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Message: <blockquote data-quote="elkcub" data-source="post: 1343270" data-attributes="member: 14473">A good example might be to compare the standard Swift 804 Audubon to its water resistant 804ED sibling.  The addition of O-rings to the ocular assembly actually reduced the mechanical effectiveness of the bridge mechanism, increased the number of parts and reduced focusing smoothness.  The optical redesign of the air-spaced ED objective turned out to be fantastic, but one could really question the mechanical "improvements," which added significantly to manufacturing costs and provided questionable performance gains.In my opinion, the SE design would be really hard to waterproof without sacrificing much of the quality/price advantage.  I'm not quite certain about this, but even incorporating twist-up eyecups seems to be at odds with eye lens diameters used in many Porros, particularly wide-angle models.  In any case, such redesigns would not be inexpensive, possibly compromise performance features, and escalate production costs, — ultimately sacrificing this hi-end Porro's desirability and profit margin.  Ed</blockquote>