Brock,
Hardly encyclopedic. Kahles is still largely mysterious. I spelled the US representatives name wrong. It is Khabyes, not Khalyes. It appears to be a small family business. See more info below:
http://www.birdforum.net/showpost.php?p=2442532&postcount=7
The binocular is lighter than it used to be with the new magnesium frame (I have the older version) but it is quite substantial in the hand. There are the same unchanged vertical ridges along the objective tubes that are reminiscent of the Leica Trinovid. Even the rainguard resembles the one that came with the Trinovid. It is also shorter than the Swarovski 8 x 30SLC and the Nikon 8 x 32LX L. Its exterior did not change. All changes made, other than the lighter frame, were to the optics. New coatings (visibly quite different on the objectives) and wider oculars and longer eye cups. Albinos indicates changes on the prism coatings too.
I'll have a longer report soon with some comparisons including a "reference standard." I want to spend a few hours with it at Hawk Mountain. Meanwhile, it's pretty darn good and easy to use.
As for the cost? It's made in western Europe. What can I say?
Bob
What you can say is that you own a European brand bin that's "Made in Japan".
I have no problem with that, I like Japanese optics, they used to be "Best Buys", but now with the yen/dollar thang, top Chinbins are better buys (the dollar has recently strengthened, so perhaps we'll see prices coming down).
When you do a review, which you should put in the equipment review section since it will get buried in this thread, please have somebody else take a look through the bins and comment on the CA control since you are apparently immune to CA. That was one of allbinos negatives "Medium in the centre, significant on the edge". This might be due to how short they are. The shorter the FL, the higher the CA it seems. That would be my biggest concerns, being sensitive to CA.
Arek rated the edges at 78%, does that still hold up with the wider FOV? If so, that would be a larger sweet spot.
A strong point was no vignetting of the exit pupils, which is fairly common midsized roofs even some in the $1,000 category. Since the body is identical, I'm wondering if the prisms could handle the wider EPs?
How is the color balance? Is it "warm," "cold" or "neutral"? Although Arek did liken the light graph to the EL, the EL's transmission extends further on the red end before taking a steep nose dive whereas the Kahles falls off earlier but has a more gradual slope on the red end.
P.S. Please elaborate on this statement:
But the Kahles is at least as good and better in some respects than both my Swarovski (2010) SLC 8 x 30 WB and my Nikon 8 x 32 LXL/HGL are
Thanks.
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