Zeiss Victory 8x42 SF 524223 REVIEWS? (1 Viewer)

denco@comcast.n · Aug 26, 2018

james holdsworth said:
Funny how some worry about the outer 5% of the FOV of binoculars, yet dismiss veiling glare that will affect contrast and image quality across the entire FOV at all times.

James. Yes, I do worry about it and it bothers me when that outer 5% of the FOV is an ORANGE RING. I do not dismiss veiling glare and I have never kept binoculars that have veiling glare that were that bad. The only ones I have experienced that have had veiling glare to that degree are the Habicht 8x30W, Zeiss 8x32 FL, Zen Ray 7x36 ED and the Nikon M7 8x30. If you referring to the Swarovski 8x32 SV FP I have yes it does show more glare than my Swarovski 8.5x42 SV FP but only in situations where you are very near the sun and then for me it is not that bad. Some people see it and some don't. I still think it is the best 8x32 I have tried overall and I have tried them all and I like it for it's size and weight and bigger walk-in FOV than the 8.5x42. Here is a nice chart Canip did comparing glare on different binoculars although I think glare is like CA in that it can be very personal and everybody see's it too different degrees.

peatmoss · Aug 26, 2018

I can induce a thin, orange line (not a ring) in the left side telescope of my 8x42SF, between the 7 and 8 o'clock positions. It is not visible in the right side. To me it is the very edge of a false exit pupil not fully masked by any of the baffles. That it does not appear on the right side indicates that the baffles successfully mask it on that side. Over all, I'd characterize it as a type of glare, and as glare goes, it's not too serious. Ymmv.

denco@comcast.n · Aug 26, 2018

peatmoss said:
I can induce a thin, orange line (not a ring) in the left side telescope of my 8x42SF, between the 7 and 8 o'clock positions. It is not visible in the right side. To me it is the very edge of a false exit pupil not fully masked by any of the baffles. That it does not appear on the right side indicates that the baffles successfully mask it on that side. Over all, I'd characterize it as a type of glare, and as glare goes, it's not too serious. Ymmv.

Your probably seeing the same thing to a lesser extent.

peatmoss · Aug 27, 2018

Here is a poor attempt to photograph the aberration. It is on the left side of the image near the field edge. I don't see how it could possibly grow into a ring encompassing the entire field. The false pupil in confined to that specific area only. Having said that, the construction of the left and right side telescopes are mirror images, so this aberration around 7-8 o'clock on the left scope would appear at 4-5 o'clock on the right (except on mine, since the baffles mask it on the right side of mine). So if you had a unit with the aberration in both sides, it would appear on both the 7-8 o'clock and also the 4-5 o'clock. Who's to say that one's brain wouldn't synthesize these two views into a single orange aberration all along the whole bottom of the field? But that still would not be a ring around the entire field. Others have mentioned a blue-ish ring at the field edges. I have seen similar in some binoculars, but do not see them at all in the SF's.

denco@comcast.n · Aug 28, 2018

peatmoss said:
Here is a poor attempt to photograph the aberration. It is on the left side of the image near the field edge. I don't see how it could possibly grow into a ring encompassing the entire field. The false pupil in confined to that specific area only. Having said that, the construction of the left and right side telescopes are mirror images, so this aberration around 7-8 o'clock on the left scope would appear at 4-5 o'clock on the right (except on mine, since the baffles mask it on the right side of mine). So if you had a unit with the aberration in both sides, it would appear on both the 7-8 o'clock and also the 4-5 o'clock. Who's to say that one's brain wouldn't synthesize these two views into a single orange aberration all along the whole bottom of the field? But that still would not be a ring around the entire field. Others have mentioned a blue-ish ring at the field edges. I have seen similar in some binoculars, but do not see them at all in the SF's.

I am sure that is what I saw. Same color and shape although I think mine extended around the FOV a little more.

james holdsworth · Aug 28, 2018

And, thus, a new legend is born - orange rings around the FOV of the SF.

Repetition works wonders for cementing opinion.

aCuria · Aug 28, 2018

peatmoss said:
Here is a poor attempt to photograph the aberration. It is on the left side of the image near the field edge. I don't see how it could possibly grow into a ring encompassing the entire field. The false pupil in confined to that specific area only. Having said that, the construction of the left and right side telescopes are mirror images, so this aberration around 7-8 o'clock on the left scope would appear at 4-5 o'clock on the right (except on mine, since the baffles mask it on the right side of mine). So if you had a unit with the aberration in both sides, it would appear on both the 7-8 o'clock and also the 4-5 o'clock. Who's to say that one's brain wouldn't synthesize these two views into a single orange aberration all along the whole bottom of the field? But that still would not be a ring around the entire field. Others have mentioned a blue-ish ring at the field edges. I have seen similar in some binoculars, but do not see them at all in the SF's.

I don’t even see this on my sample, looks like lens flare, fairly well controlled lens flare at that

henry link · Aug 28, 2018

Peatmoss,

See if you can establish where the light is coming from. First try placing your hand to the side of your head when you see the flare to fully seal against light leaking from behind you and reflecting into your eye from an eyepiece lens. The color of the reflection suggests it it may be a return from a coated glass surface in the eyepiece.

If it's still there with the light from behind completely blocked try placing your hand near the front of the binocular on the opposite side from the reflection to block glancing light side light from reaching the objective lens. If that eliminates the flare then it's an internal reflection toward the front of the binocular.

