I think some people on Bird Forum take a review as fact. You can see it in their responses. Well Henry or somebody else said the CL wasn't any good so now I don't have to try them. I think your review was well written but I disagree with your findings and I just want to remind people not to make a decision based on one or two persons reviews. I feel your review was tainted a little by the placebo effect. Because of the price differences in the binoculars you tested you had an expectation that the more expensive binoculars would be better hence they were. If it was a blind test and you didn't know which binocular was which I don't think the results would have been the same. I personally feel any review by one person is totally worthless. You should have a sampling of at least ten people trying and comparing each binocular then I would tend to believe it more.
Wow- Dennis, your love really did grow cold! Just in post #14 on 8/19 you wrote this:
That is the best review I have ever read on Bird Forum! Nice. That is just the type of review I like. Nice pictures also. Beautiful country. I agree with your FOV opinion but not necessarily everything else about these three excellent binoculars but that is a matter of opinion.............
Great review though.
And now my review is : "by one person is totally worthless"; and " review was tainted a little by the placebo effect";
Sounds like someone took my "personal" review a little too personally!
Oh well, I'll get over the hurt in time - B
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As I said in the beginning here, my review was and I re quote here: "a personal review that is based on my personal empirical observations using my eyes and my hands" - as in one, Uno- 1 person.
But, one thing I can for sure tell you is - it was not based on any placebo effect favoring which binocular was the most expensive. I spent a lot of time carefully going back and forth over 3 days and have looked at them some more since then. As far as price- the CL's were the 2nd most expensive at the current prices that I reviewed. And I put it at last place of the 3 Swaro 30 and 32 mm current ones. I also had it behind -by a good bit my 8x32 Pentax DCF ED (which I put at 2nd overall BTW) and also I put the CL behind my 1999 Swaro 7x30 SLC.
So, this was a personal review and much of color, contrast etc is personal observations. And your part about- if I was blind folded and not knowing which bino was which, and having my test results turn out different- I do not buy at all. Because I went back and forth quite a bit, for hours, and looked very carefully.
In fact I think possibly you may be the one that is a bit biased and affected by the "tainted placebo" effect;- in fact if you have a new flavor of the month bino- it is now the best, but when a bino is "old news" - then Adios- not really much good any more. Eg- "the CL is better than the Nikon SE, E II, Zeiss FL, in fact it is a little baby SV"
Here is a quote that I posted concerning my review of the bino's in the other thread on these CL's regarding what I thought of the colors and contrast- etc.:
When you have all 3 of the 30 and 32 mm Swaro's in front to you- you can see differences in more than just FOV.
For one- when you just look at the external coatings on the 8x32 EL and the 8x30 SLC NEU, next to the 8x30 CL, it is apparent that there is a definite color hue difference to the coatings. The EL and the SLC looked absolutely identical, and both of them were darker than the CL. When you look down the obj. barrels- there is also a different baffle thing going on in the lining with the CL. Now Swarovski says they all have the same coatings- but to what degree? and how are the optic designs different.
For an example of the above- supposedly Swarovski has said for a long time that the coatings and lenses on the EL and the SLC were the same; and from the outside that looks to be the case. But... even though the SLC is nice, in almost all side by side tests done by independent testers and reviews- the EL comes out on top in the resolution department.
And for me- As far as the FOV influencing or affecting my other findings in relation to my review of colors; contrast, or resolution detail/ clarity- that was not the case. My findings in those things was based just on what I saw in center axis and just looking straight down the middle.
Between the CL and the EL- there was no comparison (or lets just say the CL fell a noticeable step behind) in the resolution, colors, and contrast etc.
Now when comparing the SLC NEU to the CL- ; irregardless of the FOV- there was a noted difference in the colors and contrast. Resolution is sometimes more difficult to define/describe.
I will try and describe the color/ contrast difference between them briefly. The SLC NEU's colors and contrast were more vivid and defined . The CL's looked to be more muted, or faded in comparison- just did not "pop" the same. A good illustration that came to mind for me was a Optometric/ Ophthalmology exam. When I get my eyes tested and they are doing that comparison test of going back forth and asking which ones looks clearer, or sharper etc- I thought of these 2 in that manner. If you put one after the other and back and forth and was asked which one has a nicer center view ( regardless of which ones FOV was better) based on colors, vividness, or just which one as a more pleasant view? It was way obvious each time I looked at them in that manner- the SLC NEU was better in that category. If you just put the binoculars up to my eyes like an eye Doctor with out me seeing the binos and even blocked out the outer field- so I only could see the center axis- it would be clear which one was better. Like I said the SLC just "popped" more in color, contrast- more vivid.
This would be a good way for people to do independent testing- just hook up bino's to a eye exam type station and start going through and having the DR./tester say "Now which one looks more clear, has a nicer view, now how about this one, and now this one, which one is better- # 1 or # 2"; # 1, now # 2 again? etc. etc.
Well Dennis, - Cheers, I still love Ya babe.
And to others, I will try to discipline myself to stop responding here in this point counter point with my friend here. It is just so hard sometimes
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