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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Experience new birding (1 Viewer)

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At first blush I hated it - it really did look like an EL clone. But the second pic shows it to be far closer to the HT, with a 3rd end hinge added, looks much better there.

That said, I still think the HT looks sleeker and more original. Hopefully they are true wide field bins...
 
2 hours 50 minutes...

I'd love to stay up and watch the ball drop but I've been up all day and am going to bed...
:-O
 
A flagship 32mm is needed, but yet another series, "for birders"? This is getting silly.
 
http://www.zeiss.com/sports-optics/en_us/landingpages/world-s-best-birding-binoculars.html

They promise sharp-to-the-edge views and fast focus

And they've got the technical data:
http://www.zeiss.com/sports-optics/...-binoculars/victory-sf-binoculars.html#models
148m on 1000m distance is very nice for 8x42. Same for 10x42 with 120m on 1000m.

It seems like, compared to the HT, the transmission is a little less and the FOV a bit better. I wonder why they didn't use Abbe Koenig prisms to boost the transmission with the odd 1%?
I realize they never could get as high as with the HT because of correction by a flat field lens (that's what they claim at least).

I seem to miss info on the x32 models...?
 
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strangely the press release and website says nothing about the x32. Surely the first pic that appeared yesterday was a x32?!?

The price is about GBP 200 more than the Swarovision and GBP 500 more than the current retail price of the HT, but I suppose (?) it'll come down once it hits the market.
 
Ok, new flat field 8x42, and 10x42 Victory SF ..... done and dusted.

Can I please have my Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastic Sandwich construction 9x50 HT now? :cat:



Chosun :gh:
 
Chosun Juan said:
Ok, new flat field 8x42, and 10x42 Victory SF ..... done and dusted.

Can I please have my Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastic Sandwich construction 9x50 HT now? :cat:

Chosun :gh:
Click to expand...

OMG will you stop bouncing about from thread to thread? Don't know where you are gong to turn up next o:)

Your Aussie links were all 'authentication failed': are you sure they weren't government sites you hacked?

There might be some problems of balance with such lightweight stuff as you suggest CJ.

Lee
 
First "Test Report" in german bird magazine

The german magazine "Vögel" presents in its current issue the first "testreport" of the new Zeiss.

You can see it online: http://www.voegel-magazin.de/AktuellesHeft/OnlineVorschau.php

(unfortunately, only in german)

The text itself is not so interesting (because the writer highlights only the benefits of the new bin after a try-out in Kenya during a probably Zeiss sponsored trip) but there is a photo showing a comparison between Zeiss SF and Swarovski SV.

The Zeiss seems to have the better ergonomics.
 
tonimaroni said:
The Zeiss seems to have the better ergonomics.
Click to expand...
I agree, that looks more comfortable. No spacing of the index finger and also more space for the other finges to wrap around the barrels.
The Zeiss SF looks clearly longer than the Swarovision.

As for the rest of the article, pretty much copy paste from the press release. Again no word about 32s.
 
Quotes are from the other thread, but probably better to continue all here.

Chosun Juan said:
Something a bit fishy about those Fov specs (either the angle, or width measurement contains a typo).
Click to expand...

henry link said:
Could be they are actual measurements of the true angle subtended by the apparent field, which would include the effects of distortion.
Click to expand...

Holger wrote about this here. He assumes the same as you (the specs are measured values) and concludes that Zeiss chose something halfway between the traditional strong distortion and no distortion (= globe effect), just as he (Holger) recommended in his book and paper.
 
A couple of things that were on the Ornivelt website yesterday have disappeared today. The 32mm SF models are gone and the information about the SF body being made from fiber reinforced polymer appears to have been wrong if the Zeiss press release stating that the body is an unspecified metal is correct (the Zeiss website says only "extremely lightweight materials").

I suppose in twenty years we will all have forgotten who did it first, but there is no question that the SF models represent Zeiss recognition that the birding market has spoken and the Swarovski SV concept has won the day. The way to compete in the premium birding binocular market now is to make a "better" SV. The SF seems to be consciously designed to address a few areas of complaint about the SV, like the focuser and the distortion characteristics, and to throw in some goodies of its own, like wider fields. I guess we'll soon find out if they have succeeded.
 
