I am a newbie birder whose interest has evolved into a nature observer of birds, butterflies, and animals in that order. I found this forum very helpful in making my first binocular purchase on 03/29/2023. During the "pre-purchase period" I recall hearing and reading about many technical aspects of understanding binoculars and how those technologies affect the use experience such that I (along with apparently many others) felt overwhelmed by the binocular/optical nomenclature, brands, manufacture origin, warranty and actual customer support, durability and reliability, and cost as well as value of the models available. I hope my journey will be helpful to others making their first purchase decision.
A few personal disclosures unfortunately are necessary to provide context for my comments and to understand my approach to the purchase decision. Since my purchase, my almost daily use has provided practical understanding of the terms and concepts of binoculars and their use/benefits that I have read about in BirdForum.
I first determined my budget and then revised it as I explored the models in the market and the quality/price points discussed here and elsewhere. My audiophile experience taught me all too well about the diminishing improvement in sound quality for more dollars expended as I chased the audiophile Holy Grail of "absolute sound", ie, the exact recreation of a musical experience recorded and replayed through audio equipment. The journey through Harmon Kardon, Scott, Fisher, McIntosh, and Mark Levinson electronics as well as English and German turntables and multiple speaker systems taught me about the enormous amounts of money I could (and did) spend procuring the latest technology with ever smaller increases in sound quality and reproduction. I finally assembled, for me, the system of components that yielded the aural nirvana I was seeking with my available financial resources. That journey was 40 plus years in length. I didn't have that time span for this journey so how could I use that experience to inform my first binoculars purchase?
The answer to that question for me was found by combining the experience of my simultaneous and less complex photography journey where I learned about the wonderful world of Leica and Hasselblad Cameras, Zeiss lenses, and what I could and could not afford... and the latter being all the aforementioned. My parents (then birders but not me) got a top Cannon film camera (pre digital) and I was exposed to photography. After a series of Cannon and Nikon cameras I acquired a Nikon DSLR camera/lens system through which I learned about depth of field, sharpness, contrast, aperture, focus, light, as well as other aspects of capturing and reproducing the visual image with fidelity. Many of those lessons helped prepare me for my first "birder" binoculars purchase decision. This is how those two areas of interest intersected and played out in my journey.
I first heard the names Leica and Zeiss from the neighbor who led me on the early phase of my audiophile quest. He showed me his Leica camera, lenses and other photographic equipment and encouraged me to get a system and start photography. While I was unable to follow his suggestion, I did learn some basic information about Leica photo and optical consumer products as well as how elevated the companies Leica and Zeiss were in the consumer photo/optical world because of their history of technological advances, superior quality products, and the durability/reliability of their products. Products truly built for a lifetime. The reputations of those companies learned so long ago I still carried with me as I soon decided to purchase a model from one of the companies with "Alpha" models- even if the alpha or premium model was beyond my budget. Since I do not live near a binocular store and the closest hunting store with some models was 3 or more hours away by car, I decided to order from B and H in NY. I was ready to pull the trigger on a Leica Trinovid HD 8x42 when I caught a glimpse of a member’s mention of the recently released Zeiss SFL 8x40.
I was aware of Leica's reputation for producing lush, saturated colors through some of its binoculars and lenses. Zeiss binoculars were reported to have a more neutral and/or natural color image. Each company seemed to have a reputation in the industry for a particular color pallet or color emphasis that characterized some of their consumer products much like certain high end audio companies had become associated with a particular class of sound by manipulating different frequencies of the equipment's frequency response curve, ie, the "west coast' sound that was typically bright and etched as opposed to a sound that was characterized as harmonious and mellow or more "laid back". For reasons beyond the scope of this post I opted for the more reportedly neutral color balance of the Zeiss SFL image and ordered it from B and H.
The binoculars arrived and it failed my first examination looking through them at my neighbor’s roof line against a gray sky. The CA was incredible along the roof and almost everywhere else. I called B and H and arranged to return them immediately. I wanted to try another unit because I couldn't believe the binocular wasn't defective out of the box. Another binocular was sent by B and H immediately upon their receiving my return of the first one. I received the second SFL 8x40 and WOW. I am very happy with it. The image through it is sharp and natural in appearance. I saw gorgeous views seen in their natural beauty without the binocular enhancing or emphasizing any part of the color spectrum in an apparent manner. The binocular did not add a color cast to the image that was not present in the scene and that tainted all the scene's objects, whether or not that was an accurate representation of the scene. The accuracy of the image viewed through the binocular compared with the actual image was very close, not perfect, but very good. Since I have owned the SFL 8x40 I have used it almost every day. My appreciation of it and the view through it has grown as has my enjoyment and satisfaction derived from following birds through tree branches that were previously impenetrable. I learned long ago that you have a real "keeper" if your enjoyment from its use grows as you use it and you continue to discover and appreciate different aspects of it and its use. I look forward to using it each day.
As a postscript this was not an attempt to evaluate the SFL as binoculars or to compare it to other binoculars. I am sure I would also appreciate views through the Leica binocular family as well as Swarovski, Nikon and many other companies. In fact, I hope to add a 10x binocular if my budget in the future can accommodate the purchase. It would be fun to select the 10x binoculars from a different company or binoculars family. Pleased SFL owner.
