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nikon high grade 8x32 (1 Viewer)

captain

Member
I purchased these bins afew days ago from south west optics (think they are based in devon) , which were orded on-line.
Really not sure if i should keep them!!!!
All the ads i have seen concerning these bins all say that they are free from colour and are clear edge to edge. This is simply NOT the case! Maybe i'm being too critical ....dont know. Chronomatic Aberration CAN be seen on bright objects like telegraph poles...anything that has a bright sky background around it. Its really noticable to me espically when viewing birds in flight against the sky, it also worsens near the edge of the view!
Clarity near the edge does soften( i would say that 80% of the viewing area is clear??), although to notice it you have to be focusing on something with a lot of detail like the bark of a tree or a sign with written text on it.
LOVE the focus wheel though! Its really nice and smooth with no slack!

Does anyone have any opinions about these bins???
Has anyone compared these with the 8x42 version? Are the 8x42 brighter under NORMAL day light conditions?
How come these bins are called LX Venturer in the U.S?

I would really value anyones opinion!

Can i just also add that out of these bins, WHICH SHOWS LESS chronomatic aberration.
Nikon hg 8x32
nikon hg 8x42
Swarovski el 8.5x42
leica 8x50

Regards
Lee
 
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I've got Nikon HG 8x32's and mine have no noticeable problems, however I had looked through dozens of pairs of bin's before I bought these, including 7 other pairs of Nikon 8x32 HG's. Most were excellent, however one pair was 'poor' and had terrible colour fringing. I reckon it was just a 'bad un' (I also found the Leica's had good and bad versions as well). I suppose it's one of the reasons against buying mail order, when I bought mine I made sure I checked the actual pair I was purchasing before I left the shop.
I'd definitelty exchange them for another pair (shouldn't be a prob if you've only had them a few days).
 
Hi ,thx for the advice. But surely you must see some colour fringe when viewing birds in flight against the bright sky? or colour fringe on house roofs ect?
 
Almost none, only on dull days when looking at about 10deg off from the sun, even then it's only a minute amount of yellow fringing and no worse than any other model I looked at (the only exception was the 'old' Nikon 8x32SE porro's which didn't produce any at all! but the day I tested them was the same day as I had the really duff pair of HG's so perhaps it was just relative). I don't find chromatic abberation a problem/noticeable and think the HG's are 'the bees knees', the only competition was from the Swaro EL's which were £200 dearer and IMO didn't handle as well. Up to you really, bin's are often a psychological thing, start off unhappy with them and it tends to be all downhill from there!!!!!!!!!!!!
PS out of your list I didn't try the Leica 8x50's (thought they would be too heavy) but tried all the others several times.
 
I have looked through many Nikon 8x32 HG and Leica 8x32 and all showed marked false colour. Most people seem not to notice it though. The Zeiss 8x30 BGAT, Swarovski 8x30 SLC and 8x42 EL all showed significantly less. I have seen quite a bit through several examples of the Leica 8x42. Are you sure that it was not always present? You really need a high contrast subject to see it. A dark bird or a TV aerial against a bright sky is ideal. But the amount you see depends on how bright the sky is. It can very from little to lots. For some reason birds on water are a good test.

Here is a link you might find interesting:

http://betterviewdesired.com/chabletter.html

By the way, do you do a lot of photography? People who do seem to see chromatic aberration.

It is true the Nikon 8x32 HG are not sharp to the edges, though they are better than the competitors, with less distortion thean the Leica. They also have a flatter field i.e. both the centre and the edges can be in focus simultaneously, and they have excellent contrast.

By the way, looking for false colour is dangerous. Once you start to see it, you always see it. So I don't advise anyone to sensitise themselves to it.
 
A good point you make on your last paragraph Leif, are not birding optics to be used for just that, enjoying close up views of birds, rather than checking for less than perfect (no one's done that yet) optics every time we go out. This is rather like listening for the limitations of your hi-fi rather than the music itself (the gods protect us from Hi-Fi bores!). So what if your bins are not sharp to the edge! how often do you concentrate on the edge of the veiw? never! as with the naked eye us humans always put the object of attention at the centre of our vision.

As for the new Swaro SE's anyone who buys at these prices either has too much money, or is stark raving mad

Paul
 
Could be useful having someone very sensitive to CA choosing your scope for digiscoping with though. Could be a little money earner for you there Leif...

