Every August, the Tucson Audubon Society holds the Southeastern Arizona Birding Festival in Tucson, Arizona. Part of the event includes the Nature Expo. This is a free event, open to the public, consisting of vendors for optics, photography equipment, tours, destinations spots and other areas of interests. It started Wednesday, August 7th, and ends Saturday, August 10th.
I attended the Expo briefly on Thursday, primarily to visit the optic vendors. Most of my time was spent at the Zeiss display because there were a couple of products I was particularly interested in. I did have time to very briefly hit the other vendors to see what was new. Here is a brief overview of what I saw.
Attending were Zeiss, Swarovski, Vortex and Kowa. Leica was signed up but unfortunately had to cancel.
Zeiss:
Zeiss is a primary sponsor of the festival and were situated right in front of the entrance to the ballroom. Representing Zeiss were Adrian, Luke and Kathryn. My primary interest was the SF 8X32 and the DTI thermal imaging cameras. The SF 8X32 has been well reviewed and rightly so. There wasn't anything that I did not like about it. It had the great handling expected of an SF and the wide field of view of 465 ft was impressive. I have had some vision issues the past couple of years which had greatly reduced my participation in bird watching and optics interests, but the issues have been completely resolved and I will be getting the SF 8X32. They are everything I was hoping they would be.
My knowledge of thermal imaging cameras is limited so I wanted to take this opportunity to spend some time with these from Zeiss. The DTI 6 is their top of the line thermal camera. Some of the primary advantages over the other Ziess models are it is more robust made in Germany, it has a faster processor, it has their best sensor, and it has removable optical eye pieces. They offer a DTI 6/20 and a DTI 6/40. The removal eyepiece means you can buy a DTI 6/20 and an optional 40 eyepiece and can effectively have both models. The 20 will give a wider field of view but less range than the 40 whereas the 40 has a more narrow field of view but more range. The display model was a 40 and the narrow field of view was noticeable when viewing in the relatively small ballroom. I did take it outside right after a heavy monsoon downpour and could easily pick out the features of a telephone pole about a hundred yards away. Ziess lists the range as 2,187 yards so I wasn't even close is testing the true capability of the camera. The 20 would be best for closer bird spotting and the 40 for longer range game spotting. I also did a quick comparison to the DTI 1 on display. The much better image of the DTI 6 was quite noticeable. The advantages of the DTI 1 are the much lower price, the smaller size and less weight. I will continue to consider the DTI 6/20.
Swarovski:
Swarovski had a good selection of binoculars on display and was represented by Clay and Bruce. Because of my limited time, I just took a quick look at what was new. They did have a My Junior kids binocular at the Expo but someone had it away from the display so I did not get to see it. However, they did have the new NL10X52 and the 14X52. They are definitely a hefty glass but Swarovski did a remarkable job in keeping the bulk and weight down. I looked at the 14X52 and it didn't really seem bigger than some 10X42 binoculars of the past. I was curious to see if I could hold the 14X steady without additional bracing. I could not. Clay said he can get a steady hold using the forehead rest. The optics were as one would expect from an NL, sharp and bright. My first impression was they did a nice job on that model.
Vortex:
Vortex had the new Razor model. I took a look through the 8X32. My first impressions are that it had nice handling, a very smooth focus and a nice bright view. For some reason, the edges of the printing on a sign I was looking at did not appear crisp and sharp. I don't why. Maybe it was just me or maybe something was wrong. I did not have time to pursue it. I want to check out another sample next time I find one. This was a demo model so it may have received some heavy abuse. Even if I did not have an issue with this particular sample, I would spend the extra money for the SF 8X32.
They also had a new offering of a small 8X32 that was extremely light weight. I forget the model name. I asked if it had plastic lenses but was told they were glass. He told me the cost was only $60. I wish I had more time to spend with it. The initial view was nice. It could be a good entry level choice, especially for kids or teens.
Kowa:
When I think of Kowa, I think of spotting scopes. Jeff was there to represent the product line. New was their 55mm spotting scope. I took a quick look and the first impression was good. It may be a great option for a small packable scope. The cost is about $2,000.
Discounts:
The Tucson Society has a small gift shop which includes the sale of optics. The inventory has been small. This year, they teamed up with Land, Sea, and Sky from Houston to handle optic sales at the Expo. This allowed for more inventory and a better variety, including many models on display. They were offering a 10 percent discount and in some cases, a 15 percent discount on some Swaro models. The Zeiss Conquest has a $300 discount.
