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Zeiss SF vs Swarovision FULL FIELD OPTICS REVIEW !!!
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<blockquote data-quote="brocknroller" data-source="post: 3187345" data-attributes="member: 665"><p>Thanks for the review. I wish it could have been 8x vs. 8.5x or 10x vs. 10x so it was more "apples to apples," particularly in terms of CA control since I would expect to see more CA in a 10x bin although the Swaro 10x42 SLC-HD was excellent at controlling CA. Ditto for the FOV comparison, but in most other areas, you gave a good feel for how the two compare eyeball to eyeball. For example, the AR coatings and color bias. </p><p></p><p>"The red pinkiest coating of Zeiss are able to give more intensity on brows and greens and but reds are subdued washed out just a simple look to a red roof will tell you how much red light are reflected by those coating." </p><p></p><p>The coatings appear to be identical or at least very similar to the AR coatings on the FL and HT. The HTs were designed for hunters, so you can understand why they would want the browns and greens to "pop" since they are typically looking for brownish prey (deer, ground hogs, bears, elk, moose, pheasant, turkey, etc.) against grass and trees. Some Steiner binoculars have even a narrower band to bring out the browns even more for hunters. </p><p></p><p>But if the SF was designed for birders, I would expect the color saturation to be more like the SV EL, which Swaro claims it made for birders. Still, the SLC-HDs are "warm," too, so Swaro has deviated from its 'yellow haze busting" heritage even for hunters.</p><p></p><p>I wonder if the red-pink reflection off the FL/HT/SF's objectives is the red part of the spectrum reflecting back since it's not being transmitted? Seems logical. RIP Leonard.</p><p></p><p>Anyway, it appears your Leica is even better than the SV EL for color saturation, and to me, at least, that's important for birding under normal conditions. Helps the birds "pop out" from the background. In low light or in the din of winter, a boost in the middle of the spectrum helps compensate for lower level of sunlight reaching our eyes. </p><p></p><p>In bright light, however, that boost can be overkill. Some users have reported views through the FL and HT look "washed out" under bright lighting conditions. Too much of a good thing. OTOH, I find the reddish bias of my Nikons make the view look a bit darker when its overcast and the ground and trees are snow covered in the winter. </p><p></p><p>For every season, there is a bin, turn, turn, turn.... </p><p></p><p>If you owned the SF and SV EL/UV, you'd be a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jV7cURMoRt4" target="_blank">A Man for All Seasons</a></p><p>'</p><p>It was interesting to read that you saw RB with the SF and not with the 10x42 SV EL. From looking at Holger's distortion comparison chart, the SF has considerably more pincushion than the 8.5x42 SV EL, though the SF still has less pincushion than many other bins such as the Swaro SLCs. </p><p></p><p>It could be that you saw RB in the SF because RB is more noticeable in low distortion binoculars with wider apparent fields of view, which the SF has (67.6* for the SF vs. 64* for the SV EL). A few others have also reported RB in the 8x42 SF, but not in "epidemic proportions" like the 8.5x SV EL.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="brocknroller, post: 3187345, member: 665"] Thanks for the review. I wish it could have been 8x vs. 8.5x or 10x vs. 10x so it was more "apples to apples," particularly in terms of CA control since I would expect to see more CA in a 10x bin although the Swaro 10x42 SLC-HD was excellent at controlling CA. Ditto for the FOV comparison, but in most other areas, you gave a good feel for how the two compare eyeball to eyeball. For example, the AR coatings and color bias. "The red pinkiest coating of Zeiss are able to give more intensity on brows and greens and but reds are subdued washed out just a simple look to a red roof will tell you how much red light are reflected by those coating." The coatings appear to be identical or at least very similar to the AR coatings on the FL and HT. The HTs were designed for hunters, so you can understand why they would want the browns and greens to "pop" since they are typically looking for brownish prey (deer, ground hogs, bears, elk, moose, pheasant, turkey, etc.) against grass and trees. Some Steiner binoculars have even a narrower band to bring out the browns even more for hunters. But if the SF was designed for birders, I would expect the color saturation to be more like the SV EL, which Swaro claims it made for birders. Still, the SLC-HDs are "warm," too, so Swaro has deviated from its 'yellow haze busting" heritage even for hunters. I wonder if the red-pink reflection off the FL/HT/SF's objectives is the red part of the spectrum reflecting back since it's not being transmitted? Seems logical. RIP Leonard. Anyway, it appears your Leica is even better than the SV EL for color saturation, and to me, at least, that's important for birding under normal conditions. Helps the birds "pop out" from the background. In low light or in the din of winter, a boost in the middle of the spectrum helps compensate for lower level of sunlight reaching our eyes. In bright light, however, that boost can be overkill. Some users have reported views through the FL and HT look "washed out" under bright lighting conditions. Too much of a good thing. OTOH, I find the reddish bias of my Nikons make the view look a bit darker when its overcast and the ground and trees are snow covered in the winter. For every season, there is a bin, turn, turn, turn.... If you owned the SF and SV EL/UV, you'd be a [URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jV7cURMoRt4"]A Man for All Seasons[/URL] ' It was interesting to read that you saw RB with the SF and not with the 10x42 SV EL. From looking at Holger's distortion comparison chart, the SF has considerably more pincushion than the 8.5x42 SV EL, though the SF still has less pincushion than many other bins such as the Swaro SLCs. It could be that you saw RB in the SF because RB is more noticeable in low distortion binoculars with wider apparent fields of view, which the SF has (67.6* for the SF vs. 64* for the SV EL). A few others have also reported RB in the 8x42 SF, but not in "epidemic proportions" like the 8.5x SV EL. [/QUOTE]
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Zeiss SF vs Swarovision FULL FIELD OPTICS REVIEW !!!
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