Maybe the Swarovski's have a one in ten duff rate unlike the one in seven Nick found with the Nikon HGs. That would mean you'd be just that bit safer buying them on mail order (as long as they don't get dropped off the back of the van of course...)
 
Paul Rule said:
As for the new Swaro SE's anyone who buys at these prices either has too much money, or is stark raving mad

Paul: I know at least one dentist birder for whom £1K is pocket money. There's a lot of money about these days and Swarovski are after it.

Norm: I think I'd annoy the other person so much with my smart alec know it all comments that they'd leave the shop without purchasing anything! :)
 
Thx for the link leif......very interesting to say the least!!!
I like to think i have very good critical eye site, i think it seems like i am the type who can spot ca a mile off!! After receiving nick's reply about the duff nikon he tried i got a bit worried about mine, but i think the chances are......mine are fine...i hope.
For gods sake do not shine a torch down the objectives of the bins.....you may see a few very fine scratches on 2nd or 3rd lense hehehh.

My problem is that i'm way too critical i should just forget it and ENJOY the bin!!!
Thanks for everyones input!

Lee

ps Hey Nick, the Leica 8x50 is like holding a lump of lead!!!!

BTW just used my bins for a bit of star watching....the they seem to perform on par with the 8.5x42el swaroviski that i used to have!!! Thats pretty amazing. I seem to get better colour definition of stars.
 
Thats the spirit captain, enjoy them. If you want reassuring check out
http://betterviewdesired.com/10-02/nikon.html
which should convince you. (the HG's are called Venturer LX's in the US for some reason?).
Thought the big Leica's would be too heavy! weight was one of the reasons I didn't buy the 8x42 HG's. By the way checked out my bins again yesterday (bit concerned by this thread) and only found CA at the edges so I'm still a happy bunny.
 
Hi Captain,
Watch out you don't look through off axis as that will generate loads of aberation.
I had to send my first Nikon SE's back as they had 1/4" piece of fluff stuck to inside of object lens!!!
Anyone else had Q/C problems like this?
I do notice a little blue aberration at field edges but very,very little against dark objects on a bright sky. I think it a very personal thing though.

Dave
 
Hi Dave.......tell me about it!!! i'm used to that. I also have a tele vue 4inch refractor i also use the very wide tele vue eye pieces. Getting the eye on axis is critical!

Funny you should mention about the blue aberration, if anyone looks around the very edge of field(do not focus on the target you are viewing, but actually look around the edges inside the bins while looking through!) in the 8x32 high grades you will see a very thin blue band that goes all the way around.
Now one of my wide tele vue eye peices called 26mm nagler type 5 has the very same blue band. As you know a good quality e.p is made of 5-7 pieces of glass!!! Well apparently tele vue chose to leave the e.p as it is rather than adding another piece to cancel out the blue band, which would ineffect reduce contrast/brightness! I wonder if nikon has made the high grade 8x32 in the same way? Does the 8x42 have the same blue band anyone?

BTW Leif can you check something for me?
While looking at both e.p's of your bins ,see if they have the same colour coatings. I found the best way to do this is look stright down at the e.p's ..say 8 inches away then tilt the bins away from you until you see a nice colourfull relection of colour.
The e.p's should show 2 colours...a pale green and purple
Reason for asking is that i noticed the right e.p is more purple than the left!....wonder why??
BTW.
The leica 8x50 bn that i used to have was the same?

Lee
 
Captain.

Interesting !! Why not use the binoculars as normal, instead of looking for faults. Why does anyone shine a torch down the binocular? (sorry, but isn't the binocular designed to enhance the performance of the human eye).
 
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mak, captain
I know we look for faults (what do you do when not using them!!)
but I have found the Nikons the best bins for me so end of story in this regard.
I also have a Televue Genesis one of the ivory coloured jobs (f5) will get that out for a bit of birding to see how that performs. Have you used yours birding yet?
I currently use a converted 300mm f2.8 Tamron lens as my scope and boy get that off axis and every day is a rainbow day :)

