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Why is Alpha better than high grade. (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Paultricounty
- Start date
Lee,
This is one thing that intrigues me.
Ignoring IS 😉 which is an apple/ orange debate.
I think I saw some reviews on an Optician Aurora from yourself. Cost wise it is about a 3rd of the price of the most costly glass.
Are there significant drops in resolution and seeing, etc?
Aurora is Opticron's most expensive model at around £770 (if I remember correctly) but I have a big fondness for its £350 cousin, the Opticron Traveller 32 and use it a lot.
Fact is that while top-line models I have tried and owned have noticeably sharper images, I have never seen a plumage detail or a whisker on a seal or otter with a premium model that I couldn't see with the Travellers. So why bother with premium models? Because there will be a distance from the observer at which you will still see that plumage detail with the premium model but will have difficulty with the less expensive one. At the distances I observe the Travellers deliver adequate perceived sharpness (=combination of resolution and contrast) while the view through my Zeiss SF 32 is very clearly of a higher overall quality. The story with the Aurora is similar in that it has a nice large sweet spot and has better perceived sharpness than the Traveller, but it still trails the SF by quite a distance.
I suggest that you have think about what is 'significant' for you personally about the view through binos. It is not as simple a question as it might appear.
Lee
Cheers Lee.
As already evident, I am mostly going down the IS route, but that won't preclude me considering non-IS bins that standout from the crowd. I got the impression that the Aurora fell into that category, hence my enquiry.
I have Opticron 15x70, SR.GA and Savanna porros, but no roofs. I'll put Travellers on the 'consider' list.
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The Auroras are great binos so don't dismiss them without trying them, but for some reason the Travellers really clicked with me and I am very fond of them.
Best binos I have ever had are the two SF32s and I love them to bits.
Lee
tenex
reality-based
This is an understandable point of view... until you assume that any other must be mere prejudice. One can also ask "best in what respect", complain about image quality and FOV, glitches in IS especially the time taken to begin stabilizing, fragility, ergonomics, and so on. If there were a 15x binocular with IS as good as our Nikon lenses and a view as good as my SLC 56, with just a bit more bulk and a battery, I'd certainly consider it... but that instrument does not exist, and is not about to be announced anytime soon. Development lags in stabilization as well as the optics. They're mainly produced by a single manufacturer (that doesn't normally sell bins at all) as some sort of incidental niche product for whom exactly they're not even sure, as the curious plethora of models indicates.
IS has been the (small young) elephant in the room of the "alpha" debate for some time now, so it's good to acknowledge. It's useful enough to a very small minority to choose even now, but still has a surprisingly long way to go.
I generally concur.
If I want to count the nasel hairs of a lion at a mile, I might be able to actually do it with the young 20 year old IS technology of today, but I am 99% certain I won't be able to do it with the 100 year old (?), old technology.......no matter what level it is.
I have both options and appreciate the differences ......., just now questioning further investments.....
IS binoculars don't have the same level of optics as high grade or alpha binoculars in general, and the only one that is close is the Canon 10x42 IS-L, and it is heavy and has poor ergonomics, and it still has artifacts when it stabilizes the image. When they get rid of the artifacts in IS binoculars, I will try them again. IS binoculars are not for the optics nuts that enjoy the WOW that a regular alpha binocular gives you. You can see more detail with IS, but the optics are not at the same level as a regular alpha or even high grade binocular. If you like the colorful, contrast view with the "pop" that an alpha binocular gives you, IS are not for you. If you just want to see detail, then IS might be for you.
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YuShan
Well-known member
When I started birding in 2010 and bought my first binoculars, I didn't know yet that it would become such a big hobby, so I didn't want to spend too much. So I bought cheap(ish) £320 binoculars that still had ED glass. I thought they were quite nice, but before buying I asked the guy in the shop what the best binoculars were that he had, just to compare and see the difference. He gave me the Swarovski EL SV. I was totally blown away! But I wasn't prepared to pay 5x the price (£1600 at the time)....
But only a couple of months later, birding had become a passion and I couldn't get the Swaro out of my head! It was almost like being in love with a girl that was out of my league, always thinking about her. So after a year I bought the Swaro anyway. We have been happily married ever since, and I think I will never leave her, after all the beautiful moments that we have shared together in many places across the world.
But only a couple of months later, birding had become a passion and I couldn't get the Swaro out of my head! It was almost like being in love with a girl that was out of my league, always thinking about her. So after a year I bought the Swaro anyway. We have been happily married ever since, and I think I will never leave her, after all the beautiful moments that we have shared together in many places across the world.
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The BulbMogul
Well-known member
If you add a set of German Lightweight Wheels to the Pinarello it can go even much higher with the set of wheels alone USD$10,000.00 +
Attachments
Wrong suggestion! Should have said "spend a bit more on the bike and open a bottle of Chablis"
Lee
If people are gonna post up such pictures.... they are going to get a response.
tehri
Well-known member
Interesting thread and good discussions, until unfortunately from page 16, with these battles about IS or not IS !.... and all in all the more stupid because it is completely forgotten a simple tool : the tripod, or the monopod.
No, you can't see more details with IS, but with Alpha + tripod !!
No, you can't see more details with IS, but with Alpha + tripod !!
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True for people ready to carry a tripod. And also having a "where".
And yes, I am interested in a tripod, a pocket tripod.
"stupid" ? really?
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Rolosama
Amateur ornithologist curious about everything
I was amazed by the effectiveness of the image stabilization mounted on binoculars. I believe that this technology is here to stay in the world of binoculars. Now, we will have to see when a manufacturer will decide to produce one without compromising on the quality of the optics. One day, not very far away, we will be entitled to the best IS with the best optics. Already, this type of binocular (IS) has improved rapidly.
