• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

New midsize (and midprice) Swaros in july (1 Viewer)

That's not what the video says, Jerry, see my quote: ("Excellent center sharpness ... edge sharpness is very good" from the cheesy video. Subtracting the marketing out of that I suspect it means the center sharpness is good (but not ED glass good!) and the edge sharpness is OK. Only the Swarovision is sharp to the edges.

My point about colors is current Swaro SLC and EL are available in one color.

Have you used a Conquest? The Conquest 8x30 is quite good at the edges. The overall FOV though is a little narrower than the Swaros. I suspect they'll both be similar in that respect with the Swaro a bit bigger FOV. The Conquest ER is worse than the Swaro too.

It's a shame they're not more like the SLC 8x30 but they'd be heavier and they're trying to not compete with the 32EL or (future) Swarovision 32EL on FOV. ;)

But it will be interesting to see what they're like when they ship.
 
Last edited:
Hermann said:
...The Habicht porros just need some modern eyepieces, that's it.
Click to expand...

YES!!! I love my 7x42 Habicht pair, but would love it quite a bit more if I can use my rainguard with the eyepieces folddown. Twist up/down eyecups would make it the perfect bins for me.
 
I think what Swaro is really trying to do with the 8x30 CL is make an 8x30 Yosemite for kids who get driven to their soccer games in a Mercedes G550 SUV or a Range Rover Sport GT Limited Edition. :)

They already have a tan colored edition, now they just need a red one!

Brock
 
Last edited:
NDhunter said:
Cabelas does show the new Swarovski model. They are backorderable, so maybe July as above.
10x30 - $999.99, 18.2 oz. 300 ft. /1,000 FOV
8x30 - 929.99 17.6 oz 372 ft. /1,000 FOV
Click to expand...

I guess I have spent too long looking at birds and not at binoculars recently, but $930 does not strike me as "mid-price" for an 8 x 30, especially a narrow field of view, second string model. The 10 x 30 is even worse at $1000. Even though you won't get a Hawk pin for your birding vest, I suspect there are a number of better choices for a fraction of Swaro's asking price.
 
walternewton said:
Or less - cameralandny has them priced at $799.
Click to expand...

Or less--I picked up a pair of 8x30 neu SLCs (brand new w/all accessories) for $725 at a local shop--I like the front focuser, wide FOV, view & feel--can't see where the new 8x30 CLs are going to be $200 better than the 'discontinued' 8x30 SLCs!
 
First experience with CL Companion

On the weekend at a Hamburg birdfair I had the opportunity to have a first look through the new Swarovski CL Companions.
The optical performance is fine, perhaps on par with the Zeiss Conquests.
The sharpness decreases significantly from the center to the edges. Perhaps due to the fact that no HD-glass is used, the contrast is definitely inferior to the alpha-bins.
What really strikes me, is the compactness and the "feel" of the new Swaro - it just feels good to hold it in my hands.
 
6 CL Companions up for grabs

as part of the CL Companion launch, we created a little facebook page and a series of little contests and competitions; the final edition (challenge) of which includes 6 CL Companions as prizes.


All it involves is uploading an interesting travel photo / tale and getting a whole pile of people to vote for it.

I believe that many on here would find the binocular interesting (travel, hiking...) and your chances are pretty good at winning a pair.

Now, I realise my opinion is biased, but here is my take on them based on birding/travelling with them over the last month:

Pros:
- size and weight. I have yet to put a neck strap on them as I found that they were small enough / sat well in the hand, that it was enough just to use the little wrist strap (kinda like a compact camera strap).
- makes a great one-handed compliment to the scope/digiscoping setup I have over my other shoulder (interesting enough to whip out the scope? yes/no?)
- finish and feel. well, it feels like a Swarovski product, made in Absam (Austria)

Cons:
- it is small so don't expect so pushing into dusk/evening is limited
- it is no EL. image is nice but FOV is certainly smaller than the ELs 62ish°. I have the (almost ridiculously cool) luxury of being able to choose whatever binoculars I like to take out birding with me but I have recently found myself reaching more and more for the CLs when I am looking for a compact little glass to take with. Incidentally, the sand-coloured 8x30 CLs have become my wife's favorite generalist binocular (she has yet to appreciate just how cool birding is ;)).

Happy birding,
Dale
 
Dale,

Enjoyed the competition. (tell the software guys to sort out their geography!). I'm not on Facebook so we used my son's account. He's just back from a years travelling which added to the fun as he'd been to most of the destinations. Quite an adventure, including having his(my!!) binos stolen on the route to destination 1 and his camera stolen on route to the last! (We'll have to do a deal should he get lucky. ;) )

David

PS. He managed to salvage 30000 photos from the trip. Picking a 'winner' might take some time!
 
Last edited:
I don't belong to facebook and likely will never join so will have to wait until someone else puts them up in a raffle of sorts.

Bob
 
tonimaroni said:
On the weekend at a Hamburg birdfair I had the opportunity to have a first look through the new Swarovski CL Companions.
The optical performance is fine, perhaps on par with the Zeiss Conquests.
The sharpness decreases significantly from the center to the edges. Perhaps due to the fact that no HD-glass is used, the contrast is definitely inferior to the alpha-bins.
What really strikes me, is the compactness and the "feel" of the new Swaro - it just feels good to hold it in my hands.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't expect the CL to be par with the contrast of "HD" alphas. However, for $928-999, and with a narrowish FOV, I was expecting better edge performance, sort of a mini-me SLCNeu. Even the under $200 Pentax 8x36 NV has very good edge sharpness with a 6.5* FOV. But it's not compact (6" long!). The Nikon HG 8x20 compact is sharp to the edge, with a 6.8* FOV.

If the edge falloff in the CL is field curvature, users' results will vary with their focus accommodation, but for your eyes, how far from center (percentage wise) would you say the sharpness falls off in the CL? IOW, how large is the sweet spot? Can the edges be refocused?

The $375 ZR 7x36 EDII is very sharp and contrasty at the center, with no CA at the center, though the sharpness decreases significantly from the center to the edges, but it's all field curvature and can be refocused right out to the edge, and here we're talking about a 9* FOV. With a smaller FOV, I would want better edge performance like the Pentax.

But neither the EDII or the Pentax NV is very compact. The CL's ergonomics sound very good from your description and Dale's. Like having compacts with midsized glass, making it ideal as a travel bin. That seems to be the true innovation of the CLs.

Brock
 
Last edited:
Other than size, there are a lot of competitive bins out there for less than $900. I'll be curious to see them once released and will certainly withhold judgment until.
 
CSG said:
Other than size, there are a lot of competitive bins out there for less than $900. I'll be curious to see them once released and will certainly withhold judgment until.
Click to expand...

The 8 x 30 SLC is now less than $900.00. Some places much less.

Bob
 
Warning! This thread is more than 13 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Similar threads

G
Is it just me?
3 4 5
Replies
99
Views
8K
Paultricounty
P
J
Brief comparison between Swarovski AX Visio 10x32 vs EL 10x32 Swarovision
2 3
Replies
41
Views
3K
tehri
tehri
C
AX Visio: is it really as bad as some reviewers claim??
2 3 4
Replies
68
Views
7K
Canip
C
B
Curio 7x21 v Uvid 8x20 personal review
2 3
Replies
48
Views
11K
PW42
P
rollingthunder
12x42 NL Pure.....
Replies
16
Views
4K
SuperDuty
SuperDuty

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top