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Message: <blockquote data-quote="henry link" data-source="post: 1375427" data-attributes="member: 6806">Dennis,I think when expensive roof prism bins don't perform as well the Nikon SE the problem can't be blamed on the prism types. A phase corrected AK prism is fully equal to a Porro and while the best Schmidt-Pechan prisms still have slightly lower light transmission than AK or Porro (Zeiss claims about a 2% difference between SP and AK in the FL binoculars) there are other more important differences in the optical designs. I would rate objective and eyepiece design, coatings quality and assembly defects as much more important to the final image than prism type.I think your preference for the SE over the LX-L is not because of prisms but because the LX-L design isn't as successful in other areas. Its light transmission is not impressive compared to more recent roof designs and IMO sharpness is compromised by lateral chromatic aberration. The SE benefits from some shrewd design choices. The design is simple where simple works perfectly well and that accounts, in part, for the excellent light transmission. It has a conventional doublet objective that works fine at 32mm and 8x. There is nothing special about the prism. The only complex or unusual optical feature is an eyepiece design that corrects astigmatism. Put all that together well and you have an excellent binocular that isn't too expensive.  FWIW, I don't think the wide spacing of objectives in most Porros is an advantage, especially for birding. It gives an enhanced 3D effect but degrades the image quality at close distances where the eyes are forced to toe in and look far off axis to place an object in both fields. Henry</blockquote>

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