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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dean L" data-source="post: 1763400" data-attributes="member: 83386">Thank you, Brock.  That experience is considered and considerable.What you say makes perfect sense, and may indeed be a contributing factor.  However, I mount these on a monopod for most of my birding, and I study these critters for quite some time.  These big birds, like Great Egrets and Blue Herons (and particularly the much smaller Green-backed Herons) tend to stand in one place for some time before moving, so I have great opportunities to optimize the focus on the higher powered bins.  The bird's features just weren't quite as sharp (crisp, defined?) on the 12X50s as on the 8X32s.  One of the 12X50 pairs was, IMHO, substandard, but both were perceived as slightly soft.  This is not the case with the Leicas, at least not in the center of the FOV.  The Nikons are waaaay superior at the edges. You make another great point.  I may indeed be basing my perception, at least to some extent, based on the total view as opposed to a specific detail.  However, I also suspect that there are samples of the 12X50s that I would deem to be every bit as sharp, and perhaps sharper, than my 8X32s.  IMHO, sample to sample variation plays one of the biggest roles in differences of opinion among users.Couldn't agree more about increased contrast and more vivid colors bringing out more detail.  Here, again, I felt my 8X32s were showing better contrast than the 12X50s, though the differences were quite subtle. The Leicas show more CA off axis, but less on axis compared to the samples of 12X SEs that I tried.  For whatever reasons, I can't help but feel that the Leicas are more defined than the 12X SEs on axis.Well, that's the $64 question that I hope someone can shed some light upon.I would hope we all could tell with just our eyes.  Retailers seem to frown on letting us take multiple samples someplace to do bench testing.  In fact, they seem to frown on letting us even look through multiple samples, if they even have more than one to try.Agreed!  IMHO, Zeiss, Leica, and Swarovski are truly vulnerable because they don't offer any models that can compete in price with the Zen Rays of the world.  As such, their operating costs have to be distributed over a much smaller unit sales base.  With the value of the dollar having been and continuing to be flushed down the toilet, I have to wonder how much of the weakened demand here in the states can be offset by the new developing economies.  Should be interesting times ahead.Thanks again, Brock, for all your insights.Dean</blockquote>

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