Easter has been slow and enjoyable. Got to do a few hours glassing in the bleak and pale spring light.
Not much colour sparkle and the fields are more reminiscent of gloomy battlefields, a battle that winter seems to lose, thankfully and eventually.
I did haul out the Swaro BTX today but the brisk morning and the thermals did not allow for a very good viewing of distant "blurs" in flight.
Did manage to follow two circling Buzzards for a brief moment - but they were actually too close for the BTX (!) so I had to resort to the 8x bins...
I brought home my old Zeiss 8x32 FL for a comparison to the SFL 40 and managed to "snag" the Meopta B1.1 Meostar 8x32 as well.
Also shown in the photo is the Pure NL 12x42.
A fearsome foursome indeed.
I did swap out the eye cups on the Zeiss which actually improves the viewing with glasses to a bearable experience by putting two pairs of coupling gaskets instead, one reversed to seal the bino and one on top against the ocular. Impressively enough the friction fit is near perfect and they work better for me than the original back ocular cups. There are two settings I can use, near flush with the back oculars (still protecting the ocular lens surface) and one about just under 2mm up - which works great for glasses in my case - while providing slightly better ocular glare blocking than the original cups.
I was most interested in seeing how well the FL would perform against the SFL considering its age and my fond memories of it from yesteryear.
Weight of the SFL is 650g. weight of the FL is 550g and the Meopta 8x32 is smack inbetween at 600g. I have no numbers for size, but the picture gives a fairly accurate representation.
To cut to the chase I spent most of the weekend revisiting the FL 8x32 and did a few side by side comparisons which for the most part was no major surprise and not much new.
The main points are: the Meopta is a super eye friendly and very nice handling bino. Eye relief, glare resistance and panning behaviour is exemplary.
It is a very cool bino - except for the image, which is slightly warm and to my eyes has an amber tint.
In a way the Meopta is the most pleasing bino to use. It is also optically quite competent and for mid to close range it holds its own. The latest Meostar B1 Plus will have higher optical tolerances and according to Meopta even better optical performance.
The FL 8x32 is not as forgiving for me in regards to eye placement and wiggle room. But it works. Meopta has a more immersive image but the FL still shows what the FL glass is capable of. For birds in flight there is no denying the crispness of the FL glass - it is very enjoyable and makes focusing a little bit easier. If I take up some of the slack in my posture I can fit the back ocular cups against the glasses in a fashion that gives me full viewing out to the field stops but if I deviate some in posture I find I lose a little of the potential of the bino. Usually binos either "work" or they "don't" for me but the FL is the rare one where it sometimes works "great" and sometimes just "works". It does not allow me the same ease of viewing as the Meopta or the SFL where I can just lift it up to the eyes and it all falls into place immediately. It takes a little more effort for me with the FL.
Meopta 8x32 does show CA and sometimes it is a slight distaction against bright backgrounds, making me second guess if I have nailed focus.
Meopta 10x42 HD has zero CA and comparing the two the Meostar 10x42HD is a bit less warm/neutral and it is CA free in the center which puts it on par with the FL 8x32 for birds in flight in terms of focus snap and clarity.
Unfortunately I had to lend out the 10x42HD in order to lend back the FL 8x32 and the Meopta 8x32 so there was no side by side comparison this day.
The SFL 40 does just about everything the FL 8x32 does, and even a little bit better. Except for center image CA which is detectable but very small in the SFL and absent in the FL. Harsh light viewing is better in the SFL, front lens glare is similar, ocular lens glare is much better handled in the SFL and the eye positioning is just about as good as with the Meopta 8x32.
The FL8x32 fits my hands great. It is the lightest of the three but I don't feel much of the 100g difference between the SFL and the FL.
On the contrary I find the balance of the SFL does make for more stable viewing than the FL. Maybe the weight adds a little stability.
The Meopta is 50g lighter than the SFL but feels heavier (!) though the ergonomics and ease of view with the Meopta makes up for this and it is as easy to view for a longer period as the SFL. The FL is really good, but nothing in the viewing or weight works in its favour against the other two.
