Mind games (4 Viewers)

[bungart]

So I have an issue which shouldn't have. We have wonderful views of the badlands and the Yellowstone river off our deck. Both my wife and I use our binoculars on a daily basis. Wife has bird feeders and we have lots of other wildlife that uses our property.
Wife finally settled on Swarovski 8x32 EL's 2018 model to replace her 2009 model. I use 8.5x42EL's for my off the deck use. I had a chance to buy a set of 2018 8x32 field pros at an incredible price. So I have been comparing them to my 7x42 SLC NEU set and I admit that I like the 7x42's better and am thinking that's wrong?
After several months of comparing and justifiying I've decided that the EL's go and the 7x42's stay.
What a strange thing to have a problem with.
This optics thing is a mental issue.
Have a good evening. LOL

 

[henry link]

No need to look for mental issues. There are plenty of optical reasons to like the image better though the 7x42 SLC NEU. It was a very successful model and has a few significant advantages over any 8x32. Firstly, the lower magnification gives it greater depth of field and makes the effects of aberrations less visible, creating a sense of higher sharpness. The wider exit pupil makes it easier to align with the eye's pupil and the much higher effective focal ratio of the objective lens in bright light when the eye's pupil is shut down to 2-3mm also suppresses aberrations. I think you've simply discovered that you prefer the image quality of a low magnification/large exit pupil binocular. I do too.

 

[Dennis Mau]

So I have an issue which shouldn't have. We have wonderful views of the badlands and the Yellowstone river off our deck. Both my wife and I use our binoculars on a daily basis. Wife has bird feeders and we have lots of other wildlife that uses our property.
Wife finally settled on Swarovski 8x32 EL's 2018 model to replace her 2009 model. I use 8.5x42EL's for my off the deck use. I had a chance to buy a set of 2018 8x32 field pros at an incredible price. So I have been comparing them to my 7x42 SLC NEU set and I admit that I like the 7x42's better and am thinking that's wrong?
After several months of comparing and justifiying I've decided that the EL's go and the 7x42's stay.
What a strange thing to have a problem with.
This optics thing is a mental issue.
Have a good evening. LOL

I have had many 7x42's, but I have never had the Swarovski 7x42 SLC NEU. How is color neutrality, and how sharp are the edges?

 

[bungart]

Edge sharpness is decent. Can't tell you about color as I am colorblind. Thry are very easy to look thru.
I bought and compared them to Zeiss Victory and Leica HD+ for many hours off the deck. I liked the SLC's better and I had less than 100.00 difference between the 3.

 

[agus_m]

makes the effects of aberrations less visible, creating a sense of higher sharpness

Interesting, would you say that this also applies to Swaros EL and NL, Zeiss SF 8x32? I thought that it would be almost impossible to detect aberrations of these bins (other than CA)

 

[Dennis Mau]

The trouble with the few 7x's that are available is they have a small AFOV compared to most 8x's. The Zeiss 7x42 FL has the biggest AFOV at 60.2 degrees, but it has too much green color bias, the edges are too soft, and it has too much distortion for me. I generally like an AFOV over 60 degrees. An 8.0 degree FOV like the SLC NEU 7x42 is ok though because it is still 420 feet, but it doesn't have as much WOW factor as a 8x with an 8.0 degree FOV.

 

[Maljunulo]

What a strange thing to have a problem with.
This optics thing is a mental issue.
Have a good evening. LOL

Or perhaps it’s the other way ‘round , a “mental issue” which manifests as a preoccupation with the minutiae of optics. (binoculars in particular)

 

[bungart]

I like that.

 

[quincy88]

How old are those Neus? 20 years?
I'd take a 20 year old pair of quality 7x42s over the best, most advanced 8x32s on the market.
7s are my favorite configuration. They're comfortable to look through, they have wide fields, their fields are as deep as you can get (if this isn't true, then someone please correct me - I've always been confused about how depth of field is quantified), and they are bright. In my opinion 7x42s are the most comfortable binoculars to look through and they are the quickest to find and focus on an object.

