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

Quick look throughout a 8X42 SF (1 Viewer)

C

Chris223

Well-known member
First impression not so big and pretty light ! Same weight as the conquest and seems lighter as there are larger !

Ergonomically there are almost perfect ! Focus wheel is reeeally nice ! Only the eyecaps seems a little bit cheap but there works !

Now the view ! Really sharp !! seems sharper than my conquest 10X42hd but maybe it s only because the sweet spot is much bigger ! ??

Color rendition : it is neutral....warmer than my kowa but all in all neutral.

Field of view is very nice, but i still see the barrel as the apparent FOV is not 180 ° 3:) .

CA : i can see it if i want but it onthe lower side.

My only concern is that the field is not so flat ! On the lower part it begin to be noticiably unsharp at more than 50% . And the extreme part at more than maybe 85% is really bad (with like a blue ring) !
Sure you don't see it in normal observation so it is not really important...

So very nice bino but i would like to try it in 10 power.

I am liking a lot the 10X on the conquest (comparing to other 8X bino), but i prefer finally the 8X of the SF ! A shame that i can t test 8X vs10X SF.
 
What you describe may be a bad sample or it may be that everything such as eye relief or IPD isn't set perfectly. I have never noticed what your describing with mine. It did take a little more fiddling to get mine judt right but once set no problem unless you let someone else fiddle with them.
Steve
 
Chris223 said:
First impression not so big and pretty light ! Same weight as the conquest and seems lighter as there are larger !

Ergonomically there are almost perfect ! Focus wheel is reeeally nice ! Only the eyecaps seems a little bit cheap but there works !

Now the view ! Really sharp !! seems sharper than my conquest 10X42hd but maybe it s only because the sweet spot is much bigger ! ??

Color rendition : it is neutral....warmer than my kowa but all in all neutral.

Field of view is very nice, but i still see the barrel as the apparent FOV is not 180 ° 3:) .

CA : i can see it if i want but it onthe lower side.

My only concern is that the field is not so flat ! On the lower part it begin to be noticiably unsharp at more than 50% . And the extreme part at more than maybe 85% is really bad (with like a blue ring) !
Sure you don't see it in normal observation so it is not really important...

So very nice bino but i would like to try it in 10 power.

I am liking a lot the 10X on the conquest (comparing to other 8X bino), but i prefer finally the 8X of the SF ! A shame that i can t test 8X vs10X SF.
Click to expand...
Unlike every other bin I use the Zeiss SF models have so much eye relief I need to use the first click. I don't own a pair but during testing that blue crescent went away after I adjusted the eye cups.
 
I am using the last click....and it is almost too short !
Maybe a bad sample i don t know but in normal use i don't see it.

After some days of using it i think the bino almost equal the detail resolution of the 10X42 conquest....but the sf is an 8 power ! I love that sharp view !

Now i would like to compare it to the swarovision, but i can t...Is there any difference in the view except of FOV and color rendition ?

I am also asking me if the 10x SF is as sharp as the 8x with more power ?
 
Chris223 said:
I am using the last click....and it is almost too short !
Maybe a bad sample i don t know but in normal use i don't see it.

After some days of using it i think the bino almost equal the detail resolution of the 10X42 conquest....but the sf is an 8 power ! I love that sharp view !

Now i would like to compare it to the swarovision, but i can t...Is there any difference in the view except of FOV and color rendition ?

I am also asking me if the 10x SF is as sharp as the 8x with more power ?
Click to expand...

SF 10x is as sharp as the 8x and for me is easier to hold steady than most other 10x because of the unique balance. But with 10x you do lose some of that big field of view.

Lee
 
Chris223 said:
I am using the last click....and it is almost too short !
Maybe a bad sample i don t know but in normal use i don't see it.

After some days of using it i think the bino almost equal the detail resolution of the 10X42 conquest....but the sf is an 8 power ! I love that sharp view !

Now i would like to compare it to the swarovision, but i can t...Is there any difference in the view except of FOV and color rendition ?

I am also asking me if the 10x SF is as sharp as the 8x with more power ?
Click to expand...
"Now I would like to compare it to the swarovision, but I can t...Is there any difference in the view except of FOV and color rendition ?"

Biggest difference is the Zeiss SF is brighter and the Swarovski SV has better contrast IMO. You have to decide what is more important to you.
 
Last edited:
[email protected] said:
"Now I would like to compare it to the swarovision, but I can t...Is there any difference in the view except of FOV and color rendition ?"

Biggest difference is the Zeiss SF is brighter and the Swarovski SV has better contrast. You have to decide what is more important to you. I favor contrast.
Click to expand...



Thank for your response.....it is really difficult to made me an idea as you say that the zeiss is brighter an some say that they have the same brightness.:brains:
 
Chris223 said:
Thank for your response.....it is really difficult to made me an idea as you say that the zeiss is brighter an some say that they have the same brightness.:brains:
Click to expand...
The best thing is to try them yourself. Eveybody's eye are a little different. If I was spending that much money I would definitely want to compare both binoculars because there are so many things that might make you prefer one over the other from the optics to the ergonomics to the build quality.
 
i know you are right.

Today the sky is totally cloudy but with pretty good brightness.
I was looking at seagulls with the white sky in the background; The view with the conquest seems to be crappy comparing to the SF one ! Lot of yellow haze around the birds (CA) .

Maybe it is worst because the conquest is a 10 power, but man i can see what an "alpha" is !
 
Chris, post 7,
I do not know where Denis get the idea from that the SF is brighter than the SV. It iis impossible for me from our measurements and I also did not see it. The transmission spectra of both binoculars are for a great part identical, the SV even has a slightly higher transmission in the blue region, which would give it a slightly brighter image, but the differences are small. You can check it yourself by reading the test report of the binoculars on the WEB-site of House of Outdoor. It is in Dutch but numbers and graphs are international.
Gijs van Ginkel
 
Gijs van Ginkel said:
Chris, post 7,
I do not know where Denis get the idea from that the SF is brighter than the SV. It iis impossible for me from our measurements and I also did not see it. The transmission spectra of both binoculars are for a great part identical, the SV even has a slightly higher transmission in the blue region, which would give it a slightly brighter image, but the differences are small. You can check it yourself by reading the test report of the binoculars on the WEB-site of House of Outdoor. It is in Dutch but numbers and graphs are international.
Gijs van Ginkel
Click to expand...

Here is the graph to which Gijs refers.

Lee
 

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Chris223 said:
i know you are right.

Today the sky is totally cloudy but with pretty good brightness.
I was looking at seagulls with the white sky in the background; The view with the conquest seems to be crappy comparing to the SF one ! Lot of yellow haze around the birds (CA) .

Maybe it is worst because the conquest is a 10 power, but man i can see what an "alpha" is !
Click to expand...

Is it possible that the wide field of the 8x SF is playing a big role in your comparative views between that and the Zeiss Conquest? ;-)
It is almost 2° more.

-Bill
 
Last edited:
wdc said:
Is it possible that the wide field of the 8x SF is playing a big role in your comparative views between that and the Zeiss Conquest? ;-)
It is almost 2° more.

-Bill
Click to expand...

Yes it is possibly due to the big size of the sweet spot.but i think that even in the center the SF is sharper !
And maybe also the CA are more pronounced on a 10x.

I am no amazed with the big FOV....more with the large sweet spot.

One thing...it is a little bit stupid to compare it to the SF but my kowa 8X32 bdxd has less CA than the SF (i was looking at a sharp edge of a white speed boat in the port maybe 2km away and the sf show a visible yellow ray that was almost non apparent with the kowa).
 
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