It was a good time Friday at the Vendor Exhibit, although things were somewhat scaled back from prior years.
Optics wise, there was Zeiss, Swarovski and Opticron. Stephen Ingraham is heading things up for Zeiss, Clay Taylor for Swaro and Chip Clouse for Opticron. Sorry to say, Leica and Clestron were not there this year. There were also vendors from multiple touring companies, the Tucson Audubon shop, a few misc vendors, the Forest Service, AZ Game and Fish and a late arrival of a bird rescue group with a Harris Hawk educational bird.
I spent more time talking than looking. One reason is there was not much there in optics that was new from last year and so I have already seen the products that I am interested in. Swaro had the new ProField line but there are no optical changes from the conventional hinge models of last year. Zeiss has the new Conquest scope coming out but the official unveiling will be next week at Birdfair so it was not in Tucson (darn).
One new model at the show this year for Opticron is the DBA VHD in an 8X42 and a 10X42. My first exposure to them was at a show last November. My initial impression was it was a nice binocular but the field of view was on the narrow side. I guessed they were in the $300 to $400 dollar range. Upon checking later that evening the FOV impression was confirmed with the 8X at 366 ft and the 10X at 315 ft. What really surprised me was a street price of about $800. They have a nice bright center view but that price point struck me as way to high for such FOV specs. I did take a quick second look yesterday and again it was a nice center view but the narrow FOV was noticeable. Although I am not in the market for one, my favorite Opticron is the Verano 10X42 BGA PC. It is the next level down from the DBA line. Chip says the DBA has a more high end glass (which I assume means the higher cost). The 10X Verano has an excellent FOV which is in the 340 ft class. Street price is a little under $600. I believe it has ED glass so if it lags behind glass wise from the DBA, it is not much.
An important thing to know for any potential Opticron buyer is that Opticron has an arrangement with the Tucson Audubon store during the show offering a $50 discount on at least some of the models. Sorry but I failed to get more details as it was just about closing time. The Tucson Audubon should be a non profit so the sale may be free of sales tax. You will need to double check that. I did buy a book from the on site store and was not charged tax.
Zeiss is where I did most of my looking and that was with two models. One was the 10X42 Conquest HD and the other was the Zeiss SF 8X42. The Conquest is next on my list so it was of high interest. I have looked through it several time before and have never been disappointed. Yesterday was no exception. There have been some discussion in other threads about sharpness so I focused on a poster that had a fabric like base. Every line in that fabric stood out as sharp as could be for me and I concluded the Conquest easily matched and most likely exceeded my visual acuity, which is better than 20/20 but not quite 20/15. How it would perform for someone with 20/10 will have to be determined by them but sharpness is without a doubt a non issue for me. It looks to have a fairly neutral color balance but this was indoors. The center view seems large. One thing I really like about the both the Conquest 42 mm and the 32 mm is how well they fit my hands and the nice balance. The fit and the excellent view make a great package for me.
Stephen said he still uses the Conquest HD 8X32 the most and then grabbed it off the table, held it in his hands and commented on how well it fit for him. He brought up a good point in saying if the binocular is uncomfortable and is not a good fit, you are not going to want to use it. I have personally noticed this over the last few years with some binouclars I have. I really liked the optics, but find myself not using them because they just do not feel right.
It was probably a mistake to look at the SF 8X42 right after looking through the 10X42 Conquest. As much as I like the Conquest, it is slighty diminished after looking through an SF. The SF just has a little bit more brightness and contrast helping the detail to stand out and give a perception of just that much more depth of field. What a spectacular product. I would love to own one but it is difficult to justify since I do not use an 8 that often and in the back of my mind, I am hopefully holding out for Zeiss to say they will have an 8X32 SF or equivalent.
I did ask Stephen if there will be an 8X32 SF or similar or any other interesting things coming up. He said there is nothing to announce right now, but gave me the impression that if any new Zeiss news comes out, it would be at Birdfair next week. We will have to leave it to Lee to take the Zeiss folks out for a few beers and pry out any news.
If there are any Zeiss owners that might need some kind of minor parts replacement, Stephen has a large storage container with a variety of items that may take care of the problem on the spot. He does have a variety of eye cups including the optional Conquest cups that are slightly longer. He also has a bag of the blue Zeiss emblems for the Terra. He had a tube of CA glue to attach the replacement. He said it takes just the smallest of dabs because a little goes a long way. I found that out the hard way a while back when replacing the lost emblem on my 10X42 Terra. I suspect most of this is done gratis.
Zeiss also has some kind of show special. I was concentrating on something else at the time it was mentioned and forget to go back and check it out. My apologies.
Swarovski brought a large display of their optics (as did Zeiss and Opticron). The only thing new was the ProField changes and I did look at the new strap design. One big advantage is repair. If the lug broke with the old design, then that half of the body had to be replaced. Now just an inset is replaced. I can see how the new strap is much easier to adjust, but since a strap adjustment is a set it once and forget it experience for me, I an happy with the old design. One other Profield change worth mentioning is the Profield comes with a smaller fabric case which I like better than the old field bag case.
The only Swaro binocular I was intending to look through was the SLC 15X to see if I still found it just a little to much to hand hold. They had one but it was attached to a tri-pod and I did not want to ask them to take it off the tripod. Clay Taylor is still using the 12X50. Swaro has some microfiber cleaning cloths to hand out for the asking. I did ask if anything new was coming out but they had nothing to announce. Again, Birdfair is the place to be if there is any news.
It was disappointing that Leica did not attend. They have shown up year after year when they had nothing all new. Now they have the redesigned Trinovid to promote and they are a no show. That does not make sense to me. Hopefully they will have a change of heart next year. I would have liked to compared the new Trinovid to the Conquest. I did that once before and liked the Conquest better, but it would have been nice to do it one more time to see if I reached the same conclusion. Oh well, the Conquest it is!
One other really neat experience was the opportunity to meet a gentleman by the name of Greg Miller. He was there representing BigYearTours.Com. There is a book and a movie called The Big Year, based on a real life event of three individuals trying to set a new big year record. One of characters was played by the actor Jack Black. Turns out the Jack Black character in real life is Greg Miller. What a super nice guy. He was very outgoing and more than happy to talk about the movie with me. He told me the scene where he was with his father was a very real experience. The primary liberty taken in that scene was that the owl was a different species. He said that scene got to him emotionally when he first saw the movie. His father had passed by that time and his father never saw the movie or the book. If you go to the show, stop by and introduce your self. He is just west of the Zeiss table. I suspect his tours would be a lot of fun.
Lee .... I did not even think about attempting to look at Clay's bi-cep but I did pass your greetings on to Stephen. He absolutely remembers you and the event. He will not be at Birdfair this year due to a scheduling conflict with one of his point and shoot tours. He is one other person who I think would provide a great tour.
Here are a couple of blurred photos from the show taken with a slow shutter speed. Click on the picture to enlarge.
This is from the main entrance to the room. The Zeiss table is to the right of center. Stephen has his back to the camera as he is talking with another attendee.
Looking toward the back is Clay Taylor and the Swaro display. Their scopes are on the right side. On the left is the AZ Game and Fish table with a mount of a Sandhill Crane. The Sandhill Cranes will be arriving in southeastern AZ by the thousands around the end of October.
If you are in the area and can attend, please do so. The more attendees, the more likely vendors will return and new ones will participate.