 

[Yarkho]

Are the SLC better to your eyes, or do the haptics play a role as well?

I find my MeoStar B1+ 10x42 preferable to the NL Pure 10x42 because of haptics, not because of optics (there the NL wins).

 

[Bentley03]

So I have an issue which shouldn't have. We have wonderful views of the badlands and the Yellowstone river off our deck. Both my wife and I use our binoculars on a daily basis. Wife has bird feeders and we have lots of other wildlife that uses our property.
Wife finally settled on Swarovski 8x32 EL's 2018 model to replace her 2009 model. I use 8.5x42EL's for my off the deck use. I had a chance to buy a set of 2018 8x32 field pros at an incredible price. So I have been comparing them to my 7x42 SLC NEU set and I admit that I like the 7x42's better and am thinking that's wrong?
After several months of comparing and justifiying I've decided that the EL's go and the 7x42's stay.
What a strange thing to have a problem with.
This optics thing is a mental issue.
Have a good evening. LOL

So, for the past several years, my partner has been using an 8x32 EL FP as her binocular (as well as an 8x20 Ultravid Colorline). When I acquired a 7x42 SLC not so long ago, she enthused in a way I haven't heard her enthuse since she first tried her 8x32 EL. There then followed a routine which lasted for several weeks, when walking together, of me carrying the heavy 7x42 SLC's for HER to use, and her carrying my 10x32 EL for ME to use. To this day, she prefers those SLC's, but they're too heavy for her to carry on an afternoon walk, and I'm no longer prepared to be the gentleman I was when I first acquired them. 😉 😇

 

[bungart]

They are easier for to use and see thru so both. I use EL 8.5x42's as my primary deck glass. The 7's are my primary November set. The 8x32's will stay in the pickup. Weight is not an issue as I have a handicap permit. My mountain climbing days are over. We also have a 6x32 Vortex Viper by the kitchen window which are very good. We've had fox kits playing in the yard and thewife saw an eagle grab a rabbit out te kitchen window.

 

[William Lewis]

There's a few things that go to making the slc neu 7x42 a very good binocular. I love my set, since I first tried them on a whim in a shop a couple of years back I've been really happy with them. Henrys already mentioned the main ones, if I could add a smidge more.

Back in 1992 when the optical design of that model was laid down they didn't have a few of the latest coatings advances. Phase coating being the big one that was missing, it left early roof prism binoculars to underperform there porro prism contemporaries. Early roof prisms with separate focusing elements in front of the eye pieces also had more c/a than comparable porro prism binoculars that focused by moving eyepieces, like an astronomy scope.

The slc bridged these 2 eras so we're designed to combat the c/a by utilizing focusing objective lenses so they could be just as well sealed as contemporary roofs as well as combating c/a, cannon i.s binoculars still use this.

When phase coatings became available they were applied to the slc neu so you have a binocular that uses both the old and newer methods of combating aberrations, the result to my eyes is that there are very few of them, they don't seem to need any fpl - 53 or similar, even combating edge of field c/a very well.

Downsides, well a weight disadvantage, the mechanism for the focusing eyepieces must weigh a fair bit along with the additional flat optical window for sealing in front of them, also If I was being super picky they have a slightly yellow colour cast.

My set ain't going nowhere - I have many mental issues.

 

[Hermann]

So, for the past several years, my partner has been using an 8x32 EL FP as her binocular (as well as an 8x20 Ultravid Colorline). When I acquired a 7x42 SLC not so long ago, she enthused in a way I haven't heard her enthuse since she first tried her 8x32 EL. There then followed a routine which lasted for several weeks, when walking together, of me carrying the heavy 7x42 SLC's for HER to use, and her carrying my 10x32 EL for ME to use. To this day, she prefers those SLC's, but they're too heavy for her to carry on an afternoon walk, and I'm no longer prepared to be the gentleman I was when I first acquired them. 😉 😇

Show her a Habicht 7x42. Smaller FOV, of course, but a lot lighter than the 7x42 SLC's, at least the leatherette version, and IMO even better optically.

Hermann