Swarovski New binocular launch (1 Viewer)

[brocknroller]

No offence, Brock, but I can't, for the life of me, begin to imagine why anyone would consider that to be an improvement.

Maljunulo,

No offense taken except for misspelling the word "offense."

I'm just the messenger decrying the news of the coming digital bino apocalypse. I'm an old analog guy and porro lover myself.

My point was that buyers are getting ripped off for incremental improvements in top shelf sports optics. If sports optics companies were making something truly innovative, then the prices would be easier to justify.

Brock

 

[brocknroller]

I think there's quite a lot of scope for making improvements left, and the easiest way forward would be to abandon roof prisms, especially roof prisms that require highly complex dielectric coatings in addition to phase coatings, in favour of "simple" prism systems like Porro I or Porro II, or perhaps the Perger prism.

Hermann

Hip, Hip, Hurrah! Hip, Hip, Hurrah! :t:

I'm with you Hermann. If optics companies would have made simple improvements on porros to begin with, birders wouldn't be taking out a second mortgage to pay for a pair of alpha roofs, and the divorce rate would be cut in half. :smoke:

Analog Man

 

[ceasar]

Ted,

Your personal sensors can be digitally enhanced, too.

Rochester Nomogram..

.........................................

I, Roboman

This guy has been doing that Lasik Surgery here in NE PA for years and he has competition in the business.

http://www.buccivision.com/

Bob

 

[jgraider]

I think there's quite a lot of scope for making improvements left, and the easiest way forward would be to abandon roof prisms, especially roof prisms that require highly complex dielectric coatings in addition to phase coatings, in favour of "simple" prism systems like Porro I or Porro II, or perhaps the Perger prism.

Hermann

I'm sure hunters will love this idea........

 

[Theo98]

HaHa

Ted,

Your personal sensors can be digitally enhanced, too.

Rochester Nomogram

And if you are a poker players, you'll want a pair of these:

digital-eyes-show-emotions

I, Roboman

Brock,

Yep, been there, done that! Cataract surgery 18 months back with Restore lenses...now blessed with 20\13 far and 20\20 near vision, no glasses needed! :t:

Doc said for an extra $5K, I could have added 2-10 power zoom, night and x-ray vision and a "digitally enhanced" extended 256M Chromatic Spectrum, but the boss said NO. She wants to go to Hawaii, hehe!!

Ted

 

[King Parrot]

There is a beauty in sticking with analog binocs; you are concentrated on observing the wildlife and the only adjustment you make is focus which becomes second nature so you don't even think about it. I wouldn't want to fiddle with any additional controls on the binocs. Yes would be very convenient to be able to instantly take a photo of the image you are observing, but for me works better to have a high-quality bridge camera on my belt.

If the future electronic binocs from Sony follow similarly astonishing progress like their A7 full-frame cameras, we'll end up having a great product where a new model is launched every 18-24 months and the one you buy becomes obsolete in 5 years (electronics, built in battery, etc). Buying top-end binocs now can be considered a good investment as they can last 20+ years - no such thing with digital binocs and they will only cost more.

If somehow in today's binocs as they are now we could have IS integrated, well that would be very tempting (not referring to the already existing IS binocs on the market - but say SV12x50 or SV15x56 unchanged but with an IS somehow )))

 

[edwincjones]

I would guess that 99% of the binoculars users
are ok with the current choices,
the other 1% is here

edj

 

[NDhunter]

I would guess that 99% of the binoculars users
are ok with the current choices,
the other 1% is here

edj

Edwin:

So you've tested them all. Not satisfied yet. Wow! o

Jerry

 

[Maljunulo]

I would guess that 99% of the binoculars users
are ok with the current choices,
the other 1% is here

edj

:clap:

 

[brocknroller]

This guy has been doing that Lasik Surgery here in NE PA for years and he has competition in the business.

http://www.buccivision.com/

Bob

This kind of Lasik surgery is supposed to restore 99.5% of your vision. You'll be seeing like a baby, Bob. Then perhaps you and I will finally see eye to eye (after I get mine done, too).

My dad had cataract surgery two weeks ago. He was in and out in 15 minutes. There are a LOT of drops to take the first few days, then it tapers off for three weeks. The new lens is optimized for distance, so once his eye heals, he needs to get glasses for closer distances.

I'm next. I've got a cataract in one eye, and I got it from birding. Twice I was following birds in flight and ran into the sun. ZAP! Burned off some of the gel in front of the retina each time, which showed up as a red spot, which took at least a month to fall off and settle in my eye as a floater. Both times I was panning such that I "hit" the sun with my left eye. My right eye was spared.

Nobody talks about eye safety for birders, but it can be dangerous if you follow birds in flight and are not careful to watch where you're pointing your bins. Also, since I watch birds near my house more than any other place and the house faces southwest, I'm usually looking in the direction of the sun (which also makes my bins more vulnerable to veiling glare).

The first time I ran into the sun with my bins I was trying to follow swallows chasing bugs over the ball field across from the house. They are VERY fast and can turn on a dime. Challenging to watch in flight and dangerous if the sun is low in front of you.

Brock

 

[King Parrot]

Hi Brock, sorry to hear about the eye damage and thanks for raising awareness. It's too easy to forget how damaging the Sun can be until too late...Good luck with the eye Op!

Cheers
Mark

 

[edwincjones]

Edwin:

So you've tested them all. Not satisfied yet. Wow! o

Jerry

I keep looking for a zeiss 20x60IS
in the size and weight of a 32mm
for < $1000

edj

 

[Theo98]

Nobody talks about eye safety for birders, but it can be dangerous if you follow birds in flight and are not careful to watch where you're pointing your bins. Also, since I watch birds near my house more than any other place and the house faces southwest, I'm usually looking in the direction of the sun (which also makes my bins more vulnerable to veiling glare). Brock

Brock,

Thanks for sharing this important safety tip, never though binos could cause that kind of eye damage...makes sense. Eye Doc says all of my floaters came from a bout with Scarlet Fever. They didn't bother my previous 20-600 vision (family inheritance), but they're making up for it now! :eek!:

I'll have to remember on bright sunny days not to glass the sun, just keep the eyes on the babes...er, birds!

Ted

 

[oetzi]

I think there is still scope of making incremental improvements like FOV, light transmission rate and weight reduction to some extent, if not radical changes.

Regards

Marketing is radical these days

 

[David in NC]

The Plot Thickens...

But then THIS:

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=307202

EL Swarovision sale

All Swarovski EL Swarovision Binocular models went on sale today in the U.S. and Canada. Thru Nov. 15th, 10% off.

 

[J899]

Interesting - does this increase the possibility/likelihood of a potential new product in the pipeline?

Does anyone recall if Swarovski had similar sales in the past prior to a new product launch?

 

[Sanjay Naithani]

If there is any possible launch then that can happen in August during bird fair in UK.

Sanjay

 

[proudpapa56]

They did have a sale last year at about the same time.

 

[NDhunter]

I made this same post on a recent Zeiss thread. Swarovski has updated the entire line in
the past 5 years, and so I would not expect anything new for a while.

Several months ago, they raised prices 10% on many products, so now a 10% decrease sounds like
a good idea, their binocular prices are still higher than they were 2 years ago.

Edit: Add on how the value of the Euro has dropped almost 20% in the last 12 months.
Look at this chart. The price of these should drop even more in the US. A similar thing
has happened with most all other foreign currencies.

Jerry

 

[Maljunulo]

They did have a sale last year at about the same time.

Wasn't that promoted as their 65th Anniversary Sale?

That's when I bought mine.