pete_gamby
Birds? What Birds?!
Surprised to see no thread on the updated SF that was being carried by numerous birding celebs at the Birdfair today.
Lee, David, Paddy?
Lee, David, Paddy?
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No one spotted the updated SF today? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter pete_gamby
- Start date
A2GG
Beth
dwatsonbirder
Well-known member
Details here (click on features for updates): http://www.zeiss.co.uk/sports-optic...culars/victory-sf-binoculars.html#models#0842 no mention of a 32mm model though. Perhaps next year!
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David in NC
Well-known member
Whats updated on them?
Maybe other stuff but for ONE thing..the color of the armor. Mine are gray and it looks as if this has been changed to black. Good move IMO.
BruceH
Avatar: Harris Hawk
Chuck, looks like you are right on about the color change of the armoring. Here is a link to a Zeiss product description of the SF. The only time I can see the word "new" is when the color of the armoring is mentioned.
http://blogs.zeiss.com/sports-optics/birding/en/victory-sf/
I was thinking they might of added an additional position to the eye cups, but there is no mention of that.
Hopefully Lee or some of the other members attending Birdfair will ask Zeiss about any other changes.
Here is a link to a photo that does a good job showing the new color ......
http://blogs.zeiss.com/sports-optic...ites/2/2016/08/ZEISS-20160729-Blog-Teaser.jpg
Personally, I like the grey since it takes less of a beating in the hot AZ summer sun but I can see where those that had some discoloration with the grey would like the classic black.
On Edit: Typo/David mentioned in is first day Birdfair report that Zeiss may have also made some tweaks to the focus, but no details as to exactly what. We shall wait to hear what Lee found out.
http://blogs.zeiss.com/sports-optics/birding/en/victory-sf/
I was thinking they might of added an additional position to the eye cups, but there is no mention of that.
Hopefully Lee or some of the other members attending Birdfair will ask Zeiss about any other changes.
Here is a link to a photo that does a good job showing the new color ......
http://blogs.zeiss.com/sports-optic...ites/2/2016/08/ZEISS-20160729-Blog-Teaser.jpg
Personally, I like the grey since it takes less of a beating in the hot AZ summer sun but I can see where those that had some discoloration with the grey would like the classic black.
On Edit: Typo/David mentioned in is first day Birdfair report that Zeiss may have also made some tweaks to the focus, but no details as to exactly what. We shall wait to hear what Lee found out.
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jan van daalen
Well-known member
Landed this morning and they fine tuned the black Zeiss SF a bit more.
It could be me, but the black colored rubber armoring feld like it offered a slightly improved grip compared to the grey one. It's a tiny bit thicker also.
The eyecups have a click extra (fit on the grey model also) and the focussing wheel goes very smooth, but I must admitt that after the first batch, I had no complaints about any sticky focusser.
The grey colour will stay available so now there is a choice in two colours.
Jan
It could be me, but the black colored rubber armoring feld like it offered a slightly improved grip compared to the grey one. It's a tiny bit thicker also.
The eyecups have a click extra (fit on the grey model also) and the focussing wheel goes very smooth, but I must admitt that after the first batch, I had no complaints about any sticky focusser.
The grey colour will stay available so now there is a choice in two colours.
Jan
Vespobuteo
Well-known member
New one looks nice, nicer actually.
:t:
I guess the feel/material (plastic) in the eye cups is the same?
jan van daalen
Well-known member
It's the same material, but the edges of the click position seems sharper, more direct and they fit into the grey coloured ones
.
Hi Everyone
Just got back and need some sleep, but Jan has got it right:
On SF, new black armour of a similar nature to Conquest but feels more textured and of a higher density. Certainly it is not 'squashy' like the grey. Actually it feels rather nice but I still like the grey too.
Zeiss eyecups, especially on the Victory models are not my favourites and I have never thought them good enough even if they do the job. These new eyecups have an additional click a little higher than the fully screwed-down position which spectacle wearers should find very useful, they certainly suited me. As Jan said the clicks feel more positive too although personally I would ask for more adjustability and a more precision feel.
Best of all the focuser feels even smoother now and I tried several units and they all felt really nice.
More follows tomorrow when I will try to post answers to the questions posted on the run up to Bird Fair.
Lee
Just got back and need some sleep, but Jan has got it right:
On SF, new black armour of a similar nature to Conquest but feels more textured and of a higher density. Certainly it is not 'squashy' like the grey. Actually it feels rather nice but I still like the grey too.
