural and like the scene under observation. The SFL’s did reproduce colors with a high degree of fidelity to the original scene without being either “harsh” or “washed out”.
The birds and branches were all sharp with good contrast and resolution. I saw nuances in common patterns and colors appearing on bird’s feathers that I had not been able to see before and do not remember seeing in photographs. It was exciting to watch their journeys through the branches with enough “3 D” effect to have a sense of space between branches and leaves as the birds hopped from one branch to another within the depth of field inside the bush. The sense of depth of the scene and of spacing between elements (branches and leaves) in the scene created the sense that I was viewing the real world the birds were moving in and through. It was fascinating to experience.
While speaking of my optical experience with the SFL, I’ll mention that I did notice some slight CA along straight lines with high contrast. It never was a problem in viewing and often was the result of my eye position and/or a very slight focus adjustment. I am sensitive to the presence of CA and rejected the first pair of binoculars I received because of objectionable CA when I looked through them. The most extreme example I observed occurred when I was viewing a small hawk perched in the top of a tree against a light gray cloudy sky near sunset approximately 80 meters away and the hawk’s black silhouette had a small green edge around the head and along the back of the hawk. It did not interfere with the viewing experience yet it was noticeable and I would have preferred that it wasn’t there. I will say that sometimes a slight adjustment in binocular-eye position or slight focus adjustment made the CA vanish. I don’t know what, if anything, that might suggest. I have used the SFL 8x40 I retained without CA issues that interfered with my use of or enjoyment of my SFL.
Other than the view through the SFL, the factor that has come to mean the most to me is the ease with which I can use the binocular when bringing it up to my eyes to use. I am able to immediately view the scene and quickly/precisely focus without encountering blackouts, “doughnuts” or “half moons” and other visual miscues I have read about in reviews of other binoculars. I do not wear glasses currently to view through the binoculars. I use the eye cups in the fully extended position and my visual connection is immediate when I raise the binoculars to my eyes. The process is so easy and natural that I don’t think about it. More importantly, I have never refrained from peering through the binocular at an object or scene because I had to fiddle with adjusting it in some manner after bring it to my eyes to peer through it. There have never been any issues engaging its use that have subtlely caused me to pass on viewing something because I just didn’t want to fiddle with obtaining a clear complete view. I have noticed that type of fatigue when using other binoculars that were more finicky about the process of engaging the view through the binoculars.
The length of this post has slaughtered the brevity hounds now scattered around me so I will conclude it by saying that I have throughly enjoyed using the SFL 8x40 almost every day for the past year and look forward to using it for years to come. It seems to have been well designed and made for its intended use. I have also learned there are times when I have wanted a higher magnification to see more detail clearly, or view a duck sitting on the waters surface in more detail than I could observe with the 8 power. Those thoughts for another post. I am still learning about the natural world by viewing it through binoculars and loving it… and learning about binoculars too.
