SFL30 comments and experiences (1 Viewer)

[Sc0tty]

I went to the Global Birdfair yesterday and tried out a few bins and scopes. I had my non-lotutec 8x32 FL with me so I could do side by side comparisons. The 8x30 SFL were really good optically but for me ergonomics were no good due to the centrally positioned focus wheel.

 

[Gijs van Ginkel]

Our test of the SLF 8x30 and 10x30 is now on the WEB-site of House of Outdoor. It also contains a testdata of 8x32 rangefinder binoculars from GPO and Leica.
Gijs van Ginkel

 

[HenRun]

Good decision. I too sold off my 8x32 with no regrets at this point. I am still happy with the SFL 8x40 which I find works much better for me in pretty much every aspect. I do wish I would have had a better outcome with the SFL 8x30 myself, but can’t always get what you want. As a side kick to the 8x40 I ended up with the 8x25 Victory Pocket again. Which does a great job as a side kick at a pretty good price to performance ratio. In my case (as with yours) the SFL 8x30 could have done the job alone, but it did not work out for me.

The FL 8x32 will still have a great place in my memory.

 

[tehri]

Our test of the SLF 8x30 and 10x30 is now on the WEB-site of House of Outdoor. It also contains a testdata of 8x32 rangefinder binoculars from GPO and Leica.
Gijs van Ginkel

Everything being in Dutch, and the search bar of the site giving nothing, would it be possible to give a direct link to these tests ?...

 

[MiddleRiver]

Gijs, if you prefer I not 'edit' your data, please LMK and I will delete immediately.
Not perfect (I had to adjust for different x-axis scales), but interesting nonetheless!

 

[lmans66]

I finally managed to sell my virtually new 8x32 FLs (bought new in late 2019 and used very rarely). Not exactly at the price I had hoped for, but probably at a realistic price, considering how superb the SFL 8x30 model is. Before I packed the old ones up for shipping, I gave them some last comparative look-throughs. And just like the first comparative impressions, these last ones were consistent. The SFL 8x30 is so much brighter that one wonders where the light comes from. I'm still amazed, and I think these SFLs are truly mind-boggling for their size and weight. Sure, the eye-placement is a bit more critical, and if my priorities had not concentrated on size/weight, the 8x40 version would have been selected. But I have now used the 8x30 model almost exclusively for way over three months in the field without ever having wished for another one. (I still have three FL x42 models that I use from the house.)

Sounds like a winner......

I would like someone to compare the Monarch HG's 8x30..... the Leica Retro 7x35.....and the SFL 8x30.... As I had at one time the MHG before selling it, but now have the Retro. Never seen a SFL.

I can't really say I can compare the MHG and Retro since I never had them at the same time so it would be unfair, other than to review my notes to compare. I can say the ergonomics of the Retro are better though. Optics? ...not sure. Now the SFL sounds like truly a winner so would like to see come comparison. And not so much in terms of what Albino goes after but more practical ' in the field stuff'.....

 

[Gijs van Ginkel]

Middele River,
that is not how I printed/stored the dat a and I wil check on the WEB-site, it should not be there in that representation.
Gijs van Ginkel

 

[Gijs van Ginkel]

Middle river, post 65 and 66,
No you do not have to edit our data I am happy with our representation, so you can remove your colorful representation.
Gijs van Ginkel

 

[Gijs van Ginkel]

Middle river,
I gave it a second thought: you must have done a lot of work to arrange that, so it may be better to leave your posts the way they are, since it is informative. It may be helpful to add that the curve you plotted represents the sensitivity curve of the eye.

Tehri, post 64,
We were raised in The Netherlands and of course we learned that beautiful language. In my case I had to learn English, French , German, Latin, Greek and a little Hebrew for fun and it was really fun , but now there is Google translate so you can get help. As a courtesy to many English speaking readers I started to also publish our test reports in English , but the problem is that not everybody in our country speaks English and I get complaints that I do not write the reports in Dutch so the only thing that remains is to drown myself in the North Sea.
Gijs van Ginkel

 

[tehri]

Tehri, post 64,
We were raised in The Netherlands and of course we learned that beautiful language. In my case I had to learn English, French , German, Latin, Greek and a little Hebrew for fun and it was really fun , but now there is Google translate so you can get help. As a courtesy to many English speaking readers I started to also publish our test reports in English , but the problem is that not everybody in our country speaks English and I get complaints that I do not write the reports in Dutch so the only thing that remains is to drown myself in the North Sea.
Gijs van Ginkel

Dear sir, you completely distort the content of my post which contained absolutely no reproach!!!! It is therefore useless to display your 'knowledge' in linguistic matters and to treat me insidiously as ignorant in this matter!!
On the other hand, and to answer you in the same tone as yours, you seem ignorant as to how to provide a direct link to these tests, because that's all we want, since as I point out to you, your search bar does nothing!
Could you provide a simple link, please?
But my question is not in a language you don't know.
Is it so complicated for you to provide us with a direct link, as we usually do to direct Internet users to a page?
Thank you.

