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Nikon SEs Discontinued (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter ronjax
- Start date
edwincjones
Well-known member
we have been hearing this for a year or more,
and availablity seems to come and go
if I really wanted a pair (or a second pair)
I would get one now
just in case,
edj
and I do not work for Nikon
The demise of decent porros for bird watching by the look of it. Visited all the "majors" stalls at Birdfair. Only one with porros was Swarovski and theirs were crap compared to the SEs and to their roofs. Swarovski bloke on the stand admitted as much.
Swarovski "senior" man agreed that to many, expensive roofs were like a jewellery item (I guess particularly to those who like to keep the object lens covers in place) and were over priced. I was "wearing" my Zeiss BLC 8x60 "Fat Ones" (which weigh a ton) but attracted a lot of attention from the German and Austrian bods from Zeiss Leica and Swarovski. "Spoils Of Krieg" I had to say, don't mention the W!.
Zeiss don't do their magnificent 15x60 any more, no other porros apart from their 7x50B which good enough, I think, for both the Royal and US Navies.
On a slightly different topic have any SE users experienced what I have when wearing mine which is patronising comments/glances from (ignorant) roofers?
Ron
Swarovski "senior" man agreed that to many, expensive roofs were like a jewellery item (I guess particularly to those who like to keep the object lens covers in place) and were over priced. I was "wearing" my Zeiss BLC 8x60 "Fat Ones" (which weigh a ton) but attracted a lot of attention from the German and Austrian bods from Zeiss Leica and Swarovski. "Spoils Of Krieg" I had to say, don't mention the W!.
Zeiss don't do their magnificent 15x60 any more, no other porros apart from their 7x50B which good enough, I think, for both the Royal and US Navies.
On a slightly different topic have any SE users experienced what I have when wearing mine which is patronising comments/glances from (ignorant) roofers?
Ron
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David Swain
Well-known member
Likely similar to the stray glances I get wearing my 8x30 EIIs; people probably wonder why I dignify such an ugly piece of cheap black stuff with a harness!
David
B&H had them earlier this month:http://birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=204019
And Nikon still lists them: Click on Premier SE: http://www.nikonsportoptics.com/Products/Binoculars/index.page
Bob
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dalat
Well-known member
Just out of curiosity (as I've never been to a birdfair myself): why are people wearing binoculars at a fair? Lot's of birds to see? Part of the dresscode?
I don't do dress code, certainly not as far as bird watching goes! I don't know why some people wore their bins at the Fair, some indeed were carrying scopes as well in "Scopacs"
One can watch birds there but from one of the optics marquees with all the stuff (except SEs) under the sun to try out.
I only wore my "Fat Ones" in the optics tent 'cos it gave me an easy chance to talk to the "boss men", and as a demonstration of how good porros can be. (One of the Zeiss guys is a fellow collector though not a bird man.)
As said they weigh a ton (i.e are very heavy) and were otherwise in my back pack (along with a pair of interesting Barr & Stroud 15x60s, I have a collection of old binoculars)
Ron
One can watch birds there but from one of the optics marquees with all the stuff (except SEs) under the sun to try out.
I only wore my "Fat Ones" in the optics tent 'cos it gave me an easy chance to talk to the "boss men", and as a demonstration of how good porros can be. (One of the Zeiss guys is a fellow collector though not a bird man.)
As said they weigh a ton (i.e are very heavy) and were otherwise in my back pack (along with a pair of interesting Barr & Stroud 15x60s, I have a collection of old binoculars)
Ron
brocknroller
gainfully unemployed
I had an "Ingraham moment" in the spring when I went to an all day bird count at a state park with mostly local bird club members in attendance.
They all had roofs, from low/midpriced Chinese roofs - 8x42 Vortex Fury, 8x36 Pentax NV, to high end baby and big ELs.
The park naturalist had half a dozen Celestron Outland LXs and two Monarchs, one his own, available for visitors.
While I was curious to try all of them, only two birders were interested in trying my 8x32 SEs. "Are those old Zeiss porros?" one asked, apparently never having seen this "species" up close.
The naturalist took a look through the SE and said, "Wow!" these are sharp and give a very natural view (who would know better than a naturalist? ;-).
The Pentax owner also tried the SE and thought they were "cool". He had a Nikon spotting scope, and he tried the Monarch but liked his Pentax NV better since they were easier to hold and gave a wider FOV (even though there is only 3/10* difference, the AFOV in the Pentax seems noticeably wider than the Monarch, I agree with him about that).
The naturalist later came over with a pad and pencil and wrote down the name of the SE (I mentioned that they were actually called "Superior E" since the label on the bins just "says" "Nikon 8x32 7.5*". I told him that the SE is still available by special order through some online stores and named the stores, which he wrote down.
I saw him once since at the opening of a new nature education building at our local marsh nature center, but forgot to ask if he ever bought a pair of SEs.
