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

Binocular pocket of good quality? (1 Viewer)

Find a point light source about 20 meters away, focus on it in the center of the frame, then tilt the binoculars a little away until it is at the edge of the FOV and observe, first without refocusing, then with refocusing.

I would indeed be interested in your observations under better conditions.
I will let you know when I get the Zeiss Victory 8x25.
 
Looks like your all-in on Alphas again....so, the past year or so, hundreds of posts - just ''never mind.''3:)
The Swarovski CL 8x30 was the first alpha I bought this year. I tried a lot of different non-alpha binoculars which didn't work for me mostly because they had too much eye relief so I was happy when the CL's eye relief worked for me. I still just have the Canon 10x42 IS-L and the Nikon 8x30 EII which aren't really alpha's or are they? I am just curious about the Zeiss because I have heard a lot of good things about it here and on Cloudy Nights and I wanted to see if the 8x25's are still as touchy for eye placement as I remember them. I like the Canon but it is heavy to carry hiking and traveling so I have been looking for something more compact and I have tried a lot of the compacts on the market. That is why I tried the new CL and it impressed with me with the improvements they have made in the 30mm's so I wanted to try the new Zeiss Victory 8x25. I don't think I am on the alpha bandwagon. Rather, I am just trying to find a couple compacts that work for me with comparable optics to my EII and Canon.
 
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The Swarovski CL 8x30 was the first alpha I bought this year. I tried a lot of different non-alpha binoculars which didn't work for me mostly because they had too much eye relief so I was happy when the CL's eye relief worked for me. ................................................
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Dennis,

This is confusing. If you mean the Swarovski CL 8x30 B wouldn't that have been the last alpha you bought last year instead of the 1st alpha you bought this year?

Unless you bought another one today?;)

Or did you mean that the 1st alpha you bought last year was a Swarovski CL 8x30 Companion? Which is a pretty good binocular that I have used a lot but it isn't an alpha.

Anyway, Happy New Year!:t::king:

Bob
 
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I bought the new Swarovski 8x30 CL and the new Zeiss Victory 8x25 last year. That is only two alpha compacts in one year and since they are compacts they only count as one. That doesn't mean I am going all in alpha does it?
 
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I bought the new Swarovski 8x30 CL and the new Zeiss Victory 8x25 last year. That is only two alpha compacts in one year and since they are compacts they only count as one. That doesn't mean I am going all in alpha does it?


I wouldn't think so. You almost made it through the year without buying any!

|:D|
 
That is right. I didn't really buy these two because they were alpha's but because they were new models of compacts in the sizes I was interested in. I have tried so many compacts I have run out of options until a new model comes out. Of course I just like trying the new models also.:king:
 
...and I wanted to see if the 8x25's are still as touchy for eye placement as I remember them.

I found the new Victory quite forgiving in this respect. Fairly pleasant to use except I had to find a way to hold it a bit in front of the eyes, as I imagine with the small eyecups of all compacts (and no eyeglasses).
 
I've found BWD and other large site / organization reviews of optics always seem to rank them based on cost - most expensive always best - which isn't really true in the real world, in my experience at least.

I don't understand what you mean by this. That much cheaper binos are often better, in the respects considered here? Or by some other critieria of quality? My own (limited) experience hasn't suggested that; rather, they tend to have problems I never imagined existed. The issue I usually hear discussed is the diminishing of returns at the higher end, not their reality.

My complaint with that BWD review is sloppiness. Wrong photo (old Zeiss 8x20, not new 8x25), listing Kowa 22 as 8x20, getting its FOV wrong (apparently), that sort of thing. And a remarkable absence of negatives, generally.
 
I found the new Victory quite forgiving in this respect. Fairly pleasant to use except I had to find a way to hold it a bit in front of the eyes, as I imagine with the small eyecups of all compacts (and no eyeglasses).
That sounds like it could be a problem for me if the eye cups are so small I have to insert them into my eye sockets too far. I can really ram the new Swarovski CL 8x30's eye cups into my eye sockets without any blackouts. You are right though that can be a problem with compacts and their smaller diameter eye cups. I don't like holding a binocular in front of my eyes to avoid blackouts but you really can't have too big of eye cups on a compact or they look out of proportion to the binocular. I got the Zeiss Victory 8x25 and I was right about the eye relief. They didn't work for me. In fact I had to hold them about 2 inches from face with eye cups fully extended to avoid blackouts. I didn't find them any sharper or having any better CA control then the new Swarovski 8x30 CL. The CL works a LOT better for me.
 
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