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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kevin Purcell" data-source="post: 1643145" data-attributes="member: 68323">I think that's overstating the case, Henry. There is a rough consensus but it depends on the binocular usage and manufacturer.For terrestrial-use bins it seems to be widely agreed that adding pinchushion is a good idea (which of course you know) and the vast majority of bins have pincushion added for that reason. For astro bins and naval bins (like the Fuji FMT designs) there seems to be a consensus to reduce the pincushion to zero. There are no (non-vertical) straight lines in the sky or at sea.Holger's Rolling Globe paper where he suggests that particular manufacturers "like" particular exponents (i.e. the amount of pincushion to add). I suspect this is a mix a tradition, expected bin usage and (for the odd cases) designer whim. He even outlines the case of Zeiss being reluctant to get on this bandwagon preferring to make "more optically perfect" bins even if people much preferred an added distortion in actual usage. They eventually saw the light.That said there are the odd cases (like the Nikon LX L 8x42) were they don't seem to be following the "makers traditional value". Designer whim or different requirements?Perhaps another connection as Kowa and Fujinon (and that odd Nikon) seem to avoid pincushion: perhaps there is a bias in Japanese optical culture for this? Do you know of any other manufacturers who avoid pincushion systematically today?Back to the original question: I can't believe the new EL (or EDG or any top birding bin) will not have some pincushion today. It may have a small amount that a user without looking carefully (either through the oculars or through the objectives) might perceive as "no pincushion" when it's "just the right amount of pincushion" to not intrude on the view. We'll see as people start to get them and review them.</blockquote>

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