Granted the SF isn't built like an FL....BUT...before you pass judgement, take it out and use it for a while. A short time at a retailer doesn't do IT or ANY binocular justice IMO. The "handling" marketing is a little overboard too IMO. But, BUT....take it out and use it. Go BIRDING with it. The view is almost indistinguishable from an SV....and it is impossible to overlook that Zeiss gives us the same flat field AND the widest FOV around for a 8X42. Flat FOV AND widest FOV. Think about it. Does that sound like an ideal for a birder?
I had an instance where I started off birding with an SV 8.5X42. I'd all ready been warned how close the birds were. I was having a little trouble getting on the birds... Swapped to the SF 8X42...it was just a better instrument for the job.
I'd still pick the SV 8.5X42 as the best all arounder. I wouldn't blame anyone for picking the SF either.
Chuck,
It was more than just a look out of a city store, trying to find a tree up the road, at parks, searching for birds, looking at people up the street, and reading distant license plates. I spent considerable time with them over the weekend at our BirdFair - comparing to multiple bins, looking at various directional aspects relative to the sun (or where it was hidden behind the clouds!
at both real and 'imaginary' birds!
:-O
As I said, it was a fairly brutal day for CA - overcast, yet at times diffuse bright light. There was a white flagpole ~100m away, lots of markers and reference points for comparing Fov, and as it was a wetland parkland/conservation area, a plethora of black and white birds perched and flying around - Australian White Ibis, Little Pied Cormorant, Seagulls, Pelicans, Australian Magpie Lark, Willie Wagtail, Fairy Martins, White-breasted Woodswallows, and the Catholic -- Pacific Black Ducks flying purposefully by, Noisy Miners, and Rainbow Lorikeets, as well as a very cooperative Nankeen Kestrel scoffing down a mouse which I watched in amazement through the 8x SF's. Add to that the green lawns and shrubbery (Bottlebrushes with their myriad showy bright red nectar laden flowers), various shades of green trees and differently textured barks, as well as brightly coloured signs, buildings, etc and there was a very good spectrum for both testing and BIRDING. Failing all of that, there were both flocks, and hidden individuals, of black and white metal silhouette birds conveniently placed around the joint. 3
The only thing really lacking in terms of environmental conditions was bright low sunlight, contrasting fluffy white clouds and deep blue skies, or any sort of colouration in the sky toward sunset. As such I couldn't really scrutinize glare performance, but conditions and subjects were excellent for a CA grilling.
The main thing with the SF's was the first impression of a difficult fit with me in terms of ergonomics and eye positioning, and of the lack of quality compared to the ask. Optically there is much to like (given the negatives of transmission I detailed earlier), but would take a lot of fiddly setting up for me.
I pretty much knew how the ergo's would play out just from an engineering analysis of dimensions, construction, and cutaway drawings and photos, and the OTT marketing hype. To be fair, I did do an ad hoc analysis of weight distribution by balancing the bins on my fingers as a pivot see-saw style. This gives a very good idea of where the Centre of Mass is, and with a gentle (and careful!
rocking you can feel the concentrated mass of the high element count oculars and reversed S-P prisms kicking in. Largely though it is the smoke and mirrors placement of the hands so far forward which magnifies this reward weight balance in the hand - it in no way makes up for having your elbows swinging in the breeze and the weight of your arms leveraged off your shoulders.
So this was like BIRDING + :cat:
I agree, both the Zeiss 8x42 SF and the Swarovski 8.5x42 SV make good all-round binoculars - though neither is perfect. The SF just doesn't feel the ask (those that picked them up for ~ $1600 did reasonably well), and the focus on the SV is not exactly luxurious although I understand the logic of the design for Northern Hemisphere winters.
The SF desperately needs HT glass, retuned coatings, and further refined armour (I'd also like a larger knurled metal focusing wheel and different positioning - but that could be personal preference). Both the SF and the SV could do with faster focusers for my preferences too.
Chosun :gh: