Andreas, this is puzzling. Are you suggesting Swarovski is now installing some kind of lock to reduce the movement of the focusing lens and that his is how they have increased the close focus to 3.3m?
If so how is it possible if Swarovski have added a component (the lock) that Swarovski have been able to reduce the cost of the focusing mechanism and so reduce the price?
Lee
I have to quote Holger again!
"With the new top dog NL, its predecessor SV and the SLC, Swaro now has to thin out the range a little.
The first alternative would be to simply let the SV run out and replace it with the NL.
The second alternative: Get rid of the SLC and instead use the SV as the second row. This would mean that the competition for the premium class and the upper middle class would be under control at the same time.
The only problem is: the SV is too expensive to be offered as an upper middle class, so the price has to go down, and down a lot. Now comes the next problem: How can you teach the customer that the SV, previously advertised as an absolute highlight with state of the art technology, suddenly costs 500 euros less (and apparently continues to cover costs)?
Well, you have to slim down a little where it hurts the least. Quickly a small modification of the focusing unit, so that one can pretend a cost saving to justify the low price of the SV. I am sure that Swaro will not be able to save much with this intervention, but it serves as a fig leaf for being able to put the SV in its position in the second row."
Lee do you really think Swarovski would have made a completely new optical calculation for the 8.5x42 and adjusted the focus to it?
What would that have cost?
Andreas