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Vixen @Six 6x18: quirky and surprising pocket binocular (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter yarrellii
- Start date
)Voilà !
And for the Papilio: it's huge against the Vixen @6. The Papilio is a brighter and perhaps a tad sharper, and of course it's near focus performance is unbeatable. Plus it's splashproof !
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pat mitchel
Well-known member
That reminds my of the Fuji Glimpz 5x21 bino- a cheap yet quite decent small bino (no longer made) which for me, a wearer of glasses, comes close to having a full FOV! (supposed ER 13.2mm) Regards, Pat
There are much bigger differences in actual size than mentioned above.
The Optolyth 12x50, which many owners love is actually about 12x42.
15x70s about 15x63.
8x30 actually about 6.7x27. Celestron etc..
As to lenses.
The standard 50mm lenses were usually 52mm.
300mm lenses actually 290mm.
Regards,
B.
The Optolyth 12x50, which many owners love is actually about 12x42.
15x70s about 15x63.
8x30 actually about 6.7x27. Celestron etc..
As to lenses.
The standard 50mm lenses were usually 52mm.
300mm lenses actually 290mm.
Regards,
B.
iseegeorgesstar
Well-known member
Interesting comments about near-focus and picture as well -- thank you for your thoughts.
has530
Well-known member
After reading your post I knew I had to try them! They arrived last night and having had the chance to try them out under the night sky and today in the sunlight I have to say I am quite impressed! They are incredibly lightweight and compact, give an overall pleasing image, and very fun. I agree with pretty much everything you have said about them and have very little to add, but will highlight some things I found notable:
I too note BK7 prisms however in use I find the vignetting to be minimal.
I find CA control to be very good. There is some slight green fringing at the edge of the FOV but practically absent in most of the image. The CA at the edge is not even that noticeable because...
The edge sharpness is adequate but testing under the night sky reveals that there is a decent amount of astigmatism starting in the outer 25% of the FOV. In daytime use it is not bothersome as the sweet spot is plenty wide for what they are and I doubt anyone would buy these for stargazing but it is immediately noticeable if you try.
One other annoyance is there is a small fleck visible in the FOV of one side. It could be the metal shaving on the interior of the objective, a larger speck of dust on one of the prisms, or maybe something in the eyepiece I cannot tell. These are cheap, not sealed, and have a huge amount of objective travel for focus so it isn't unexpected to not have a flawlessly clean interior but I still wish it were a little better.
The interior is reasonably blackened and exit pupils are clean so they handle glare pretty well. It probably helps that in normal usage (not close focus) the objectives are recessed by nearly an inch into the body.
Overall very happy with my purchase. These may replace my papilio sometimes as my museum binoculars for travel since they have nearly the performance at a fraction of the size and weight.
This is my experience as well and probably their biggest flaw from my perspective. It makes it so I have to pull them slightly away from my face in order to focus. It is not horrible but slightly irritating. Maybe this would be an instance when the unconventional objective end focusing like the 30mm SLCs have would work better.
I too note BK7 prisms however in use I find the vignetting to be minimal.
I find CA control to be very good. There is some slight green fringing at the edge of the FOV but practically absent in most of the image. The CA at the edge is not even that noticeable because...
The edge sharpness is adequate but testing under the night sky reveals that there is a decent amount of astigmatism starting in the outer 25% of the FOV. In daytime use it is not bothersome as the sweet spot is plenty wide for what they are and I doubt anyone would buy these for stargazing but it is immediately noticeable if you try.
One other annoyance is there is a small fleck visible in the FOV of one side. It could be the metal shaving on the interior of the objective, a larger speck of dust on one of the prisms, or maybe something in the eyepiece I cannot tell. These are cheap, not sealed, and have a huge amount of objective travel for focus so it isn't unexpected to not have a flawlessly clean interior but I still wish it were a little better.
The interior is reasonably blackened and exit pupils are clean so they handle glare pretty well. It probably helps that in normal usage (not close focus) the objectives are recessed by nearly an inch into the body.
Overall very happy with my purchase. These may replace my papilio sometimes as my museum binoculars for travel since they have nearly the performance at a fraction of the size and weight.
