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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Troubador" data-source="post: 3811258" data-attributes="member: 109211">AndreasYou make your point very well. Swarovski's EL 8.5x42 does indeed have a magnification advantage over an 8x bino. However its field of view is definitely 133m at 1,000m. This is a good field of view but it is not the best. However as you rightly point out, field of view is not 'everything', although to some birders and nature observers it is important.If we take the field of view at 1,000 metres and think of this as the diameter of the circular view we see through the binoculars then it is useful to use this to calculate the area of this circular view. Here are some of these for some top binos, with the percentage increases compared with EL8.5x42:EL 8.5x42, area of view 13,895 msqLeica Noctivid 8x42, area of view 14,315 msq, = + 3%EL 8x32, area of view 15,617 msq, = + 12.4%Zeiss SF 8x42, area of view 17,206 msq, = + 23.8%This does not mean that the EL32  or the Leica or the Zeiss are better binoculars, but it does mean they have better fields of view. For example some people will undoubtedly prefer the extra 0.5x magnification of the EL8.5x rather than the 23.8% bigger field of view of the SF, and others will prefer the EL32's smaller size and lower weight, others will prefer the Leica's colours.Lee</blockquote>