Well, finally took the plunge and added an E11 8X30 to my collection.
New from Clifton's. So my initial thoughts. Great binocular.
First off, I have read a lot of good things about this binocular, I guess my expectations were high, so I admit when I first looked through it, it did not give me a "wow moment".
Some binoculars do, not always the top ones, for example the Pentax Papillio 6.5x was a definite wow moment as I did not expect it to be so good as it is. So it's really about expectations.
Comparing briefly today with my Zeiss Oberkochen 8x30B, the first thing that is obvious is that the Nikon has a much,much wider FOV, obvious from stats, but immediately very noticeable when viewing. Another area where the Nikon excels is close focus, very,very good and the Zeiss can't match it. Detail definition is similar for both, but the Nikons clarity is superb and just marginally better than the older Zeiss glass. Also, the Nikon's image is quite a bit brighter, due to the newer coatings and ED glass no doubt. That leads me to color rendition, both very good, negligible CA to my eye, however my own feeling, is that new ED glass and the latest modern coatings improve brightness at the cost of some small degree of color depth, it something I notice more markedly with my Zeiss Victory FL, but it is to a lesser extent apparent with the E11. Here I personally prefer the slightly warmer tone of the Oberkochen, but this is personal and many think that the warmer colors of the old lead glass is less true to life than the image produced by modern glass. I have read that the E11 is a tad warmer than the SE, so I suspect the SE would not suit me in this respect. Depth of field seem pretty much the same. The rubber eye cups on the Nikon are very soft, the Oberkochen rubber is harder and as I tend to rest the cup under my eyebrows, this is difficult with the softer Nikon cup as it bends, so you need to put your eye more into the cup. My personal preference is the harder rubber of the Zeiss cup, but anyone who wears spectacles would probably prefer the Nikon. The Nikon handles well and is nice to hold, but so is the Oberkochen, size wise similar with the Nikon being marginally bigger looking at prism cover size. So, considering the Nikon is new and the Oberkochen was made in the 1950s, is the Nikon better? The answer is yes of course it is, but then, is the Nikon significantly better? Well, in 3 area's, FOV, close focus and brightness, I would say yes, no doubt, but in respect of everything else, no, not really. Brin Best's rating of these two binoculars in his article on 8x30 porro's would seem about right. I would however be very interested to compare the Nikon with what is probably the only other top notch 8x30 still in production, the Swarovski Habicht 8x30 porro. I suppose the only way to do that will be to get one of those as well.
New from Clifton's. So my initial thoughts. Great binocular.
First off, I have read a lot of good things about this binocular, I guess my expectations were high, so I admit when I first looked through it, it did not give me a "wow moment".
Some binoculars do, not always the top ones, for example the Pentax Papillio 6.5x was a definite wow moment as I did not expect it to be so good as it is. So it's really about expectations.
Comparing briefly today with my Zeiss Oberkochen 8x30B, the first thing that is obvious is that the Nikon has a much,much wider FOV, obvious from stats, but immediately very noticeable when viewing. Another area where the Nikon excels is close focus, very,very good and the Zeiss can't match it. Detail definition is similar for both, but the Nikons clarity is superb and just marginally better than the older Zeiss glass. Also, the Nikon's image is quite a bit brighter, due to the newer coatings and ED glass no doubt. That leads me to color rendition, both very good, negligible CA to my eye, however my own feeling, is that new ED glass and the latest modern coatings improve brightness at the cost of some small degree of color depth, it something I notice more markedly with my Zeiss Victory FL, but it is to a lesser extent apparent with the E11. Here I personally prefer the slightly warmer tone of the Oberkochen, but this is personal and many think that the warmer colors of the old lead glass is less true to life than the image produced by modern glass. I have read that the E11 is a tad warmer than the SE, so I suspect the SE would not suit me in this respect. Depth of field seem pretty much the same. The rubber eye cups on the Nikon are very soft, the Oberkochen rubber is harder and as I tend to rest the cup under my eyebrows, this is difficult with the softer Nikon cup as it bends, so you need to put your eye more into the cup. My personal preference is the harder rubber of the Zeiss cup, but anyone who wears spectacles would probably prefer the Nikon. The Nikon handles well and is nice to hold, but so is the Oberkochen, size wise similar with the Nikon being marginally bigger looking at prism cover size. So, considering the Nikon is new and the Oberkochen was made in the 1950s, is the Nikon better? The answer is yes of course it is, but then, is the Nikon significantly better? Well, in 3 area's, FOV, close focus and brightness, I would say yes, no doubt, but in respect of everything else, no, not really. Brin Best's rating of these two binoculars in his article on 8x30 porro's would seem about right. I would however be very interested to compare the Nikon with what is probably the only other top notch 8x30 still in production, the Swarovski Habicht 8x30 porro. I suppose the only way to do that will be to get one of those as well.