regards

Dave
 
Well you made me go and look. Just as background, I've owned a pair of HG 8x42s and now own one each of the 8x32 HG, the 10x32 HG and the 8x32 se. I sold the 8x42s because they were heavy, and, under normal circumstances were not brighter (exit pupil and all that). Now that I am looking critically, I see the slightest yellow fringe on the edges of dark objects against a bright (cloudy) sky. I see it in all three pairs of the binoculars. But it isn't distracting at all, since I've been happily watching birds and never noticed. I do own some very expensive professional Canon camera equipment, and can't see any colour problems. But there are no prisms, and one lens costs twice what I paid for any of my binoculars. Also, HEAVY! But a few of you have hit the nail on the head, so to speak. When I pull out my hammer to drive home a nail or two, I don't spend a great deal of time examining the striking face to see if it has some perfect radius or some such thing on it. I just drive in the nails and am happy that I've accomplished that. But I have owned a hammer that was too hard and smooth, and seemed to deliver glancing blows regularly. I got rid of it. I'm happy with the one I own now - it works very well. And so with my binoculars.
 
Hello Art Thon, i really need you to check something for me on your 8x32. i'm really concerned about the diopter ring! when locked it still moves back and forth a tiny bit!!!! when unlocked the ring moves very smooth but increases stiffness when turning clockwise near the end of the turn limit? is this to do with the luibrication? Also when turning the ring clockwise and aniclockwise, i can feel i slight play in the ring mechanisim? feels like there is a little give (feels like ring moves slightly to the left and right? I thing there must be some kind of linkerage system in place for the focusing on the right eye piece? The slight left and right movement when moving the ring feels like its moving against another mechanism? sorry to be soooo anal!!! but need to know everything is normal. I spent a lot of money on these bins that i didnt really have you see.

Regards
Lee
 
Hello Lee! I've just tried my 8x and, after playing very carefully with that ring and watching what happens, I see the following: the diopter mechanism is tight all the way, but a little tighter near the centre; the locking mechanism consists of some fine detents, three between markings on the ring; I detect no play at all when the ring is pushed down and firmly in one of the detents. I do have what some might perceive to be a problem though. My focusing mechanism is extremely tight when I first pick up the binoculars. As soon as I get it moving, it is fine, and stays that way while I'm using it. After a few hours, it is tight again. I attribute that to lubrication and tolerances in the manufacturing process. No process is exact. I'm guessing that my problem will go away after I've used the glasses for a while longer. But meanwhile, the view is great, and the feel in my hands is so good (much better than the 8x42 HG's I had), that I just enjoy watching the birds. I don't know if any of this is useful information for you, but you may want to actually get your hands on another pair and see what the differences are. I'll have to check my 10x when I get a chance.
 
Hi Art, thanks for checking! When i lock and hold the ring down firmly there is no movement when trying to move the ring left/right. But if i let go the ring WILL lift up 0.5 - 1 mm then if tried to move it will move slightly i'v a feeling this cant be helped...little slight flaw in the design? i dont know. As for the slight play with the unlocked ring when moving,slow you prob wont notice it as it dosent happen all the time. It seems to happen more often if the ring is turned all the way clockwise/anti then as you turn the other way maybe if turning a bit faster Hell!!! i dont think its worth worring about?!?

Wow you had the 8X42's......any REAL diff in resolution with looking at objects at long distant? Was the brightness EXACTLY the same as the 32's? with long/short distant objects?

Regards
Captn
 
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Captain: The 8x42 HG has a very slight increase in real resolution. I noticed it when in a hide and I was able to rest my elbows on a shelf while viewing. There is though an increase in the overall quality of the view: through the larger glasses you get a "with your own eyes" view, presumably because it provides all the detail the eye can use. Brightness wise I was very impressed with the smaller ones. I think the slight loss in light is worth the decrease in weight and bulk: for me the 8x42 HG are too big and bulky for general use.

By the way, are you sure the rubber armouring on yours is the right kind of black? 8-P3:)
 
Leif and Captain. We all know there is a difference between even the 'same' products that come off of any assembly line (we probably all know someone who got a 'lemon' in the automotive world). I only had my 8x42s while I had my 10x32s so couldn't ever make a direct comparison with the 8x32. But the 10x32s, which should be less bright by anyone's thinking (until you start to understand the concept of exit pupil) surprised me so much that I promptly sold my 8x42s. 10 power always has better resolution at the same distance, but brightness and contrast also seemed better than the 8x42 in all light conditions that I was using!! So chalk it up to variabilty from one pair to another I guess. Now I still prefer my 10s over my 8x32, because I prefer the higher magnification, but I don't notice any difference in brightness or contrast. So there it is. Again, a direct comparison to another of the same might be enlightening. I'm going out to look for some birds. Perfect weather here today.
 
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