Henry

PlanetMaker · Aug 29, 2018

james holdsworth said:
And, thus, a new legend is born - orange rings around the FOV of the SF.

Repetition works wonders for cementing opinion.

Really, your the only one that gets it :t:

peatmoss · Aug 29, 2018

Dennnis, It might get a bit longer, but not much.

James, No rings here, just a short arc of flare. Cool orange color though....

aCuria, I agree 100%. To quote myself from post 82, " Over all, I'd characterize it as a type of glare, and as glare goes, it's not too serious." I've had the SF for over a year, and have never felt the need to even mention this before, except to temper Dennis's recent observation. The fact that it does not appear in the right side scope at all suggests to me that there is a baffle intended to suppress it, and I would not be surprised if the vast majority of SF's successfully masked it completely. I guess Dennis is lucky, and I'm half lucky!

Henry, I had the same initial thought as you. So I threw a jacket over my head to block extraneous light, and the aberration was still there. Yes, I can make it disappear by placing my hand around the 1-2 o'clock position, opposite the aberration's position in the fov. As you wrote, this suggests it is an internal reflection. Sometimes with false pupils, one can track them by looking through the objective instead of the EP. So out of curiosity, I turned, the binocular around and shone a flashlight through the EP to see what was visible at that position. I believe I found it. Pic 1 is what I saw, a bit of an orange pupil. But with a slight shift in camera position, I was able to induce a full spectrum pupil, Pic 2. My guess is that only the orange-red made it past the baffle, explaining it's color. Pic 3 is the orange pupil again, but with a stronger flashlight.

Overall, an interesting discussion about a minor bit of flare!

denco@comcast.n · Aug 29, 2018

I have had a LOT of binoculars and I have never seen flare like that before in any of them until the Zeiss 8x42 SF. It wasn't minor in my opinion. It was a fatal flaw.

GLOBETROTTER · Aug 29, 2018

Sf 8x42

Sf 8x42

GLOBETROTTER · Aug 29, 2018

This and the green cast made me return the SF long time ago after one month of frustration.

My current binocular are now

NV 10X42

FP 10X50

HT 8X42

And the true old classic, BA 10X50, BGAT 10X40, 7X50 BGAT

Troubador · Aug 29, 2018

[email protected] said:
I have had a LOT of binoculars and I have never seen flare like that before in any of them until the Zeiss 8x42 SF. It wasn't minor in my opinion. It was a fatal flaw.

Dennis calm down. Haven't you seen the crazy angle the camera is pointing in compared with the optical axis?

Lee

PlanetMaker · Aug 30, 2018

Troubador said:
Dennis calm down. Haven't you seen the crazy angle the camera is pointing in compared with the optical axis?

Lee

I seriously think Lee it's time to close this thread, my SF has NONE of the negatives spoken of here, wider then some 7x, sharper then my SV 10x50 or 15x56, no false colors or flare, light for it's size, I'll be doing a full review soon and why I started the thread for but now I can do my own review to ad to the community.

This thread has only left me sad over the bashing with only one positive of being excellent for asto observing, which I agree but untimely I know it works for me and I have to shake off the unenjoyment others have found and overly repeated.

Troubador · Aug 30, 2018

Dennis I was referring to Peatmoss's photos.

SF is not above criticism and I have called Zeiss out on the eyecups many times on here and directly to Zeiss themselves. The eyecups work ok but they feel poorly made and not in keeping with the price of the binos.

As to optical phenomena such as described here it is hard to comment having never seen such things myself in either my two SFs or the many I have looked through at 4 Bird Fairs and several dealers. If I bought an SF with coloured rings appearing at the edge I would no more get excited about this than if I had bought a Swaro and found the focus action was wonky. I would send it back to the supplier as 'faulty goods' and ask for a replacement or refund.

Lee

arran · Aug 30, 2018

One of the big optics dealers in the Benelux told me that 7 out of 10 bins sold in the upper class are zeiss SF , 3 out of 10 SV and almost no NV
Personally iI have the SV and SF both in use and must say that the SF is to my opinion the best birding glass
I never had problems with the grey zeiss SF , which was bought 3 years ago now

PlanetMaker · Aug 30, 2018

PlanetMaker said:
Have a link to reviews of the newest Zeiss Victory 8x42 SF 524223?
I see threads going back to the older grey models but no reviews of the newest 524223 yet?
Thanks

Look at the FIRST question I asked at the BEGINNING of the thread, I NEVER ask for any of this just links to REVIEWS of the Victory 8x42 SF 524223.

Start your own thread on your complaints of the bino's, I NEVER asked for all this repetition that has NOTHING to do with the original post.

Should be an embarrassment to the mods for never saying "STAY ON SUBJECT", not to mention never getting one link to a review.
LOCK the thread Lee, Jesus!

dries1 · Aug 30, 2018

I saw the white ring on the base of the field stop in two SF samples, I tried three samples, they did just not work for me, I chalked it up to baffle design, eye-cup fit on my facial structure and sample variation. It is good that it works for others, but some of those others should not tell others what is the best just because it is in their wheelhouse.
I moved on, plenty of other glass to checkout, other Zeiss models, Leica, Swarovski, Nikon, Tract, Bushnell, Meopta,the list goes on.
"Enjoy the view"

Andy W.

Pileatus · Aug 30, 2018

The black SF's are superb bins. I discovered that one click on the eye cups eliminated the blue crescent I occasionally observed at the field stop. Once adjusted, I really loved the "walk-in-view" of the SF's.

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