Color balance, a highly subjective topic for some. I have always felt the FL was "neutral" but perhaps lacking a little of the Leica and Swaro fairy-dust-sprinkle-glow and/or contrast. Well, in dull light the FL is dull. The Meopta lends a warm tint to things and looks more pleasing. Looking at the same scene and going between them I - for the first time - agree with some that say the FL has a greenish hue. I think it is maybe a little on the blue-green side and looking at greens and grays (bark, gravel) the FL does turn a little cyan to my eyes.
This was my perception during the last couple of days and very apparent going between the FL and the Meopta 8x32. The FL being more "icy" in rendering and the Meopta a bit warm. What about the SFL? Well, once again, I will have to say that whatever concoction Zeiss put in the coatings for color correction it really works for my eyes. The SFL feels "neutral" and more accurate in the color representation.
I would say that for me, the SFL does everything a little bit better. Equal apparent handheld resolution as the FL but with a more generous and immersive image. All three are very nice for panning and scanning. The FL is the best for panning, but all are great. The Meopta is excellent in use and for close to midrange birdwatching I almost found it better than the FL (!) in the very center - watching the bird feeder and looking at the same birds going in and out. It was open shade and perhaps that added amber tint to the Meopta did pop some colors more than the FL and fooled the brain into perceiving it as "sharper" but I was not expecting the Meopta to keep up with the FL. A pair of European Gold Finchs appeared and the view through the Meopta was exceptionally nice. I would have thought the same of the FL had I not looked through the Meopta.
At long range viewing the Meopta is lagging behind a notch. The FL retains excellent contrast and resolution at distance and this is where the FL is yet to be bested: birds in flight are perfectly rendered against the sky making for detailed viewing and easy focusing.
There are only a handful of binos that give such a crisp viewing. Watching the pair of common Buzzards (gracefully making two tours around the field within 45 minutes) was so good I forgot to switch over to the SFL...
I did rush in to pick up the Swarovski 12x42 NL and following the Buzzards with the Swaro was actually even better; 12x magnification, more vivid image and more immersive than the FL. Simply fantastic to see the sun shine through the feathers with both, but the Swarovski is definitely one of the very, very best.
For the rest of the weekend I did three outings with the FL8x32 alone. I do like it and it even though you might argue that lack of CA is not the most critical deciding factor when it comes to appraising a pair of binos I think it does help in many situations as there is one thing less to detract from the overall image - which is especially apparent in less than ideal viewing conditions.
Today I got to see a white tailed eagle against the bright coastal waters and the barn door appearance gave it away in flight before acquiring it with the binos. The FL gave that crisp "icy" cut out against the specular highlights of the sea with no CA and that made for a good panning experience with a minimum of distractions. A minute later a Cormorant snatched a fish out of the water and I could follow it as well - only to find out there was a whole colony of cormorants at a small island just opposite us, about half a km out. I honestly did not know we had Cormorants here - so it was a first for me. I should have known. But now I know what those "large unidentifiable birds" were that I have seen from my deck in the distance!
I like the format and frankly, pretty much everything about the FL. It is an old friend of mine and even with the shortcomings: "washed out" in bright light, dull in grey weather, not the best with eye placement and ocular glare... ...I will have to say that the FL image still comes across as very respectable even by todays standards and everything I looked at in the distance was easily identifiable through thermals and since our fields are chock full of buzzards the FL render them very crisply even when they are far off. I have come to appreciate the performance and lack of CA.
I can no longer "unsee the slight green hue" but I am sure when the colors return to nature and the pale green is replaced by a more lush green foliage the tint - if there even is one - will drown out anyway. In my mind I refer the color of the FL as "near neutral, classic Zeiss" and that is my coping mechanism.
Next week I will bring them out together and start out with the SFL but will bring the FL as a sidekick.
It has been a very pleasant reunion with the FL. I see the shortcomings in a better perspective now, and I appreciate the merits of the FL, perhaps even more than I thought. It is still a fantastic small-ish bino.