I really enjoyed the Expo and it was great seeing some of the vendor reps that have been doing the show for many years. It was a good way for me to get back up to speed in what's new in optics and to get back to bird watching.
I attended the Expo briefly on Thursday, primarily to visit the optic vendors. Most of my time was spent at the Zeiss display because there were a couple of products I was particularly interested in. I did have time to very briefly hit the other vendors to see what was new. Here is a brief overview of what I saw.
Attending were Zeiss, Swarovski, Vortex and Kowa. Leica was signed up but unfortunately had to cancel.
Zeiss:
Zeiss is a primary sponsor of the festival and were situated right in front of the entrance to the ballroom. Representing Zeiss were Adrian, Luke and Kathryn. My primary interest was the SF 8X32 and the DTI thermal imaging cameras. The SF 8X32 has been well reviewed and rightly so. There wasn't anything that I did not like about it. It had the great handling expected of an SF and the wide field of view of 465 ft was impressive. I have had some vision issues the past couple of years which had greatly reduced my participation in bird watching and optics interests, but the issues have been completely resolved and I will be getting the SF 8X32. They are everything I was hoping they would be.
My knowledge of thermal imaging cameras is limited so I wanted to take this opportunity to spend some time with these from Zeiss. The DTI 6 is their top of the line thermal camera. Some of the primary advantages over the other Ziess models are it is more robust made in Germany, it has a faster processor, it has their best sensor, and it has removable optical eye pieces. They offer a DTI 6/20 and a DTI 6/40. The removal eyepiece means you can buy a DTI 6/20 and an optional 40 eyepiece and can effectively have both models. The 20 will give a wider field of view but less range than the 40 whereas the 40 has a more narrow field of view but more range. The display model was a 40 and the narrow field of view was noticeable when viewing in the relatively small ballroom. I did take it outside right after a heavy monsoon downpour and could easily pick out the features of a telephone pole about a hundred yards away. Ziess lists the range as 2,187 yards so I wasn't even close is testing the true capability of the camera. The 20 would be best for closer bird spotting and the 40 for longer range game spotting. I also did a quick comparison to the DTI 1 on display. The much better image of the DTI 6 was quite noticeable. The advantages of the DTI 1 are the much lower price, the smaller size and less weight. I will continue to consider the DTI 6/20.
Swarovski:
Swarovski had a good selection of binoculars on display and was represented by Clay and Bruce. Because of my limited time, I just took a quick look at what was new. They did have a My Junior kids binocular at the Expo but someone had it away from the display so I did not get to see it. However, they did have the new NL10X52 and the 14X52. They are definitely a hefty glass but Swarovski did a remarkable job in keeping the bulk and weight down. I looked at the 14X52 and it didn't really seem bigger than some 10X42 binoculars of the past. I was curious to see if I could hold the 14X steady without additional bracing. I could not. Clay said he can get a steady hold using the forehead rest. The optics were as one would expect from an NL, sharp and bright. My first impression was they did a nice job on that model.
Vortex:
Vortex had the new Razor model. I took a look through the 8X32. My first impressions are that it had nice handling, a very smooth focus and a nice bright view. For some reason, the edges of the printing on a sign I was looking at did not appear crisp and sharp. I don't why. Maybe it was just me or maybe something was wrong. I did not have time to pursue it. I want to check out another sample next time I find one. This was a demo model so it may have received some heavy abuse. Even if I did not have an issue with this particular sample, I would spend the extra money for the SF 8X32.
They also had a new offering of a small 8X32 that was extremely light weight. I forget the model name. I asked if it had plastic lenses but was told they were glass. He told me the cost was only $60. I wish I had more time to spend with it. The initial view was nice. It could be a good entry level choice, especially for kids or teens.
Kowa:
When I think of Kowa, I think of spotting scopes. Jeff was there to represent the product line. New was their 55mm spotting scope. I took a quick look and the first impression was good. It may be a great option for a small packable scope. The cost is about $2,000.
Discounts:
The Tucson Society has a small gift shop which includes the sale of optics. The inventory has been small. This year, they teamed up with Land, Sea, and Sky from Houston to handle optic sales at the Expo. This allowed for more inventory and a better variety, including many models on display. They were offering a 10 percent discount and in some cases, a 15 percent discount on some Swaro models. The Zeiss Conquest has a $300 discount.
I really enjoyed the Expo and it was great seeing some of the vendor reps that have been doing the show for many years. It was a good way for me to get back up to speed in what's new in optics and to get back to bird watching.
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