vkalia
Robin stroker
Today, i finally had a chance to take my Minox BD 8x32 BRs out in the field. My initial plan was to compare it with my Pentax 10x43 SPs, which I think are top-notch binos offering most of the performance of the Alpha glass for a significantly lower price. However, I ended up denting the eyecups on the Pentax and they are in for repairs - so I ended up taking these binos out by themselves.
I have to admit - while I care about performance, I am not a pixel-peeper (or its bino equivalent). I refuse to test lenses by photographing resolution charts and the same applies to binos. I plan to use them in the field, and all I care about it is how they perform when it comes to helping me watch and id birds. So please take this report with as many grains of salt as you prefer.
The fit and finish on the Minoxes are really top-notch. The rubber armoring and heft makes these binos feel like quality. The focus knob also turns smoothly enough. The covers are not very functional, however - the eyepiece covers dont stay in place for longer than a few seconds, and the objective covers tend to come off as well. Moreover, the mechanism for attaching the objective covers to the strap doesnt inspire confidence - in practice, I found myself keeping them in the pocket. The Pentax objective covers are attached to the body, which I think it is a much better approach. Still, this is quite a minor issue.
Eye-relief wasnt tested - I dont wear glasses. The eyecups seemes long enough and it was easier to get optimal placement with these binos than with the Pentax (it took longer for me to figure out exact placement with them).
Now, before I go any further - please note that these are my first 8x32s. I used to have 8x42 porros first, and then the 10x43s. Also, these are marginally less bright than what I've been using of late (exit pupil of 4.0 vs 4.3).
In terms of optics/resolution, I am not sure what I think of them.
Sometimes, they appeared fabulous - I was easily able to make out details such as faint markings in the supercilium and coverts, even when the bird was some distance away. I was watching an orange-capped thrush singing some distance away, and these binos revealed every little mark of this pretty bird.
On the other hand, I did occasionally find it hard to acquire perfect focus. With the Pentax, images tended to snap into focus pretty easily. With these, it took a bit of rolling back and forth sometimes to find the perfect focus point. Also, despite my objective observations re. ability to see details as described above, I felt that the images lacked a little bit of "bite" sometimes. This is possibly linked to the focus issue. It could also be a function of the slightly lower magnification of this bino vs my 10x usual optic.
Ability to handle contrast is very good - I was in foliage with a bright sun and didnt have too many problems. A Bonnelli's eagle flew over me, and I was able to get a good look at it despite the extremely high contrast. I am not particularly sensitive to CA, so nothing to really report one way or the other there.
I was also not able to evalue corner sharpness. I rarely tend to keep the binos fixed and swivel my eyebrows, and for the way I use the binos, there was no noticable dropoff in sharpness across the field of view.
So in short - I am fairly well pleased with these binos. Subjectively, however, these binos lack the "wow" factor, which may be an unfair expectation for $450. However, objectively, it is hard to ignore the fact that they revealed a lot of the little details which helped me identify some lifers for me.
I'm going to be birding with these binos a lot more over the next couple of weeks, and will post an update at that point. I suspect that a lot of my problems with these binos may actually be unfamiliarity with the ergonomics and handling.
Regards,
Vandit
I have to admit - while I care about performance, I am not a pixel-peeper (or its bino equivalent). I refuse to test lenses by photographing resolution charts and the same applies to binos. I plan to use them in the field, and all I care about it is how they perform when it comes to helping me watch and id birds. So please take this report with as many grains of salt as you prefer.
The fit and finish on the Minoxes are really top-notch. The rubber armoring and heft makes these binos feel like quality. The focus knob also turns smoothly enough. The covers are not very functional, however - the eyepiece covers dont stay in place for longer than a few seconds, and the objective covers tend to come off as well. Moreover, the mechanism for attaching the objective covers to the strap doesnt inspire confidence - in practice, I found myself keeping them in the pocket. The Pentax objective covers are attached to the body, which I think it is a much better approach. Still, this is quite a minor issue.
Eye-relief wasnt tested - I dont wear glasses. The eyecups seemes long enough and it was easier to get optimal placement with these binos than with the Pentax (it took longer for me to figure out exact placement with them).
Now, before I go any further - please note that these are my first 8x32s. I used to have 8x42 porros first, and then the 10x43s. Also, these are marginally less bright than what I've been using of late (exit pupil of 4.0 vs 4.3).
In terms of optics/resolution, I am not sure what I think of them.
Sometimes, they appeared fabulous - I was easily able to make out details such as faint markings in the supercilium and coverts, even when the bird was some distance away. I was watching an orange-capped thrush singing some distance away, and these binos revealed every little mark of this pretty bird.
On the other hand, I did occasionally find it hard to acquire perfect focus. With the Pentax, images tended to snap into focus pretty easily. With these, it took a bit of rolling back and forth sometimes to find the perfect focus point. Also, despite my objective observations re. ability to see details as described above, I felt that the images lacked a little bit of "bite" sometimes. This is possibly linked to the focus issue. It could also be a function of the slightly lower magnification of this bino vs my 10x usual optic.
Ability to handle contrast is very good - I was in foliage with a bright sun and didnt have too many problems. A Bonnelli's eagle flew over me, and I was able to get a good look at it despite the extremely high contrast. I am not particularly sensitive to CA, so nothing to really report one way or the other there.
I was also not able to evalue corner sharpness. I rarely tend to keep the binos fixed and swivel my eyebrows, and for the way I use the binos, there was no noticable dropoff in sharpness across the field of view.
So in short - I am fairly well pleased with these binos. Subjectively, however, these binos lack the "wow" factor, which may be an unfair expectation for $450. However, objectively, it is hard to ignore the fact that they revealed a lot of the little details which helped me identify some lifers for me.
I'm going to be birding with these binos a lot more over the next couple of weeks, and will post an update at that point. I suspect that a lot of my problems with these binos may actually be unfamiliarity with the ergonomics and handling.
Regards,
Vandit