Zeiss HT wins Binocular review shootout (1 Viewer)

brocknroller said:

James, as always... defending his brand... a Zeiss defender. When all else fails use the old, I got one and you don't ploy and ignore everyone includuing Tobias who has used the bins and made the same observations with their own two eyeballs as well Henry's photos and my possible explanation for the bias with the graphics and Gijs figures (wish I had bookmarked that post, not that it would matter in this case).

So the bins have a yellow-green bias, so what? It's not the end of the world (as we know it). It's just different, and it can be advantageous in some circumstances. No cause to take it personally, but like the SV EL diehards, any comment that does not flatter their binoculars is met with derision. That's getting pretty old at this point.

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brocknroller said:

Another non-ersatz parameter impacting the 3-D effect... This reminded me of something that Surveyor wrote a while back, namely, that companies can purposely impact the 3-D effect by tweaking the alignment of the lenses and prisms. I don't remember the details, but this wasn't a haphazard misalignment but rather something that companies did purposely to enhance the view. If anyone remembers what he wrote, please chime in.

He wrote this in response to my surprise that the ZR 7x36 ED2 roof seemed to have about as good a 3-D view as my 8x30 EII porro. I thought that perhaps this was due to the 7x having better depth of field than 8x, but this alone didn't seem enough considering it was still a roof vs. porro.

When looking at a group of people standing in a circle at a distance (~400 ft.) I could see them separated from each other at a distance that was close to what I could see naked eye, maybe a bit less. What really surprised me is that the group seemed to be separated apart a bit more through the ED2.

With the 8x32 LX, which Kimmo said has the objectives slightly close together than the EPs, the people seemed to be standing right in front of each other rather than a few feet apart.

According to Surveyor, the perception of greater depth was due to the way the optics were aligned in the 7x ED2, which he had examined. This could explain why some roofs (all with S/P prisms) seem to show better 3-D than others. Other factors that Henry mentioned such as field curvature might also contribute to these differences so that when all added up, one roof of the same magnification looks noticeably different than the other in regard to depth perception and 3-D effect.

Brock

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IAN JAMES THOMPSON said:

I don't know anything about the other binoculars except the reviews I have read on here. But my new Zeiss 8x42 HT Binoculars are very very good and the best binoculars I've ever bought and I'm very happy with them and it's money well spent. |;|
Ian.

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IAN JAMES THOMPSON said:

I don't know anything about the other binoculars except the reviews I have read on here. But my new Zeiss 8x42 HT Binoculars are very very good and the best binoculars I've ever bought and I'm very happy with them and it's money well spent. |;|
Ian.

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brocknroller said:

Ian,

Only very, very good? Send them back! They should be par excellence for the price you paid!

The slight color bias that Tobias reported, that Henry saw in the SF's predecessors, and the "washed out" views some have seen with Zeiss's top models under certain lighting conditions are not deal breakers, and to quote Lennon, "Nothing to get hung about."

But what it does show are the differences between the top bananas, which was the point of Tobias's review. Those laid out, one (or one one with deep pockets, at least) could then use the review as a stepping stone to decide which top bananas he/she might be interested in and then try them, because so much about binoculars comes down to personal preference. What sounds good on paper might not look good to your eyes or feel good in your hands.

Not everybody wants to carry around a birding bin that's almost 7 inches long no matter how fantastic the optics might be. That's one reason why some people prefer Leicas. For example, the 8x42 UV is 5.6" long, just a tiny bit larger than the 8x32 SV EL which is 5.3" long. And that's just one feature and a physical attribute rather than optical.

Glad your happy with your SFs. I hope that the other top brands take note and start increasing the FOV on their bins, some of which are rather "stingy" for their price point. Ditto for the eye relief.

For me, deal killers are focusers that are too fast or too stiff, bins that show excessive veiling glare, and eyecups that don't fit my face comfortably (a frequent problem). Beyond those, there are many things I like about various binoculars, both roofs and porros. There's something out there at various price points for everybody.

Brock

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Chosun Juan said:

Brock, are you even reading the posts you reply to?! :eek!:
Or is each one just an excuse to unleash the predetermined verbiage?? Grrr!
The man said he had HT's ..... HT's for gawd sakes! ..... HT's Brock!!! :storm:

yada....yada....yada .....yada :smoke:

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