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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ksbird/foxranch" data-source="post: 558369" data-attributes="member: 37413">about the Steiner coatingsWhen I checked the Merlin binoculars I returned, the view seemed quite neutral although perhaps it was creating the best contrast for "browns". I think this is why the view seemed less bright than other binoculars I use as a standard (the Swarovski 8x42). I have Zeiss binoculars that have different color coatings on each lens surface. This tends to give a view that is "color neutral" (to me).The only Steiner 8x30 porro binocular that had this same "Zeiss color neutral" view (to me) was an 8x30 model with UV block coatings (reducing UV tends to improve sharpness, because it reduces visible "haze"). The Hunting model I chose, with green coatings, is definitely able to produce excellent brown contrast while reducing the green light in the view, so leaves looked a big less briight than those same leaves looked through the more "neutral" coated 8x30s. But this tends to make brown birds "jump" out of a green background, and that is good for my location. The Steiner "firebird" 8x30 model, with red lens coatings (which I'm assuming are designed to reduce red light and IR like you get at sunset), produced a ghastly image with a slight blue tint. Of course I was checking this bin out at midday. If I used it at dawn or dusk, I might have liked the view allot (who knows?). The Steiner 8x30 intended for boating seemed to have a dark blue coating (which may have rejected some of the blues). Another model of the 8x30 (I can't remember the model name), had a magenta coating and may have been best used where you wanted to see greens and yellows best. The Steiner website seems to describe perhaps 5 or 6 of the different models of 8x30 porro prism bins that they make. For each model there is an explanation of why the coatings are what they are.The Steiner 8x30 porro prism model I have is not as sharp as the Zeiss or Swarovski 10x50s or the Leitz or Invertron 7x50 bins I use. But they are as sharp as any of my Nikon, Kahles, Minolta or other quality brand bins I use. Still the 8x30s give a very wide field view (at least 50% wider than the 8x32 Merlin) and this may be why the 8x30 seems a notch less sharp than the "big dogs" that have the bigger objective lenses (although I really had to check closely to see this difference).The Steiner 7x50 Marine bins I use are superb and they seem as sharp as any bins I use. The 7x50 Steiner Marines have indiv eyepiece focus and the color contrast may be a touch less perfect than the Zeiss and Leitz models, but the Steiners have a field that is almost 10 degrees wide and they are nearly "compact" being less than 6 inches front to back. As well the Steiner 7x50 Marine is brighter than any of the Leica or Zeiss roof prisms I've seen in the past few years. I've seen Steiner 15x80 bins that were every bit as good as the 15x Zeiss bins sitting right next to them at a fair, so I think Steiner can make a bin as well as the best, but maybe they just put less "effort" into some of their less expensive models. Even so, I've never seen an "average" quality Steiner bin, going back 16 years to the Steiner 8x25 Champ reverse porro mini-binoculars I still use today. The Champ couldn't be used with eyeglasses, and it was blue mag dioxide single coatings through and through. But it is wide enough for my wide interpupillary distance and surprisingly sharp even compared to high end minis today.</blockquote>

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