• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
Where premium quality meets exceptional value. ZEISS Conquest HDX.

Brief comparison between Oberwerk SE 8x32 and APM 8x32 IF (1 Viewer)

jackjack

Well-known member
South Korea
this may, I have written a review regarding newly introduced MIC porro prism sell by Korean optic brand.


They are branded under replaced Korean brand name (Maxvision) but The seller clame they came from same factory of Oberwerk SE and APM series.
20240430_162821.jpg

SE 's eyecup in more deeply possessed then APM damaging the amount of usuable ER
1000256790.jpg
accessories are almost identical
1000256791.jpg
1000256792.jpg

1. Colors

SE
1000256777.jpg
APM
1000256778.jpg

SE
1000256779.jpg
APM
1000256780.jpg
they both have color bias to green, but greenigh hue is much more prominent in SE like in the photo.

APM's color fidelity is indeed very good. with slight touch of green. better that former MIC porros which shows more distictive yellow - reddish hue

but SE is bit better in brightness.


Real magnification appears bigger in SE then APM

x3 zooms photo that collaged together

SE / APM
1000256794.jpg



Sharpness

in terms of Central & edge Sharpness / CA / Distortion topic, I take comparison of one more bino.
8x32 ELSV. which has Best Center - Edge sharpness, top contender of pincusion distortion and on CA control
1000256782.jpg

Central sharpness is Cleary best on EL and APM leads highly in comparison with SE
1000256783.jpg
edge sharpness

also clear win for EL and lead for APM
1000256784.jpg
Approximately, SE degrades about 69~72% of the FOV and APM degrades about 73 ~ 75%
moreover, SE's edge degrade stronger then APO

so, APM exceel SE with overall sharpness significantly.

FOV

top : SE (8 degree stated)
middle : APM (8.2 degree stated)
bottom : ELSV (8.05 stated which is alomst right)

1000256786.jpg
SE and APO both seems significantly smaller then stated FOV.

while APM bit widwr then SE

CA control

again

SE / APM / EL

central
1000256787.jpg
EDGE
1000256788.jpg

SE and APO shows blue and red CA spectrum while EL shows violet and yellowgreen.

Central CA controlis

APM < SE < EL

Edgd CA control is

EL < APM < SE

in overall, SE is the best bino among three tho surpress CA
(also regarding it's bit bigger magnification compared to APM)

Distortion

SE / APM / EL
1000256785.jpg
pincusion distortion is lowest in EL. and SE have most.

but comparing to Nikon E2 8x30 (right) instead, you can see both SE and APM surpress Pincusion distortion very well.
20240505_150449.jpg

Glare

this comparison is

SE / APM / E2
(Because EL falls significantly below SE and APM)


SE
1000256798.jpg

APM
1000256799.jpg

E2
1000256800.jpg

APM supress glare better the SE.
E2 is hand down top preformer in this area even with significantly large FOV.

also E2 is best for ghost surpressing.


Argonomics,

they have lot of difference in shape and mechanism
such as focus and eyecup machanism

but not regarding this diffrence, APM give more ER and focus is mechanism is better. (This SE have some uneven tension and play at focus wheel.)

Conculsion.

I prefer optics of APM over SE

I prefer it's sharpness and color fidelity advantages over SE

APM is significantly sharper then SE in center and edge.

they both shows very nice sharpness refarding their price. easily beating average 500$ roof prism such as Kowa BD2, Zeiss terra ed, Nikon monarch7

but APM seems it can compete in 1000$ range in term of central sharpness.

I would say, SE's sharpness is between Nikon M7 and MHG and APM even overcome Nikon E2 and Zeiss CHD 8x32 in sharpness which is a real achievement.

SE's best achievement is CA control.
regarding it's high brightness, SE control CA really good.
not just at it's price point but between nore pricy binos
It slightly resembles of Zeiss TFL 8x32 (green coloring, high brightness and very nice CA control especially on the edges)

those Two bino really was good reference of improvements of MIC binos (befor SRBC cameout)
half the price of middle calss roof to compete well, or even better.
 
Last edited:
Very nice review, thank you.

An interesting question is how the 6.5x32 compares to the other two Chinese porros. Have you got any thoughts on that?

Hermann
 
Very nice review, thank you.

An interesting question is how the 6.5x32 compares to the other two Chinese porros. Have you got any thoughts on that?

Hermann
I have a comparison.

6.5x32 is sharper, better color fidelity.
optically better due to it's less magnification.
but the CA difference is smaller then I think. especially at the edges. (maybe 6.5x32's larger AFOV triggerd some additional CA)

but have bit rolling ball because of extremely large AFOV, too big eyepeice that damaging the weight balance.

I go to 6.5x32 because I have superier 8x32 (EL) but don't have superior 7 or lower power bino (though I have 7x40 IOR and 7x42 Leica BN, 6.5x32 BW18 ed)
 
Last edited:
thanks for the informative and interesting comparions jackjack. It looks like the build quality issues reported by other users about the "SE" may be a thing across the whole range, and sound like they are significant enough to influence buying decisions. I wonder how decisions are made by the manufacturer (Kunming) and resellers (APM, "Oberwerk") as to what level of build quality to adopt, as the APM products seem to be well built.

Also underlines how a well executed porro can perform. The 8x32 Conquest HD is supposedly one of the best in Zeiss's sub-alpha range.

PS. I must not be sensitive to CA as in your pic showing central CA I see very little difference between the three.
 
thanks for the informative and interesting comparions jackjack. It looks like the build quality issues reported by other users about the "SE" may be a thing across the whole range, and sound like they are significant enough to influence buying decisions. I wonder how decisions are made by the manufacturer (Kunming) and resellers (APM, "Oberwerk") as to what level of build quality to adopt, as the APM products seem to be well built.

Also underlines how a well executed porro can perform. The 8x32 Conquest HD is supposedly one of the best in Zeiss's sub-alpha range.

PS. I must not be sensitive to CA as in your pic showing central CA I see very little difference between the three.
yes CA in three bino can be considered practically close to zero to some in normal condition.

If APM 8x32 (maxvision JY in Korean name) features real 8.2 degrees, it will compete really close to Zeiss conquest even can surpass them optically.

it is sharper, brighter, less CA, less pincushion distortion, better color fidelity then conquest 8x32 still.
 
Last edited:

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top