Not much colour sparkle and the fields are more reminiscent of gloomy battlefields, a battle that winter seems to lose, thankfully and eventually.
I did haul out the Swaro BTX today but the brisk morning and the thermals did not allow for a very good viewing of distant "blurs" in flight.
Did manage to follow two circling Buzzards for a brief moment - but they were actually too close for the BTX (!) so I had to resort to the 8x bins...
I brought home my old Zeiss 8x32 FL for a comparison to the SFL 40 and managed to "snag" the Meopta B1.1 Meostar 8x32 as well.
Also shown in the photo is the Pure NL 12x42.
A fearsome foursome indeed.
I did swap out the eye cups on the Zeiss which actually improves the viewing with glasses to a bearable experience by putting two pairs of coupling gaskets instead, one reversed to seal the bino and one on top against the ocular. Impressively enough the friction fit is near perfect and they work better for me than the original back ocular cups. There are two settings I can use, near flush with the back oculars (still protecting the ocular lens surface) and one about just under 2mm up - which works great for glasses in my case - while providing slightly better ocular glare blocking than the original cups.
I was most interested in seeing how well the FL would perform against the SFL considering its age and my fond memories of it from yesteryear.
Weight of the SFL is 650g. weight of the FL is 550g and the Meopta 8x32 is smack inbetween at 600g. I have no numbers for size, but the picture gives a fairly accurate representation.
To cut to the chase I spent most of the weekend revisiting the FL 8x32 and did a few side by side comparisons which for the most part was no major surprise and not much new.
The main points are: the Meopta is a super eye friendly and very nice handling bino. Eye relief, glare resistance and panning behaviour is exemplary.
It is a very cool bino - except for the image, which is slightly warm and to my eyes has an amber tint.
In a way the Meopta is the most pleasing bino to use. It is also optically quite competent and for mid to close range it holds its own. The latest Meostar B1 Plus will have higher optical tolerances and according to Meopta even better optical performance.
The FL 8x32 is not as forgiving for me in regards to eye placement and wiggle room. But it works. Meopta has a more immersive image but the FL still shows what the FL glass is capable of. For birds in flight there is no denying the crispness of the FL glass - it is very enjoyable and makes focusing a little bit easier. If I take up some of the slack in my posture I can fit the back ocular cups against the glasses in a fashion that gives me full viewing out to the field stops but if I deviate some in posture I find I lose a little of the potential of the bino. Usually binos either "work" or they "don't" for me but the FL is the rare one where it sometimes works "great" and sometimes just "works". It does not allow me the same ease of viewing as the Meopta or the SFL where I can just lift it up to the eyes and it all falls into place immediately. It takes a little more effort for me with the FL.
Meopta 8x32 does show CA and sometimes it is a slight distaction against bright backgrounds, making me second guess if I have nailed focus.
Meopta 10x42 HD has zero CA and comparing the two the Meostar 10x42HD is a bit less warm/neutral and it is CA free in the center which puts it on par with the FL 8x32 for birds in flight in terms of focus snap and clarity.
Unfortunately I had to lend out the 10x42HD in order to lend back the FL 8x32 and the Meopta 8x32 so there was no side by side comparison this day.
The SFL 40 does just about everything the FL 8x32 does, and even a little bit better. Except for center image CA which is detectable but very small in the SFL and absent in the FL. Harsh light viewing is better in the SFL, front lens glare is similar, ocular lens glare is much better handled in the SFL and the eye positioning is just about as good as with the Meopta 8x32.
The FL8x32 fits my hands great. It is the lightest of the three but I don't feel much of the 100g difference between the SFL and the FL.
On the contrary I find the balance of the SFL does make for more stable viewing than the FL. Maybe the weight adds a little stability.
The Meopta is 50g lighter than the SFL but feels heavier (!) though the ergonomics and ease of view with the Meopta makes up for this and it is as easy to view for a longer period as the SFL. The FL is really good, but nothing in the viewing or weight works in its favour against the other two.
