Anansi,
I got one of those and like it a lot (I have mixed feelings about Steiner in general, they sure know how to make good binos, and some of them are very good, but some are really not convincing; the new Nighthunter belongs to the first group).
There are some recent threads on CloudyNights about the ShadowQuest / Nighthunter, see e.g.
https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/631953-steiner-shadowquest-8x56-early-impressions/
https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/...s-fujinon-16x70/?hl=+shadowquest#entry8829419
Overall, Steiner seems to have done a good job with the Nighthunter.
Canip
From Question section, ShadowQuest 8x56 page, Steiner website (copying):
[Question:] Is the 8x56 shadowquest the same as the 8x56 nighthunter of recent vintage?
["Steiner Rep":] They are similar in design and function. They are both Porro prism binoculars with sport auto focus. The new Shadowquest have completely different glass that allows greater light transmission.
From what I wrote on the ShadowQuest 8x56 in another thread:
- - -
Yet reviews somehow back the claim. One in Steiner's (own) website comments: "...with Sports-Auto-Focus make it much easier to use This lets you pick up moving objects faster. Excellent focus free that I have been wanting for years...", and another review in a leading online retailer's site says: "I love the AutoFocus".
- - -
Somewhere I read that this model is sharp from 20 m to infinity when the focus is set (separately for left and right) for the user. Can anyone comment on this lesser distance figure from experience? It seems to me to be on the low side.
Bill, could you please expand a bit on "kept Steiner out of my shop", if you can do so without the stress of going into:storm:mode again? Sorry if it has been mentioned and I have forgotten that you were involved with sales as well as repair and restoring of binoculars.
From what I wrote on the ShadowQuest 8x56 in another thread:
- - -
Yet reviews somehow back the claim. One in Steiner's (own) website comments: "...with Sports-Auto-Focus make it much easier to use This lets you pick up moving objects faster. Excellent focus free that I have been wanting for years...", and another review in a leading online retailer's site says: "I love the AutoFocus".
- - -
Somewhere I read that this model is sharp from 20 m to infinity when the focus is set (separately for left and right) for the user. Can anyone comment on this lesser distance figure from experience? It seems to me to be on the low side.
Bill, could you please expand a bit on "kept Steiner out of my shop", if you can do so without the stress of going into:storm:mode again? Sorry if it has been mentioned and I have forgotten that you were involved with sales as well as repair and restoring of binoculars.
Thank you Bill!
From those pages of (I assume) your book I finally understand why those users I quoted wrote what they did. Also I had forgotten about dioptric accommodation in younger users, and was not aware that it was so much.
From the outset I did know that it is not possible for this model to have a greater distance back from infinity in focus than other 8xs of very good optical quality. But I thought maybe Steiner provided guidance, in the user manual, to more easily find a setting where an impressive range seems to be in focus (as I said, about this model, in a thread on the new Minox 8x56).
The history in your post above is so interesting, and in the book should be even more so of course.
Congratulations on the book. I had put off buying it but will do so soon.
Small? I thought I was getting value for money!