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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kammerdiner" data-source="post: 1616525" data-attributes="member: 75300">I'm actually using the terms "cool" and "warm" the same way artists, interior decorators, and even light bulb manufacturers use them. A "cool white" lightbulb, for instance, is actually bluer than a "soft white" bulb. For a long time, fluorescent lighting got a bad rap for being a "cold" light when compared to a "warm" incandescent light. Nowadays, many fluorescents have been warmed up. "Arctic white" is a cooler color than "Eggshell white." Scarlet red (as in the scarlet tanager) is warmer than cardinal red (as in the northern cardinal). Emerald green is warmer than forest green, etc.It's true that measured in degrees Kelvin, blue light is "hotter" than red (there's no actual "temperature" involved, by the way. It's just a convention), but in terms of perception, "warmer" colors have more red in them and "cooler" colors have more blue in them.I'm reminded of the saying "looking at the world through rose-colored glasses." The idea is that you're looking at a "cold" world artificially "warmed up" by tinted glasses.And this is where the discussion of warm and cold binoculars comes in. Imagine two ideal bins, completely neutral in terms of color. Then imagine adding a very slight red reflective coating to one, and a very slight blue reflective coating to the other. The blue coating would "warm up" the color, because the cooler hues are reflected while the warmer hues are transmitted, and the red coating would "cool down" the color for analogous reasons.Not surprisingly, the Zeiss FL bins reflect a kind of reddish/magenta at both ends and overall the FL tends to be perceived as cool.The Nikon SE I have (and I think Nikons in general) tend to reflect blue-green at both ends and are perceived as warmer.I haven't scrutinized my Leica, but my guess is I might see a mix of reflections that render them quite neutral overall. The fact that I can't even recall a particular tint one way or the other suggests they may be neutral.There is, I am sure, a lot more to it than I've suggested. But I think this explains things in a general, layman's way.</blockquote>

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