well, I went ahead and bit the bullet as they say. I purchased the Premier SE just a few hours ago. The reason is due to the scarcity of this model. It looks to be discontinued on many sites and I was only able to find one site that had it new (Amazon from Optics Planet). I couldn't find it used anywhere and could barely find any new, so I figured I should go ahead and buy it since I really think I would feel regretful in a few months when there are none to be found; similar to the regret I felt when I never purchased a Leupold GR and those are gone and very hard to find. I didn't want that feeling again. So, the Leupold GR's are out...off of my wish list and in its stead this new SE.
I will let you know about the CA after I get it. It's not advertised as such , so I don't think it has the ED glass. The new Yosemite 8x30 that I recently purchased has ugly CA...but they are cheap, very sharp and I love em. There's play in the focus wheel though...but not a big deal to me.
I told another BF member just a bit ago to stage an intervention if I speak again on the BF of any desire or motivation to buy another binocular. I think I'm good for like 10 years now ! But, happy I ordered it...I'm excited about it now. I have 5 pairs of birding binoculars (not including the cheap little compact Olympus I carry in my handbag) and they all add up to about 2,000 dollars. So, 5 nice pairs for the price of one Zeiss Victory or any top alpha roof model...not too bad right ?
Congratulations! Wonder Woman. You are turning into one of us! Check your cellar, there is probably a giant seed pod with your face on it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRVfGMjdGh8
If you don't experience the dreaded SE image blackouts, I think you will be very pleased with it, and perhaps pleasantly surprised at how "sharp" the image is at the center and at the edges. Of course, a sunny day will make the images look better than the dregs of winter.
I was outside today at lunch for a walk with my 8x32 SE. Spotted some bluebirds, who oddly had buddied up with some gold finches. Everywhere the bluebirds went, so did the gold finches. When the bluebirds went down to drink at a snow melt runoff stream, so did the finches. When they flew to another tree (small trees recently planted near a new development), the finches followed. I guess there's "strength in numbers".
This is the second incidence of interspecies cooperation I've seen. The other was also during the winter when a circling hawk zeroed in on mourning doves and starlings perched on power lines, and the two groups of birds flew away undulating in synch with each other. If you've ever observed doves and starlings flying, you must have noticed they have different patterns while flying, but when grouped together they turned and twisted as one flock when they flew in a serpentine fashion and it worked! It outfoxed that hawk, who gave up and went back to circling in the other direction.
Looking at the tree branches against the bright gray sky, I could see no CA in my 8x32 SE on axis. If I moved the branches or power lines off axis, I could see some red or green fringing, depending which direction I moved the object off axis, but even then, the CA was slight compared to some non-ED roofs I've tried or owned. I could also see some pincushion at the edges.
The 8x30 EII shows more CA. As I speculated above, this could be due to the "faster" EPs and/or the wider FOV since the farther from center you go, the higher the CA, and the EII's FOV is wider @ 8.8* vs. the SE's 7.5*.
I put extensions on the objectives to make the 8x32 SE fit my hands better, but even Bushwackers will help if your palms extend beyond the barrels and reflect light into the bin. More of an issue with the stubby barrels of the EII than the SE.
If you do have problems with image blackouts, let us know and the inventors of the technique to deal with them (MOLCET) will walk you through it, and I also have a photo demonstrating the technique.
Let us know how your impressions of the SEs when they arrive, and welcome to the Nikon SE Owners Club!
Brock (SEOC member since 1998)