 

[Gijs van Ginkel]

Tehri,
I did not want to insult you in any way, it was meant as a joke to illustrate how hard it can be to live in a country in a country with a rather small population in a world with so many languages. I tried to unravel the WEB-adress you asked for, I hope that it works. Best regards,
Gijs van Ginkel

https://www.houseofoutdoor.com/verrekijkers/verrekijkers-testen-en-vergel

 

[claves_10]

Well for the ones that we do not have a "DOCTORATE in color rendition" or in any other areas.....please could someone explain what that graph means?
color sensitivity, varios binos charted in there ....??? How do you interpret the chart? EL drops at about 640 nanometers ...what the helllll

 

[tehri]

Tehri,
I did not want to insult you in any way, it was meant as a joke to illustrate how hard it can be to live in a country in a country with a rather small population in a world with so many languages. I tried to unravel the WEB-adress you asked for, I hope that it works. Best regards,
Gijs van Ginkel

https://www.houseofoutdoor.com/verrekijkers/verrekijkers-testen-en-vergel

Thanks Gijs!
Coms sometimes give rise to misunderstandings! forget that!
The problem and my question came only from the fact that once on the site, using the search bar (Zeiss SFL) gave nothing, no results.
Thank you for the link, and your work !!!

 

[Gijs van Ginkel]

Tehri, post 74,
I am glad that you found it and I hope that the test data are clear.
Best regards,
Gijs

 

[MiddleRiver]

Middle river, post 65 and 66,
No you do not have to edit our data I am happy with our representation, so you can remove your colorful representation.
Gijs van Ginke

Done.

 

[dorubird]

Well for the ones that we do not have a "DOCTORATE in color rendition" or in any other areas.....please could someone explain what that graph means?
color sensitivity, varios binos charted in there ....??? How do you interpret the chart? EL drops at about 640 nanometers ...what the helllll

It is about the electromagnetic optical spectrum of light transmission through all wavelengths (colors). The human eye is sensitive from about 400nm (below is the ultraviolet range) to about 750nm (above is the infrared spectrum). These are the extremes, but the human eye is most sensitive around the middle of the 555mm electromagnetic spectrum (in the green area). The straighter the transmission curve is and parallel to the horizontal axis, the better the color accuracy of the binoculars, because the transmission of light between colors is similar. And the higher it is on the vertical axis, the higher percentage of light it transmits on the respective wavelength.

 

[MiddleRiver]

Well for the ones that we do not have a "DOCTORATE in color rendition" or in any other areas.....please could someone explain what that graph means?
color sensitivity, varios binos charted in there ....??? How do you interpret the chart? EL drops at about 640 nanometers ...what the helllll

Yes, I took different 'chart' from binos as listed, combined them (stretching so x and y axis matched), changed colors, and superimposed a graph of visual sensitivity. The superimposed color was a curve showing what the human eye can detect (theoretical, since we are all diff, and as we age our eyes deteriorate). The value of the two - I thought - was that even tho we obsess about transmission being a flat curve extending out to the extreme left and right (below 500nm and above 625nm for instance), visual sensitivity is quite low in those areas. That said, the fact that some binos are good on the 'tails' of the curve, likely have something to do with 'blue cast' and 'leica color' etc. ;-) It was also interesting to see how good the SFL's do even compared with true 'alpha' glass!
Yes, the EL drops off but look at where vs eye sensitivity. I suspect it affects 'color cast' and subtle visual effects, but in reality not a big deal (and something many people might not even notice?). Even the NL drops off on the upper end and none would argue that the view is stunning? Curiously, the Terra do quite well! So yes, this is but one parameter when evaluating binos...

 

[claves_10]

Dorubird and MiddleRiver THANKS for the explanation, much appreciated.

 

[Gijs van Ginkel]

For those who want to get more information about the interaction of the eye with optical systems, I have written a revieuw paper "Color vision, brightness, resolution and contrast in binocular images". It is a sort of summary of the most relevant publications with regard to the subject in the title and it is published on the WEBsite of House of Outdoor (in English and with lots of illustrations) .
Gijs van Ginkel

 

[Paultricounty]

I went to the Global Birdfair yesterday and tried out a few bins and scopes. I had my non-lotutec 8x32 FL with me so I could do side by side comparisons. The 8x30 SFL were really good optically but for me ergonomics were no good due to the centrally positioned focus wheel.

I had the same opinion when I tried the 30’s, ergos are terrible. The design while excellent on the 40’s doesn’t work on the 30’s. The glass is nice, but they should’ve redesigned the focuser position. And imo both should be $300+ less retail.