Correct me if I'm mistaken, but I have understood that theleicaeddy said:Recently I have purchased a pair of 8x30SLC with new swarobright optics. I have noticed that SLCs produced in different years come with different coatings. I wonder if there is much difference in color tone between new swarobright optic and Leica's offering.
iporali said:To my eyes the SLCs have had a yellow/amber cast, which IMO is caused by the lens coating. The Swarobright models should be brighter, but do not necessarily have different colour. I have never myself owned any Leica optics, but from my experience their colours look more natural.
Ilkka
leicaeddy said:Recently I have purchased a pair of 8x30SLC with new swarobright optics. I have noticed that SLCs produced in different years come with different coatings. I wonder if there is much difference in color tone between new swarobright optic and Leica's offering.
Chris,zurtfox said:I have 'discovered' a simple way to compare the colour cast in binoculars. It is done by reversing the bino and looking through them the wrong way round! Place a white card where it will be strongly illuminated (indirect sunlight is best) and hold the eyepieces 30cm away and the object lens a similar distance from the eye.
Chris
elkcub said:By "natural image" do you mean color, or something else?-elk
iporali said:Jonathan - that was a good point that some colour casts may actually be good on the eyes in some conditions. I have just thought that the yellow is the colour that the German hunters originally wanted - to add some contrast in the morning mist
Ilkka
leicaeddy said:From what I have read in the SLC poster:"swarovbright is a coating technology that can selectively control the reflected light in the prism system. As a result, the color behaviour. For you this means: Binocular with the best color fidelity and the highest light transmission. Silvered mirror=usual loss of quality in the blue spectrum results in yellowish images.
IMO, SLC with swarobright is good for binoc user but not for collector,'cause it kicks away the characteristic yellow/amber color tone.
Leif said:..... In a Schmidt Pechan roof prism binocular such as the 8x30 SLC the light in each optical assembly undergoes 5 mirror reflections, and thus the quality of the mirror surfaces is critical. In the past manufacturers used silver, but Swarovski, Leica, Opticron and others are now using expensive multilayer dielectric coatings. However Nikon use silver in the HG range, and their optics have superb brightness and contrast, so clearly silver can deliver the goods. I can only assume that it is some form of 'enhanced silver' whatever that might be......
henry link said:Leif,
Although I am not certain I believe only 2 of the 5 reflections in a Schmidt Pechan prism have angles of reflection that require mirror coating. I recently noticed the following quote in some old Leica material on the subject of silver coating which might be relevant to your speculation above:
"The mirrored surfaces of the prism are vapor-deposited with a layer of pure silver. Processes using chemical silver or aluminum, for instance, result in a considerable loss of light."
This suggests that not all silver coatings are equally effective. I'm surprised, however, that Nikon didn't go to a dielectric coating with their new light weight HG's. I suspect their roof prism bins are as bright as they are owing mostly to very high transmission lens coatings and would be even brighter with dielectric mirror coating.
Henry
ranburr said:Swarovski and Leica attack problems from different ways. Swarovski uses the Swaro-bright lense coatings to achieve a clear bright image. I find the Swaros to give very comfortable viewing for hours at a time. Leica uses a higher grade of ED glass and quality coatings to achieve their view. Both are very good and it depends on who you ask as far as which image is superior. I prefer the Swaro's image, but the Leic is a much tougher and durable bino.
ranburr
ranburr
leicaeddy said:I have been told by an optical expert in China that the numbers of inflection inside prisms are not the way we thought. What we saw from pamphlets etc are 2-D cross-section pictures only. In reality, there are totally 6 internal reflections in a Pechan prism and 4 internal reflections in a AK prism, which can only be shown in 3-D diagram. However I can't find any valid reference to justify the claim or vice versa.