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Swarovski must have fixed the glare issues in the SV 8x32. (1 Viewer)

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I had an SV 8x32 2nd generation about 2 years ago and it had glare issues under certain conditions. I just recently bought a new SV FP 8x32 3rd generation and I have been comparing it too my SV FP 8.5x42 3rd generation and I am not seeing the glare problems it use to have. In fact it is good at handling glare as the bigger glass.Apparently Swarovski must have fixed the glare problems. They are not there anymore. The focuser seems to be better than past models also. It is very smooth now.
 
I disagree. I owned the SV 8x32 for several months and got rid of it due to glare. I compared with a colleague's 8x32 Field Pro and found the same issues with glare/stray light as I did with my SV.
I have not found this issue to be nearly as prevalent in any of the 8.5x42s or the SLC series.
 
Well- I'm about to find out for myself. Expecting an 8x32 to arrive in 2 days, then off for a week of testing in the mountains.
 
I disagree. I owned the SV 8x32 for several months and got rid of it due to glare. I compared with a colleague's 8x32 Field Pro and found the same issues with glare/stray light as I did with my SV.
I have not found this issue to be nearly as prevalent in any of the 8.5x42s or the SLC series.
How long ago did you own the SV 8x32? I just purchased this pair about 2 weeks ago. I think it might have been a recent improvement. I used to have both the SV 8x32 and 8.5x42 in Generation 2 and I would notice quite a bit of difference in glare control with the 42mm being better. I don't notice a lot of difference between the two with this latest SV 8x32. I was out at sunset last night and I didn't get the veiling glare on the 32mm like I use to. You still get a little bit of reflection when you get really close to the sun out of both the 32mm and the 42mm but the little glass is much improved. The S/N is F881947020. Take the first 2 digits and add 1930. So mine were built in 2018.
 
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Well- I'm about to find out for myself. Expecting an 8x32 to arrive in 2 days, then off for a week of testing in the mountains.
Let us know how it performs and what the S/N is on yours. Texas mountains will be a good test especially looking up at steep angles in the canyons. I like the SV 8x32 a lot. Maybe more than the SV 8.5x42. You really appreciate the size and weight when hiking in the mountains.
 
.....
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...... Apparently Swarovski must have fixed the glare problems. ....
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As far as I know, „fixing a glare problem“ would require changes in several parts of the bino, including baffling etc. I am not aware of any such recent changes in Swaro‘s production (does anybody know for sure?).

Maybe the engineering group in Absam Austria are jointly reading this thread, drinking coffee, chuckling about our exchange ....
 
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Quality control and improvements is a continuous process at Swarovski, as I have seen during my visits to the company, on the basis of contacts with the company and on the basis of our own investigations the past decades.
I have not reacted so much on the glare topic here, since I hardly ever noticed any glare problems with the different binoculars either 30/32 or 42/56.
Gijs van Ginkel
 
Let us know how it performs and what the S/N is on yours. Texas mountains will be a good test especially looking up at steep angles in the canyons. I like the SV 8x32 a lot. Maybe more than the SV 8.5x42. You really appreciate the size and weight when hiking in the mountains.


I would like to have a try on that 8X32....I like a lot the view of the 8.5X42 but i am a little bit afraid that the 32MM One don 't have the relaxed and "walking" view of the 42 (don't like the 10X42 compare to the 8.5X42 probably du to the smaller exit pupil).
 
Let us know how it performs and what the S/N is on yours. Texas mountains will be a good test especially looking up at steep angles in the canyons. I like the SV 8x32 a lot. Maybe more than the SV 8.5x42. You really appreciate the size and weight when hiking in the mountains.

Will do! I'll call it like I see it. No doubt a few have had a problem in the past with glare- due to the individual, how they use them, or where and when they use them. I think far more people have zero issue with glare. Regardless, there are trade-offs in design, and I believe the positives outweigh the negatives in this case by a wide margin.

Should have them tomorrow. :t:
 
Will do! I'll call it like I see it. No doubt a few have had a problem in the past with glare- due to the individual, how they use them, or where and when they use them. I think far more people have zero issue with glare. Regardless, there are trade-offs in design, and I believe the positives outweigh the negatives in this case by a wide margin.

Should have them tomorrow. :t:
Exactly my feelings. The SV 8x32 is not perfect but it is so good in so many areas that it is hard to beat.
 
I would like to have a try on that 8X32....I like a lot the view of the 8.5X42 but i am a little bit afraid that the 32MM One don 't have the relaxed and "walking" view of the 42 (don't like the 10X42 compare to the 8.5X42 probably du to the smaller exit pupil).
I have both the SV FP 8.5x42 and the SV FP 8x32 and I find the 8x32 has more of the "walk-in view" than the 8.5x42 with a bigger FOV. The SV 8x32 will WOW you more than the bigger glass. Try one.
 
For me having one is impossible. I must say I can see why some say the EL SV 8.5X42 is the one to have, if only one. It is a very nice glass.

Andy W.
 
What glare issue, another urban myth....

Jerry

Not a myth this time, Jerry. Compared to most binoculars the internal baffling of the 8x32 ELSV is demonstrably poor. See photos of the internal reflections that cause its glare problems in this thread:

https://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=308250

The "glare issue" will be gone only when the baffling has been improved to eliminate those reflections. That should be easy enough to establish by examining and photographing the interior from the eyepiece end like the photos in the thread above.

Subjective opinions about whether the glare in the 8x32 ELSV is better now won't be helpful. We already know that some people have said they never saw it in the older ones, even though the reflections that cause the glare must unavoidably enter a properly dilated and centered eye when the lighting conditions are right.

Henry
 
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In order to really know if the glare issue has been "fixed", we need pictures like Henry took in this post (the 2nd and 3rd pictures): https://www.birdforum.net/showpost.php?p=3251084&postcount=1

Can you provide pictures through your copy Dennis? It should be relatively easy, just make sure your camera or phone is properly aligned.
Rather than pictures I will describe the glare I see in the two SV's. The only glare I see is when the sun is setting and I look RIGHT under the sun at the horizon then in both the 8x32 and 8.5x42 SV I will get a small crescent of glare along the bottom outside edge of the FOV. The size of this crescent is about the same in both. I have tried a LOT of binoculars and all of them will show this kind of glare to a greater or lesser extent. The 42mm's are generally slightly better than the 32mm's. The only binoculars I have seen that show NO glare when you look directly under the sun are the big 8x54 FL Zeiss and the 8x56 SLC Swarovski and then you have to decide if you want to carry a binocular that big to eliminate a little bit of glare along the bottom of the FOV only in certain extreme conditions. The kind of glare I don't like is the veiling glare that completely covers your FOV with a milky, white fog to the point that you can't see anything. I have observed this on the Swarovski Habicht 8x30 W and the Nikon M7 8x30. That type of veiling glare IMO is a deal breaker.
 
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