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There are a few intriguing details in all the boilerplate.

Two Ultra-FL (sounds like laundry detergent) lenses are used. I assume one is in the objective triplet. The second could be either a focusing element or one of the elements of the eyepiece field group, probably the latter. The eyepiece has 7 elements (one more than the SV), which matches the number in the flat field eyepiece used in the Canon 10x42 LS, which is the most complex binocular eyepiece I know of (it uses a UD element, equivalent to FL, in its field group). This ought to be an extravagant enough design to largely correct astigmatism and field curvature and maybe do better than the SV with lateral color. We shall see.

Another thing mentioned is "high transmission" glass in the eyepiece. There might be a couple of glass types in the eyepiece for which there's an HT substitute, but since the lenses are thin the improvement can't be more than a small fraction of 1% over most of the spectrum, maybe more in the violet for types with high refractive indexes.
 
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henry link said:
A couple of things that were on the Ornivelt website yesterday have disappeared today. The 32mm SF models are gone and the information about the SF body being made from fiber reinforced polymer appears to have been wrong if the Zeiss press release stating that the body is an (unspecified) metal is correct (the Zeiss website says only "extremely lightweight materials").

I suppose in twenty years we will all have forgotten who did it first, but there is no question that the SF models represent Zeiss recognition that the birding market has spoken and the Swarovski SV concept has won the day. The way to compete in the premium birding binocular market now is to make a "better" SV. The SF seems to be consciously designed to address a few areas of complaint about the SV, like the focuser and the distortion characteristics, and to throw in some goodies of its own, like wider fields. I guess we'll soon find out if they have succeeded.
Click to expand...

The SF body is magnesium Henry and you are right about all of the rest.

Lee
 
Alexis Powell said:
If it is anything other/less than a binocular with HT-quality optics, available in 8x42 (and ideally also 8x32 FL size), with sharp to edge performance, enough pincushion to counteract rolling ball, close focus to 4 feet, and variable-ratio focus, I will be disappointed and I probably won't be interested. Binoculars have been quite capable for a while now, so I haven't been tempted by the very latest products, but I might be interested in something that combines all my favorite features. The 8.5x42 SV comes close, but not close enough.
Click to expand...

Hey, I am stunned! It looks like the SF might be (almost) exactly what I asked for! Looks like I might not have to wait for Swarovski to revise the 8.5x42 SV with better focus ratio and control of rolling ball. And I like the idea of (almost) regaining the FOV that I enjoyed with my Zeiss 7x42 Classic.

As for a future Zeiss 8x32, I'm not optimistic about it meeting my criteria if it is based on the full-sized SF design. I don't want a bulky 8x32 like the SV, it's got to be FL or Ultravid size to get my attention. The close focus and focus ratio of the 8x32FL works very well, with no need for variable ratio (unlike the larger bins) so I hope that whatever Zeiss does for a future 8x32 is designed around that small size and is not just a shrunken full-sized SF. All we need to make the 8x32FL perfect is astigmatism correction, a touch less bulk (slim the tubes!), and somewhat better performance (in contrast) against bright overcast skies. Oh, and keep that 52 mm minimum interpupillary spec--it's useful for close viewing, even for folks with 56 mm interpupillary!

--AP
 
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The FL was described as "Intelligent Focus". So I guess my trigger finger is ready.

Henry, you foresaw SP prisms for the SF a couple of days ago. That must have been right, given their modest light transmission. But, how did you know? And how can you get 8x and 10x54 HTs to test?

Have you been schmoozing Zeiss? I hope so, we need an inside man. Try to find out what entertaining last minute disaster put the 32mm SF on hold.

Ron
 
Ron,

My information came from the German dealer website orniwelt.de. They have a history of putting up new products a little earlier than the official announcements. This time some of their information was incorrect, like the 32mm models.

No schmoozing with Zeiss. I never learned how to schmooze. ;)

Henry
 
ronh said:
Henry, you foresaw SP prisms for the SF a couple of days ago. That must have been right, given their modest light transmission.
Click to expand...

The press release mentions they're SP.

BTW, I still don't really think 92% transmission is *that* bad ... :)

Hermann
 
Orniwelt have a habit of jumping to conclusions.

They have no inside information. Until now they have just been lucky with their guesses !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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