Swarovski EL 42 60th anniversary coating (6 Viewers)

[Dale Forbes]

It is known that in 2010, exactly when it begins a new series of Swarovski EL series?
It would be nice if spring would bring the binoculars to the bunny. |=)|

Hi Kustor,
Shipping starts in January 2010.

btw, will you be at the Tata Wild Goose Festival in Tata (Tatai Vadlud Sokadalom) at the end of the month? I am trying to organize to get out there - those geese at dawn are incredible!

Happy birding
Dale

 

[kustor]

Hi Kustor,
Shipping starts in January 2010.

btw, will you be at the Tata Wild Goose Festival in Tata (Tatai Vadlud Sokadalom) at the end of the month? I am trying to organize to get out there - those geese at dawn are incredible!

Happy birding
Dale

Yes, I definitely want to go this year, the Tata crowds wild geese.
Tata can look into the new Swarovski EL series?

 

[iporali]

Can you let on, which others were tested?

mak

mak,

I don't know whether the same coatings are used in the ATM- spotting scopes, but according to this test http://www.europa.com/~telscope/temp/Ginkel.2009.Investigation.telescopes.pdf they do seem to be a little ahead of their competition especially at the short-wavelength -end of the spectrum (see page 8). There is also a Dutch study from some years ago, where the Swarovski's transmission spectrum was shown to be very balanced, unlike the others. This new review may not use the most elegant (or successful) ranking systems , but there are many interesting & informative measurements anyhow.

Best regards,

Ilkka :t:

 

[308CAL]

I have a 2009 60th anniversay 8.5x42 EL....IT IS exquisite,

 

[COLOMBIA Birding]

I have a 2009 60th anniversay 8.5x42 EL....IT IS exquisite,

mmmhhh, I have one, but will only get until Friday when a client from US will bring it and I will be having SUPERB NEW birding experience in great W and C Andes areas of Colombia!!.. CAN NOT WAIT!!!....
will let you know more about how these babies do in mi hands!..
saludos from Colombia,
Diego.

 

[308CAL]

So to clarify, 2009 EL will have updated/upgraded lens coatings over one made in 2008?

All lenses produced from 2009 onwards have been produced with the new Swarotop coatings. That means that all new ATM scopes, and EL & SLC binoculars have benefited.

btw, Swarotop is the main "Entspiegelung" coating (I suppose that is translated to something like "anti-reflection" coating) used throughout the optic and individually calibrated or "designed" per optical system.
This is done so that each binocular (or scope) has the best possible colour fidelity and transmission. birds shouldnt be this colour :t: or this :C or this (unless of course nature created them that way).

happy birding,
dale

 

[falcondude]

So to clarify, 2009 EL will have updated/upgraded lens coatings over one made in 2008?

The more I read this thread, the more confused I am getting. I am going to take my old non 60th anniversary EL out for birding now..

 

[stephen b]

By the way, I talked to the Swaro. Tech dept. about what year new coatings came out because I was looking at buying a great shape used bino. I only asked because I was interested in the optical coatings.

They told me that the last year new coating were applied was 2006 and it was the EasyClean tm. coatings put on the outside of the lens (which don't affect the optical quality)-In fact all the EL's since they have come out have Swaro's latest optic coatings. No new coatings types have been put on since, including the 2009 Anniv. ones.

The only other change was in 2004 to the focus wheel (to make it faster) on the 42mm EL's ( the 32 mm EL's have always had the same focus wheel since they came out-the faster type).

So- only 2 changes to the EL line since they came out-'04 focus wheel speed on the 42mm and EasyClean coatings applied to outside of lenses to all of line in '06

Just for your info-

Stephen

 

[Dale Forbes]

By the way, I talked to the Swaro. Tech dept. about what year new coatings came out because I was looking at buying a great shape used bino. I only asked because I was interested in the optical coatings.

They told me that the last year new coating were applied was 2006 and it was the EasyClean tm. coatings put on the outside of the lens (which don't affect the optical quality)-In fact all the EL's since they have come out have Swaro's latest optic coatings. No new coatings types have been put on since, including the 2009 Anniv. ones.

The only other change was in 2004 to the focus wheel (to make it faster) on the 42mm EL's ( the 32 mm EL's have always had the same focus wheel since they came out-the faster type).

So- only 2 changes to the EL line since they came out-'04 focus wheel speed on the 42mm and EasyClean coatings applied to outside of lenses to all of line in '06

Just for your info-

Stephen

Dear Stephen,

It sound like there has been some misunderstanding or miscommunication somewhere. You are correct in that Swaroclean was introduced across the range a couple of years ago.
Swarotop - the major anti-reflexion coating applied on internal glass surfaces - was given a major overhaul in preparation for the new EL Swarovision binoculars. The coatings machinery was then changed over to the new technology and all optics produced in 2009 have been produced with this new Swarotop. The major steps forward in coatings technology have not yet been strongly communicated, but this does not reduce their importance - particularly when combined with the optical design advancements included in the EL Swarovisions.

Happy birding
Dale

 

[308CAL]

Have i mentioned I love my 2009 made EL 8.5x42.......close to perfect for me

 

[stephen b]

Dale,

Thanks for The clarification. I was just reporting what the Tech person ( actually more than one tech told me) told me at Swarov. Opt. North America. Maybe they were not even aware that there was a difference in the coating equip. upgrade for the 2009 run. I did not mean to give the wrong info.

