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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Alexis Powell" data-source="post: 3458057" data-attributes="member: 5327">Same for me. Prior to the EL, I used a Nikon 8x40 Classic Eagle with its wonderfully flat field, and then a Zeiss 7x42 BGATP with its wonderful brightness, contrast, and FOV. The EL gave me the best of both worlds--a big flat sweet spot with high contrast and brightness--_and_ at the same time showed everything bigger (slightly higher magnification) and with a larger apparent FOV, and I loved the handling. The view through the original EL made the view through some other supposedly top-end bins of the time seem like a joke (e.g. the B&L 8x42 Elite waterproof version, which Steve Ingraham touted in BVD).Actually, I still love those bins, and I don't see that they are plagued by CA, about which others complain (Perhaps that was more a problem for the later, faster focus version? I see tons of CA in other bins, so lack of CA sensitivity is not the explanation). Nor do I find the contrast lacking. The color rendition seems very neutral at first glance, but certain red tones are missing on closer scrutiny. But that is a minor quibble. The main reason that I now use the SV version rather than the original EL is simply for its faster focus.--AP</blockquote>