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Here are the new Victorys: Victory HT (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter frank.e.oy
- Start date
joe101
Well-known member
Gentlemen
Well, I go away for a couple of weeks and what happens? All sorts of folks getting needled and upset and annoyed.
Moving swiftly on to my news:
My HT 8x42s have arrived at the dealers and I expect to pick them up on Wednesday of this week
In the meantime guys, stay cool, please.....
Lee
Lee
I will be suffering here waiting for your review, as mine maybe as late as Jan
That company I got from makes me sick, always giving me delays and old information.
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brocknroller
porromaniac
Gentlemen
Well, I go away for a couple of weeks and what happens? All sorts of folks getting needled and upset and annoyed.
Moving swiftly on to my news:
My HT 8x42s have arrived at the dealers and I expect to pick them up on Wednesday of this week
In the meantime guys, stay cool, please.....
Lee
Lee,
Finally, some good news. 82 days late on this side of the pond. I look forward to reading your review. If you still have your FL, please do an A/B with the HT.
Some of what I like to see included:
How big is the sweet spot? Is it the same, smaller or larger than the FL?
Edges - astigmatism or field curvature? i.e., can you refocus the edges?
Is the color rendition different in the HT? i.e., is the image "warmer" or "colder" than the FL?
I would assume that the HT's CA control is at least as good as the FL, but it would be good to confirm that.
Ergos seem to be the biggest change, please comment on how the HT feels in your hand and how it balances vs. the FL.
Edit: Almost forgot a "biggie"- Flare Control.
Any other things that strike you about the HT?
Added all up, do you think the HT has significant enough improvements to justify the higher price tag? That's the $2400 question.
Thanks,
Brock
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Lee,
Finally, some good news. 82 days late on this side of the pond. I look forward to reading your review. If you still have your FL, please do an A/B with the HT.
Some of what I like to see included:
How big is the sweet spot? Is it the same, smaller or larger than the FL?
Edges - astigmatism or field curvature? i.e., can you refocus the edges?
Is the color rendition different in the HT? i.e., is the image "warmer" or "colder" than the FL?
I would assume that the HT's CA control is at least as good as the FL, but it would be good to confirm that.
Ergos seem to be the biggest change, please comment on how the HT feels in your hand and how it balances vs. the FL.
Any other things that strike you about the HT?
Added all up, do you think the HT has significant enough improvements to justify the higher price tag? That's the $2400 question.
Thanks,
Brock
Hi Brock
I will give the HTs the 'once-over' asap but as you probably know by now I don't go 'looking in the corners' (edge of FOV) or searching out the limits of distortions eg astigmatism.
Why? Because I am only interested in what swims into view during my normal viewing and I always centre the subject matter. I can well understand the emphasis on field edge by astronomers but for my purposes this is a matter of no importance.
I will strongly critique anything that impinges on my normal viewing however and will post my findings.
I have already tried out HTs and will remind you of my summary that they are like FLs with the optics turned up to 11 and the handling turned up to 15.
Lets see if I still feel the same way by the end of the week.
Lee
Thank you Joe101. I was put off by the tone Paul brought into this forum as well.
brocknroller
porromaniac
Yes, I read your initial report, but sometimes a second look can be more penetrating. Also, when you're buying rather than trying, you tend to get pickier!
You can "once over" them, but I'd rather read what you have to say after spending a week or so with them under different lighting conditions. Sometimes negatives and positives emerge with extended use that you don't see at first.
For example, I didn't see a whole lot of flaring with the 7x36 ED2 because I was using the bins primarily in canopied woodland areas where the light filters through. I was really interested in their dim light performance, but once I got them out in the field in the afternoon in the winter months, it was a whole 'nuther story. Even 45* away from the sun, the 'veiling glare" was still interfering with the view.
On the positive side, it wasn't until I took my 550xxx 8x32 SE out to the woods and looked at birds with light filtering through the canopy that I was really dazzled by the increased contrast and apparent brightness in the latest version. The views were also "tack sharp".
The ED2 reminded me that I made an addendum to my list - Flare Control. Hope that's an important issue for you as it is for me. Particularly, in the early spring and late fall when the sun is hanging low in the sky, poor flare control can make birding a real chore, trying to reposition your eyes, changing the IPD, tilting the bins, and making whatever machinations necessary to clear the image of stray light.