Brock
They all had roofs, from low/midpriced Chinese roofs - 8x42 Vortex Fury, 8x36 Pentax NV, to high end baby and big ELs.
The park naturalist had half a dozen Celestron Outland LXs and two Monarchs, one his own, available for visitors.
While I was curious to try all of them, only two birders were interested in trying my 8x32 SEs. "Are those old Zeiss porros?" one asked, apparently never having seen this "species" up close.
The naturalist took a look through the SE and said, "Wow!" these are sharp and give a very natural view (who would know better than a naturalist? ;-).
The Pentax owner also tried the SE and thought they were "cool". He had a Nikon spotting scope, and he tried the Monarch but liked his Pentax NV better since they were easier to hold and gave a wider FOV (even though there is only 3/10* difference, the AFOV in the Pentax seems noticeably wider than the Monarch, I agree with him about that).
The naturalist later came over with a pad and pencil and wrote down the name of the SE (I mentioned that they were actually called "Superior E" since the label on the bins just "says" "Nikon 8x32 7.5*". I told him that the SE is still available by special order through some online stores and named the stores, which he wrote down.
I saw him once since at the opening of a new nature education building at our local marsh nature center, but forgot to ask if he ever bought a pair of SEs.
Brock
brocknroller
gainfully unemployed
Ronjax,
He's just busting your chops (nothing like explaining one American idiom with another
.
Here's the American slang meaning (first definition under verb):
http://onlineslangdictionary.com/meaning-of/man-up
Of course, now that you know what it means, you might feel like the definition under noun.
That's okay, SE owners always have the last laugh after they hand their porros to honest alpha owners who look through them and say, "Wow!" I didn't think that binoculars under $2,000 could be this good!". Of course, snobs won't own up to it, they will maintain their stiff upper lip, and simply say, "uh hah...." and then mutter to themselves (now let me get back to using real binoculars, you cretin.
Their loss, our gain. Everybody can't be as smart and "frugl" as SE and EII owners.
Brock
He's just busting your chops (nothing like explaining one American idiom with another
.Here's the American slang meaning (first definition under verb):
http://onlineslangdictionary.com/meaning-of/man-up
Of course, now that you know what it means, you might feel like the definition under noun.
That's okay, SE owners always have the last laugh after they hand their porros to honest alpha owners who look through them and say, "Wow!" I didn't think that binoculars under $2,000 could be this good!". Of course, snobs won't own up to it, they will maintain their stiff upper lip, and simply say, "uh hah...." and then mutter to themselves (now let me get back to using real binoculars, you cretin
. Their loss, our gain. Everybody can't be as smart and "frugl" as SE and EII owners.
Brock
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jaymoynihan
Corvus brachyrhynchos watcher
Never. Of course where i live anyone with binoculars of any kind around his neck (assuming it is not deer season and the neck is not covered with camoflage) is noticed and is considered either a perplexing anomaly, suspicious or both.
Just yesterday evening , i was pulled off on a county road with a wide shoulder, looking from my driver's seat with binos at 5 crows in a very large, empty field. Not a building in sight on the side of the road i was looking into.
About 15 minutes later, my cell phone rings. It was a sherriff deputy. He asked if i was driving a (car description) and had been parked (described above). I said yes, and told him what i was doing. He said, thats what he figured, apologized and said they got a call from someone about this guy starring into a field for a long time with binoculars and they "had" to check it out so they could call him back...:-C
mooreorless
Well-known member
Wow Jay, that person wrote down your license number and called in I guess. How did they get your cell phone number? Or are you a known crow man and have had this happen before and the local Sheriff knows your number?
brocknroller
gainfully unemployed
Good thing you didn't tell him you were a Corvus brachyrhynchos watcher, he would have hauled you in for sure!
Is this one of those small towns where the sheriff is also the chief magistrate and judge?
brach
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jaymoynihan
Corvus brachyrhynchos watcher
Good thing you didn't tell him you were a Corvus brachyrhynchos watcher, he would have hauled you in for sure!
Is this one of those small towns where the sheriff is also the chief magistrate and judge?
brach
No. But it is one of those places where often if you decide to read a book at a bar or restaurant, people will stare at times. Sometimes, a person will ask, "you going to school?". You get the idea...
spacepilot
Well-known member
It could've been worse. An ecologist friend of mine was once reported to the police as a dead body when he was doing some field work. As far as I remember how the story went, he had been sitting in the car for a long while, not moving much, and timing the interval the mama bird brought food to the nest or something like that. Yeah, we must seem a very strange crowd to the muggles.
Good thing you didn't tell him you were a Corvus brachyrhynchos watcher, he would have hauled you in for sure!
Is this one of those small towns where the sheriff is also the chief magistrate and judge?
brach
Hey Brother,
Is Brach your new handle?
Brother Bob