A few personal disclosures unfortunately are necessary to provide context for my comments and to understand my approach to the purchase decision. Since my purchase, my almost daily use has provided practical understanding of the terms and concepts of binoculars and their use/benefits that I have read about in BirdForum.
- I am an active senior closer to 80 than 70 years. I had cataract surgery about 8 years ago on both eyes. Afterwards I have only recently started using glasses for reading and I don’t wear them when looking through the binoculars.
- My previous experience with binoculars has been limited to a pair of Tasco porro prism marine 7x50's that I used for 20 years for coastal navigation and a friend's 10x42 Vortex Viper I briefly used to learn the impact of "handheld shakiness" on the 8x vs 10x magnification issue.
- I am retired so I have a limited binoculars budget.
- Since my late teenage years my interest in music and music reproduction led to my decades as an audiophile and my interest in art and nature led to my decades of interest in photography. My audiophile and photographic experiences and knowledge helped inform me as I started the quest for my first "birding" binocular.
I first determined my budget and then revised it as I explored the models in the market and the quality/price points discussed here and elsewhere. My audiophile experience taught me all too well about the diminishing improvement in sound quality for more dollars expended as I chased the audiophile Holy Grail of "absolute sound", ie, the exact recreation of a musical experience recorded and replayed through audio equipment. The journey through Harmon Kardon, Scott, Fisher, McIntosh, and Mark Levinson electronics as well as English and German turntables and multiple speaker systems taught me about the enormous amounts of money I could (and did) spend procuring the latest technology with ever smaller increases in sound quality and reproduction. I finally assembled, for me, the system of components that yielded the aural nirvana I was seeking with my available financial resources. That journey was 40 plus years in length. I didn't have that time span for this journey so how could I use that experience to inform my first binoculars purchase?
The answer to that question for me was found by combining the experience of my simultaneous and less complex photography journey where I learned about the wonderful world of Leica and Hasselblad Cameras, Zeiss lenses, and what I could and could not afford... and the latter being all the aforementioned. My parents (then birders but not me) got a top Cannon film camera (pre digital) and I was exposed to photography. After a series of Cannon and Nikon cameras I acquired a Nikon DSLR camera/lens system through which I learned about depth of field, sharpness, contrast, aperture, focus, light, as well as other aspects of capturing and reproducing the visual image with fidelity. Many of those lessons helped prepare me for my first "birder" binoculars purchase decision. This is how those two areas of interest intersected and played out in my journey.
I first heard the names Leica and Zeiss from the neighbor who led me on the early phase of my audiophile quest. He showed me his Leica camera, lenses and other photographic equipment and encouraged me to get a system and start photography. While I was unable to follow his suggestion, I did learn some basic information about Leica photo and optical consumer products as well as how elevated the companies Leica and Zeiss were in the consumer photo/optical world because of their history of technological advances, superior quality products, and the durability/reliability of their products. Products truly built for a lifetime. The reputations of those companies learned so long ago I still carried with me as I soon decided to purchase a model from one of the companies with "Alpha" models- even if the alpha or premium model was beyond my budget. Since I do not live near a binocular store and the closest hunting store with some models was 3 or more hours away by car, I decided to order from B and H in NY. I was ready to pull the trigger on a Leica Trinovid HD 8x42 when I caught a glimpse of a member’s mention of the recently released Zeiss SFL 8x40.
I was aware of Leica's reputation for producing lush, saturated colors through some of its binoculars and lenses. Zeiss binoculars were reported to have a more neutral and/or natural color image. Each company seemed to have a reputation in the industry for a particular color pallet or color emphasis that characterized some of their consumer products much like certain high end audio companies had become associated with a particular class of sound by manipulating different frequencies of the equipment's frequency response curve, ie, the "west coast' sound that was typically bright and etched as opposed to a sound that was characterized as harmonious and mellow or more "laid back". For reasons beyond the scope of this post I opted for the more reportedly neutral color balance of the Zeiss SFL image and ordered it from B and H.
The binoculars arrived and it failed my first examination looking through them at my neighbor’s roof line against a gray sky. The CA was incredible along the roof and almost everywhere else. I called B and H and arranged to return them immediately. I wanted to try another unit because I couldn't believe the binocular wasn't defective out of the box. Another binocular was sent by B and H immediately upon their receiving my return of the first one. I received the second SFL 8x40 and WOW. I am very happy with it. The image through it is sharp and natural in appearance. I saw gorgeous views seen in their natural beauty without the binocular enhancing or emphasizing any part of the color spectrum in an apparent manner. The binocular did not add a color cast to the image that was not present in the scene and that tainted all the scene's objects, whether or not that was an accurate representation of the scene. The accuracy of the image viewed through the binocular compared with the actual image was very close, not perfect, but very good. Since I have owned the SFL 8x40 I have used it almost every day. My appreciation of it and the view through it has grown as has my enjoyment and satisfaction derived from following birds through tree branches that were previously impenetrable. I learned long ago that you have a real "keeper" if your enjoyment from its use grows as you use it and you continue to discover and appreciate different aspects of it and its use. I look forward to using it each day.
As a postscript this was not an attempt to evaluate the SFL as binoculars or to compare it to other binoculars. I am sure I would also appreciate views through the Leica binocular family as well as Swarovski, Nikon and many other companies. In fact, I hope to add a 10x binocular if my budget in the future can accommodate the purchase. It would be fun to select the 10x binoculars from a different company or binoculars family. Pleased SFL owner.