Birding bins are not "night vision" binoculars, they are meant to be used during the day with the sun somewhere overhead, and they should be able to direct that light down the tubes rather than scatter it, particularly at the top tier.
<B>
eddy the eagle
Well-known member
Good morning Troubador,I am pleased you are getting the HT´s this Wed.I am getting my 10x42´s also on Weds. and I will be able to do an appraisal after about a week,if it stops raining.I do not profess to be a bino buff and this will be my first Alpha so it will be interesting to compare evaluations particularly on the stray light situation as here when it does shine the sun is very bright.Also the question of ergos as I take a size 11 glove and need to put my banana fingers somewhere.I will report back in a week or so. Eddy.
The HTs Have Landed!
Hi Gents and Ladies
Just got back home with the 8x42 HTs having spent some time at the dealers with them.
1) Brock, the sweet spot is bigger than the FL but I will leave it to someone else to put a %ge figure on it: all that peering towards the edge of the FOV nearly unscrewed my eyeballs.
2) Colour balance comments will have to wait until I can try it in different lights looking at familiar objects (its nearly dark as I type this).
3) CA: couldn't find any in normal viewing so its at least as good as FL in this respect.
4) The focus wheel is super silky smooth. Could having a bearing at both sides/ends of it instead of just one assist in this? Really, the focus action is as good as sex.......
5) With the focus wheel closer to the the CofG of the bins it balances way better than my FL.
More observations follow and I will attach a couple of photos.
Eddie, how do you you like your x10s?????
Lee
Hi Gents and Ladies
Just got back home with the 8x42 HTs having spent some time at the dealers with them.
1) Brock, the sweet spot is bigger than the FL but I will leave it to someone else to put a %ge figure on it: all that peering towards the edge of the FOV nearly unscrewed my eyeballs.
2) Colour balance comments will have to wait until I can try it in different lights looking at familiar objects (its nearly dark as I type this).
3) CA: couldn't find any in normal viewing so its at least as good as FL in this respect.
4) The focus wheel is super silky smooth. Could having a bearing at both sides/ends of it instead of just one assist in this? Really, the focus action is as good as sex.......
5) With the focus wheel closer to the the CofG of the bins it balances way better than my FL.
More observations follow and I will attach a couple of photos.
Eddie, how do you you like your x10s?????
Lee
joe101
Well-known member
Hi Joe
Funny you should ask that at this moment as I have just been looking across the valley at the houses there and by the light of the street lights over there I can see details of the windows and doors. With the FLs these details are barely discernable.
Now it is truly dark outside so thats the end of viewing today.
Hope you get better news about your HTs soon.
Lee
james holdsworth
Consulting Biologist
Sadly, I think that if the HT's are not sharp to the edge, most of the forum will dismiss them........
brocknroller
porromaniac
Lee,
Thanks for checking on that, but you needn't have almost unscrewed your eyeballs. Moving your eyes toward the edges, however, is a good test for "image blackouts."
All you need to do to test edge performance, at least for birding purposes, is locate a bird or a small object and slowly move it toward the outside edge of the binoculars, noting at which point the image blurs and then try to refocus the image at that point, move it bit farther out and refocus. The idea is to identify how large the sweet spot is and what's going on beyond that point, field curvature or astigmatism.
Allbinos didn't like the astigmatism in the 10x42 model, Arek thought the 8x32 was much better in this regard, so a bigger sweet spot is a welcomed change for those bothered by "edge effects".
I wouldn't be as "doom and gloom" as James, though he is right to some extent, edge performance is something that birders are finally noticing. This wasn't always the case and is still not the case for many birders.
I found that once I tried bins with good edges - Nikon WF, SE, EII, LX, and EDG, and Swaro EL and SLCneu - it's hard to go "backa".
<B>
Hi Tim
I don't look at the edge of FOV much as I centre the subject. The HTs have definitely got a bigger sweet spot than the FL but as I posted above, I'll leave it to others to put a %ge figure on that as I nearly unplugged my eyes trying to look at the edge. I am not familiar with the Swaros so couldn't compare the sharpness with them. I have not detected rolling-anything on this or any other Zeiss.
What do you mean by ghosting Tim? Do you mean flare ie non imaging-forming light? If so, I haven't pointed them towards the sun yet (do not point bins directly at the sun, folks) but this is one of those areas where I think my expectations are not as high as some other folks's. Camera lenses get fitted with hoods to minimise flare for a good reason.
Lee