Color balance, a highly subjective topic for some. I have always felt the FL was "neutral" but perhaps lacking a little of the Leica and Swaro fairy-dust-sprinkle-glow and/or contrast. Well, in dull light the FL is dull. The Meopta lends a warm tint to things and looks more pleasing. Looking at the same scene and going between them I - for the first time - agree with some that say the FL has a greenish hue. I think it is maybe a little on the blue-green side and looking at greens and grays (bark, gravel) the FL does turn a little cyan to my eyes.
This was my perception during the last couple of days and very apparent going between the FL and the Meopta 8x32. The FL being more "icy" in rendering and the Meopta a bit warm. What about the SFL? Well, once again, I will have to say that whatever concoction Zeiss put in the coatings for color correction it really works for my eyes. The SFL feels "neutral" and more accurate in the color representation.
I would say that for me, the SFL does everything a little bit better. Equal apparent handheld resolution as the FL but with a more generous and immersive image. All three are very nice for panning and scanning. The FL is the best for panning, but all are great. The Meopta is excellent in use and for close to midrange birdwatching I almost found it better than the FL (!) in the very center - watching the bird feeder and looking at the same birds going in and out. It was open shade and perhaps that added amber tint to the Meopta did pop some colors more than the FL and fooled the brain into perceiving it as "sharper" but I was not expecting the Meopta to keep up with the FL. A pair of European Gold Finchs appeared and the view through the Meopta was exceptionally nice. I would have thought the same of the FL had I not looked through the Meopta.
At long range viewing the Meopta is lagging behind a notch. The FL retains excellent contrast and resolution at distance and this is where the FL is yet to be bested: birds in flight are perfectly rendered against the sky making for detailed viewing and easy focusing.
There are only a handful of binos that give such a crisp viewing. Watching the pair of common Buzzards (gracefully making two tours around the field within 45 minutes) was so good I forgot to switch over to the SFL...
I did rush in to pick up the Swarovski 12x42 NL and following the Buzzards with the Swaro was actually even better; 12x magnification, more vivid image and more immersive than the FL. Simply fantastic to see the sun shine through the feathers with both, but the Swarovski is definitely one of the very, very best.
For the rest of the weekend I did three outings with the FL8x32 alone. I do like it and it even though you might argue that lack of CA is not the most critical deciding factor when it comes to appraising a pair of binos I think it does help in many situations as there is one thing less to detract from the overall image - which is especially apparent in less than ideal viewing conditions.
Today I got to see a white tailed eagle against the bright coastal waters and the barn door appearance gave it away in flight before acquiring it with the binos. The FL gave that crisp "icy" cut out against the specular highlights of the sea with no CA and that made for a good panning experience with a minimum of distractions. A minute later a Cormorant snatched a fish out of the water and I could follow it as well - only to find out there was a whole colony of cormorants at a small island just opposite us, about half a km out. I honestly did not know we had Cormorants here - so it was a first for me. I should have known. But now I know what those "large unidentifiable birds" were that I have seen from my deck in the distance!
I like the format and frankly, pretty much everything about the FL. It is an old friend of mine and even with the shortcomings: "washed out" in bright light, dull in grey weather, not the best with eye placement and ocular glare... ...I will have to say that the FL image still comes across as very respectable even by todays standards and everything I looked at in the distance was easily identifiable through thermals and since our fields are chock full of buzzards the FL render them very crisply even when they are far off. I have come to appreciate the performance and lack of CA.
I can no longer "unsee the slight green hue" but I am sure when the colors return to nature and the pale green is replaced by a more lush green foliage the tint - if there even is one - will drown out anyway. In my mind I refer the color of the FL as "near neutral, classic Zeiss" and that is my coping mechanism.
Next week I will bring them out together and start out with the SFL but will bring the FL as a sidekick.
It has been a very pleasant reunion with the FL. I see the shortcomings in a better perspective now, and I appreciate the merits of the FL, perhaps even more than I thought. It is still a fantastic small-ish bino.
Last edited:
