Opticron Natura BGA (1 Viewer)

The new Natura BGAs are out now and a brief initial review is available here.

Brian
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Birding Today

Will check out the review. I had a chance to handle them extensively at a birding festival this past weekend.loved the ergonomics and they are a solid optical performer. Definitely impressed with them for the price.

The Countryman HD 8x32 stole my heart though. Loved their ergonomics. Fit and finish was excellent. Optically outstanding and only bettered at the show, IMO, by the Swaro SV 8x32s.

FrankD said:

Will check out the review. I had a chance to handle them extensively at a birding festival this past weekend.loved the ergonomics and they are a solid optical performer. Definitely impressed with them for the price.

The Countryman HD 8x32 stole my heart though. Loved their ergonomics. Fit and finish was excellent. Optically outstanding and only bettered at the show, IMO, by the Swaro SV 8x32s.

Click to expand...

Frank, would like to here more on the Countryman 8x32?! Don't see it in stock here in the states??? Bryce p.s. did you get to try the 8x32 porro's???

Frank, while on this kind of Grand Tour of the Opticron range could you check this out for me please? I, alone among all bin users I know about, instantly see something strange and disappointing in the view. This is the case in several models I've looked through - before the newest generation though. I got an Opt. 8x25 (have an odd liking for pockets as main bin) which going by spec. lists was nearly the lightest high-quality pocket and had 25 vs 20 at front vs most, but was really upset. (BTW, cannot sell it off in mint cond. at a low price after months at a shop - in this part of the world demand for bins is v. limited.)

The problem is that, in these otherwise fine instrumnts, the view somehow looks "dingy", so to speak. The one specific factor in this I coud find is that browns are not separated enough from greens (on tree tunks, say, vs leaves). The others, who never noticed this even when their main bin was an Opt., always did when they looked for it on my telling them, even vs less pricey similar-spec. bins. Can only think this is a "red deficieny" (perhaps deliberate) in transmission. Please compare, in particular, brown vs green when their two hues (correct term I hope) make them similar to each other. Thanks! Hope you are directly not too affected by the storm. Was a bit worried about silence after Cape May.

Frank,

I have a particular liking for the Countryman HD out of the Opticron 8x42s, but I've not found an 8x32 to try yet. On Opticron's web site, they say there is a new 8x32 due out December. I'm not sure if there even was an old one, but do you know if the one you would have tried was the December available model?

David

Wex Photographic are advertising a Countryman BGA HD 8x32 for £349 and they're in stock.

Rich

The 8x32 Countryman that I tried was the newest model with the 8 degree field of view. The sales rep, Chip Claus, brought it over from a recent trip to GB. Anyone that purchased one went through the Cape May Bird Observatory as they are an Opticron dealer. I think there was an estimated 5 day ship time after an order was placed to get the bins from the UK to the US. (Can you tell I was interested enough to pay attention to all this? )

Flickr pic will be listed below.

http://m.flickr.com/#/photos/73029961@N07/8144191906/

I did not get to try the SRGA 8x32 or the 8x30 IF Military. Neither was available at the show. I did get to try the 8x42 SRGA and was a bit underwhelmed. I thought the HRWP easily bettered it optically in terms of brightness, color saturation and apparent sharpness.

Pomp,

I wish I could follow through with your request but I left the show on Saturday evening as Hurricane Sandy forced mandatory evacuations. We are still feeling the aftermath. I haven't had power since Monday night and am thumb typing all of this on my IPhone. Had some great pelagic birding though in local lakes thanks to Sandy. Heading back out later today as well.

One thing I would note that may help answer your question, I did bring my Sightron 8x32 along with me on the trip and compared it directly with many bins at the show. When comparing it to the Countryman HD I did note entirely different color biases. The Sightron is, as mentioned previously, reddish to my eyes. Consequently, reds and browns seem to pop a bit more. I love it's contrast level as a result. The Countryman did not have that type of color bias. None of their products did. That isn't to say they didn't have good contrast but rather that they chose to emphasize a different color representation with their anti reflective coating combination.

I plan on posting a full review of the Countryman HD 8x32 as soon as I have power again. Also, just to keep the proverbial juices flowing, I also really enjoyed the Classic 7x36 and the Discovery 8x50. The latter is a sleeper in my opinion. Compact for a 50 mm with good balance. As expected, very bright with excellent eye relief. The field of view and sweet spot size were also much better than expected considering the price and configuration.

Thanks Frank,

Our thoughts are with everyone affected by the storm. Glad you're OK and hope you get your power back soon.

Interesting! I thought the SRGA 8x32 closer to neutral than most of Opticrons other Japanese made pairs (including the HRWP) which I find a little on the warm side, and generally more to my taste.

David

David - Frank was privileged to have been using the latest version of the Countryman HD 8x32 which will ship late December or early January. The current 8x32 HD model has been shipping since December 2011.

Cheers, Pete

Had the chance to try the new Naturas out a fair few weeks back now, as expected from a Japanese model the build quality was very impressive. Little things like the eye cups and the focus wheel were just that much better than the chinese ones. That being said, however, I wasn't over impressed by the picture quality. Personally I found them all too soft at the edges, comparing them with the similarly priced ED-X for example, they were outperformed. Certainly one worth thinking about none-the-less, a good priced Japanese binocular on the whole.

Joe,

Sorry to disagree. The narrowish view and field curvature on the Natura isn't going to suite everyone, but sharpness, contrast and even CA on the pair I tried was way, way better than the ED-X IMO.

David

Hate it when you accidentally press the back button on the mouse and lose everything you just wrote! Don't want to slave over the essay again but will say what you said just shows how important it is to try before you buy, as each person will find different positives and negatives about certain models. I never like to 'sell' binoculars as such, just let the customer try what they like and 'advise' on what each model offers. At the end of the day, it's each to their own!

Frank, thanks! Relieved that your family and house are safe. Replies to me - if any - can await your ease - really don't need to type on the phone! Well, if your explanation is right then my eye (+brain system) in particular finds the Opticr. colour balance unattractive for some reason. If so I hope the newer models are different - let's see! The Cape May store website lists the Zeiss Victory and Leica Ultravid 8x32s - d'you mean you found the Opt. better even than those (okay, your review will tell)? Cannot find it anywhere on the internet incl. the Opt. website! Also - sorry if you've already written on this - is your liking for the Sightron spectrum an acquired taste? I believe this has happened to me, though unfortunately not with the Opts. PS1. Am a bit curious: pelagics blown 50+ km in - what "kinds"? - i.e. kind above species and genus level, "gull" etc. (family or subf. acc. to classif: seems there's still no "common English" word for it!) - and how long did they stay? PS2. Yes, Opt. have some really light and small models. They seem to be the leading maker in this regard. Does mean compromise (deliberate), as in their astonsihingly light Traveller Mgs. Maybe other makers will follow acc. to demand.

A comparison between the new Opticron Countryman BGA HD 8x32 (FOV 140m/1000m) and at least Vortex Viper HD 8x32 (FOV 133m/1000m) would be very interesting.... they seems to be the same price range...

Steve C likes the Vortex one ...B
http://www.birdforum.net/showpost.php?p=2623674&postcount=76


Cheers,

Anders

I should very shortly have the opportunity to do an extensive review of the new Countryman 8x32 referenced above. I will be sure to compare it directly to whatever else I have on hand including the Sightron. More to follow.

That is great Frank!

Last year I visited a binoshop and they, together with Opticron, were kind to send an Opticron Countryman BGA HD 8x42 from England, for me to try out.
I really liked the view but the FOV was too small. Well, the 8x32 has much better FOV...looks interesting...

Anders