Zeiss eyecups, especially on the Victory models are not my favourites and I have never thought them good enough even if they do the job. These new eyecups have an additional click a little higher than the fully screwed-down position which spectacle wearers should find very useful, they certainly suited me. As Jan said the clicks feel more positive too although personally I would ask for more adjustability and a more precision feel.
Best of all the focuser feels even smoother now and I tried several units and they all felt really nice.
More follows tomorrow when I will try to post answers to the questions posted on the run up to Bird Fair.
Lee
Not bonkers at all John, if the FL 8x32 had only been available it that green I would never have got one: ugh! Why I hate that FL green but like the Swaro green is one of those unfathomable things about likes and dislikes.
Personally I do like the grey although it took a while to acclimatise to it but I have to admit the black does look pretty smart.
Lee
John Cantelo
Well-known member
Each to their own, but I'm astonished that a minor difference of body colour - grey/black or various shades of green (or even Swarovski's 'sand' colour) - would stop someone buying an instrument if they felt it offered them the best financial/optical/practical option. Admittedly, I'd hesitate to buy red/pink or blue binoculars but that's a pretty rare option.
james holdsworth
Consulting Biologist
I'm the same way - hate green binoculars and have never owned one. Even returned a green design selection 8x56 because it looked ugly and I wanted the gray....
John you might just have found me out. I suppose I made a cheap remark by saying I would never have bought a green one because actually I said that from the comfort of having a black one on the shelf.
Perhaps if that green really had been the only colour then I might have swallowed my 'colour prejudice' after all I did actually get an SF before I had acclimatised to the grey.
However I won't let you get away with minimising your discrimination against red/pink/blue: it doesn't really matter that these are rare options, the point is they don't ring your bell :-O.
Now, a blue or green so dark that they might almost be black, but not quite........... that could be tasteful and I even once saw a brown car that I liked.............
Lee
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Elmer Fudd
Well-known member
jan van daalen
Well-known member
Oh, let me be a smartass for one time:
Black is no color!
LOL,
It's got to be magic stuff, all those colours (except one)
Jan
Oh, let me be a smartass for one time:
Black is no color!
LOL.
This is interesting because I used to be in the rubber products business and carbon black, which was used to give rubber products a black appearance, was commonly referred to as a 'pigment'.
And what is pigment but something that imparts colour.........? :eek!:
Lee
BruceH
Avatar: Harris Hawk
Lee,
Did you have any discussions with the good folks at Zeiss about the changes to the SF focus? If so, what exactly did they do and could you tell a difference between the new display models and your own SF binoculars?
In addition to a focus change, this thread reports the SF will now come with two armor options, the original grey and now black "pigment". The black armor is slightly heavier and has less movement.
Does that cover it or are there any other changes, say to the optics?
Thanks.
Did you have any discussions with the good folks at Zeiss about the changes to the SF focus? If so, what exactly did they do and could you tell a difference between the new display models and your own SF binoculars?
In addition to a focus change, this thread reports the SF will now come with two armor options, the original grey and now black "pigment". The black armor is slightly heavier and has less movement.
Does that cover it or are there any other changes, say to the optics?
Thanks.
Hi Bruce
Regarding the changes to the focus, I didn't ask 'penetrating' questions as I have noticed a gradual improvement in the smoothness of SF focusers since they were launched and assumed that this had simply continued. Yes I have to say that all of the black SFs had a smoother, 'super luxurious' feel. I wouldn't have criticised mine but the new ones are sweeter. I have heard of some SFs having focusers that felt a bit tight in some parts of the travel so I guess they have just been tweeking this away. The pre-production units I tried had no problems so perhaps it was something that raised its head when production volumes were being turned out.
Yes, the black 'colourless' rubber
-O) is more solid to the touch and has a classier feel than the Conquest although that is a very subjective comment to make. But the SF black armour surface has more of a texture to it than Conquest.I am pretty sure that there are no changes to the optics but the eyecups have been changed and now incorporate an extra click about 3-4 mm 'unscrewed' from fully screwed down. This means there are now 4 positions and the new one suits me just fine. However I still think they don't feel of sufficient quality for what is Zeiss's top line. There is a bit too much play in each of the click stops, although I should mention that the click stops themselves do feel more positive than before. So they have had useful improvements but if I was a teacher and the eyecups were a term paper, I would write across the top 'could do better'. That might be a bit tough because they do the job, but I would just like them to feel more top of the line.
Lee
