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Is All ED Glass the Same? (1 Viewer)

When i worked in recording studios, and later taught others, i had an expression that 'the strength of the line is in its weakest component.' An audio signal, flowing through an audio chain towards the ears, could have the finest microphones, pre-amps, eq etc. but be let down by one cheap plug.
Thus i suspect it is with optics, and most other things. The light path has to encounter the finest throughout, including the engineering. For this, much research and development of precision machinery and equipment will be necessary. Hence - not cheap. ED glass is fine, providing it doesn't pass through a bottle-top 2 inches further up the line.
 
wllmspd said:
“Facts, not opinions”.... the carved-in-stone motto of the Kirkaldy Testing Museum https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirkaldy_Testing_Museum and of all good Metrologists!
:)

PEter
Click to expand...

Truly wonderful!
Would that this sentiment were more widely implemented.
Sadly it is totally the opposite of marketing/spin which dominates current optical advertising. Just check how many facts you can find in a current binocular brochure.
 
It will probably always be 75% opinion in binocular selection. Facts come from the design specifications and results from the optical lab bench. How two people see the same binocular is always going to be a subjective affair. Lab tests say nothing about ergonomic, let alone personal perspectives on brand recognition and perceptions of company history. Even a review site like Allbinos tries to make objective rankings out of various subjective impressions.
 
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Steve C said:
It will probably always be 75% opinion in binocular selection. Facts come from the design specifications and results from the optical lab bench. How two people see the same binocular is always going to be a subjective affair. Lab tests say nothing about ergonomic, let alone personal perspectives on brand recognition and perceptions of company history. Even a review site like Allbinos tries to make objective rankings out of various subjective impressions.
Click to expand...

No argument on any of this.
I'd just be a lot happier if there were a factual supplement added to the sales document, which specified the optical parameters in some verifiable fashion. Right now, we have nothing at all.
 
etudiant said:
No argument on any of this.
I'd just be a lot happier if there were a factual supplement added to the sales document, which specified the optical parameters in some verifiable fashion. Right now, we have nothing at all.
Click to expand...

If people knew the FACTS, those who like to brag about their Alpha binocular, talk about their “vintage” binocular, or try to make comparisons among the world’s finest instruments they are not prepared to make, they probably wouldn’t buy any. :cat:

Bill
 
IFF a set of metrics could be made that would show the different aspects of optical performance. Each aspect would need its own information. Also how many people might understand the subtleties of spot diagrams etc. It would still involve trade offs of dissimilar aspects. Much easier to get people to do side by side comparisons, for which this forum and others are invaluable. At the end it is a personal balance. As they say, nothing can convert a telescope mirror into a worthless piece of junk than an interferometer Measurement e.g. lambda/3.8 vs lambda/4.1, tells you nothing about the roughness which will also have an effect on the view.

PEter
 
"Also how many people might understand the subtleties of spot diagrams" ... or OPDs, or ray fans, and Strehl ratios ...

Bill
 
Thank you all for contributing your expertise and thoughts on this.

I'm gonna try and go with a group in my area so I can learn from them and see how they do things. I would also like to be able to try the binos that would be around their necks and compare them to my Pentax DCF HRII in 10x42.
Most of the binos that you guys talk about being awesome or really great, I have never seen, held or looked thru before. I'm curious as to how much better the birding outing would be with a top notch Bino compared to one on the lower end of the opinion scale. Not a junk bino, but models that still are respected and have great reputations.

Thank you all for taking time to respond and help me learn more and more.

Have a great weekend everyone!
Larry
 
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