Would you say that there is a perceived optical difference in the 2009 optics and those made say in 2008?

Thanks for your fast responses and attention to detail.

My Best,

Stephen

 

[Dale Forbes]

Dale,

Thanks for The clarification. I was just reporting what the Tech person ( actually more than one tech told me) told me at Swarov. Opt. North America. Maybe they were not even aware that there was a difference in the coating equip. upgrade for the 2009 run. I did not mean to give the wrong info.

Would you say that there is a perceived optical difference in the 2009 optics and those made say in 2008?

Thanks for your fast responses and attention to detail.

My Best,

Stephen

Hi Stephen, ya, I presume that is the case.
I would love to see some side-by-side test comparisons of a 1999 EL and a 2009 - that would be interesting. I have seen some test results from our labs which show a great improvement but I what is more important is that the birder gets the benefit of it.
The jump from the current EL to the EL Swarovision is certainly obvious.

Happy birding,
Dale

 

[COLOMBIA Birding]

Hi all.. As far as Dale as suggested the 2009 anniversary model has some improvements.. I just received mine a week ago and I have been in a tour birding in Central and Western Andes of Colombia with those... I HAVE TO SAY I LOVE THESE EL 8,5x42, WHAT AN AMAZING TOOL: DELICOIUS FOR BIRDING!!!...

 

[Kevin Purcell]

I would love to see some side-by-side test comparisons of a 1999 EL and a 2009 - that would be interesting. I have seen some test results from our labs which show a great improvement but I what is more important is that the birder gets the benefit of it.
The jump from the current EL to the EL Swarovision is certainly obvious.

Me too. Or even better is Swaro would share some of their test results.

So how many version of the EL have there been in the past 10 years? Five "major" versions?

Silver mirror/slow focus (1999 model) vs Swarobright (dielectric + coating upgrade?) (2002? 2003?) vs eyecup change vs fast focus change (serial L741995971 and later in 2004) vs Aniversary EL (even better coating upgrade?)

Is there any way to distinguish these "old" ELs externally?

 

[henry link]

Kevin,

The EL had dielectric coating from the start.

I hesitate to draw general conclusions from a single specimen, but I had two experiences that suggested ongoing unannounced improvements between 2000 and 2007. Maybe Dale can confirm these.

First, I found the sharpness of my 2000 production pair was improved when I had it converted to fast focus. I couldn't explain that from what I thought was a purely mechanical change until I noticed on the parts list that the focusing lenses were also changed.

Second, I compared my old bin to a new 2007 production pair at a gun show. It was quite obvious to me that the new bin was slightly brighter, higher contrast and had more neutral color. I confirmed this impression later at a dealer. The reaction of the Swarovski rep at the gun show is a good example of the right hand not always knowing what the left hand is doing. He said no changes had ever been made. I told him what I saw and when I pointed out that all the reflections returning from eyepiece elements were green in the new binocular and purple in the old one he insisted no changes had ever been made and even claimed he couldn't see any difference in the reflection colors to boot.

Henry

 

[Dale Forbes]

Kevin,

The EL had dielectric coating from the start.

I hesitate to draw general conclusions from single examples, but I had two experiences that suggested ongoing improvements between 2000 and 2007. Maybe Dale can confirm these.

First, I found the sharpness of my 2000 production pair was improved when I had it converted to fast focus. I couldn't explain that from what I thought was a purely mechanical change until I noticed on the parts list that the focusing lenses were also changed.

Second, I compared my old bin to a new 2007 production one at a gun show. It was quite obvious to me that the new bin was slightly brighter, higher contrast and had more neutral color. I confirmed this impression later at a dealer. The reaction of the Swarovski rep at the gun show is a good example of the right hand not always knowing what the left hand is doing. He said no changes had ever been made. I told him what I saw and when I pointed out that all the reflections returning from eyepiece elements were green in the new binocular and purple in the old one he insisted no changes had ever been made and even claimed he couldn't see any difference in the reflection colors to boot.

Henry

Hi Henry, I would not be able to comment on specific changes made to the ELs over the years without doing a pile of research (I have not been around that long yet ). But what I can say is that there is certainly a culture of "continually improving the good" (as it is referred to in-house). The result is that design, production and processes are always being updated and tweeked as they go along (based on extensive field tests and customer feedback). Most of this is just done for the sake of creating better products and if communications were to make a hoo-ha about every tweek and improvement, they would never stop hoo-ha'ing. And that would just be silly.

There are certainly tons of cool things that could be said about the various coatings (and other technical) improvements made over the years, but from what I can tell, the communications strategy has generally tried to keep it simple and focussed on large, easily visible changes.

Happy birding,
Dale

 

[Kevin Purcell]

Thanks Henry and Dale.

So the most important change is the fast focus revision (serial L741995971 and later in 2004). And as Henry indicates this was even more than mechanical change (I wouldn't have guessed either).

I think most of the big bin makers "slipstream" minor revisions (fixes or general improvements in coatings) as time goes on. Especially over a decade I'd expect a model to change.

I'm more interested in the big changes (as I think quite a few might be in when getting into the second hand market next year as some folks upgrade their early ELs).