Zeiss Victory SF and HT - technical data, diagrams, cutaway views and more (1 Viewer)

[Chosun Juan]

Hi CJ

As Gijs says, you give a succinct description of SF although your use of the word arbitrary to describe the hand position is really puzzling. 'Arbitrary' means based on random choice or personal whim, .....

Lee - "arbitrary" also means 'discretionary' which means 'non-mandatory', and this fits the decision Zeiss has taken.

The focuser and bridges could be moved either forward or back within a narrow range - mm's/cm's. This obviously has follow on effects on the mechanism design and housing too.

Too far forward and the moment of force of the bins tipping backwards becomes much stronger, and the hands are forced even further forward thus loading up the shoulders even more.

Move it backwards, and it reduces the rearward bias, perhaps even eventually cancelling it out - or certainly starts to run into contact with larger noses.

The bridge could even be reversed, and a more curvolicious Zen type used - that would be quite nice, and achieve the benefits without the drawbacks ..... though resting fingers on the bridge may not be everyone's cup of tea, it does seem that quite a few folk here do precisely that. :cat:

So you see, it's a balance Obviously the Zeiss design team have made the decision to have it where it is to produce a certain amount of rearward bias force. Sure they would have calculations and readings in N.m , and perhaps even a sensitivity analysis with respect to angle of elevation, but ultimately the decision would have been made that this feels pretty good for the majority of users.

There's no free lunch though, and employing gravity to make it 'feel' lighter also loads the shoulders more. For me that results in early onset fatigue of the tiny shoulder muscles and introduces some extra vibration movement to the view. I'm 'lucky' these days that 2 ruptured spinal discs means that I rarely think about my dodgy shoulder anymore ! Other people with repetitive strain type injuries would also experience shooting pains up the back of the neck - and that's no fun.

No doubt the SF suits 'most' people though - just as it's optical distortion profile has no meaningful deleterious globe effect for 'most' people. The efforts to shift the game on are to be applauded. I look forward to the SF2.0 where a whole host of little improvements that I've mentioned possible over the years are made .......

This little blast from the past clip shows some of the 'complications' that come with 'free stuff' lol 3
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BNOn63T56dg




Chosun :gh:

 

[Troubador]

Never come across that definition of arbitrary before but if it means Zeiss took a deliberate decision then we are on the same page.

As for improvements required to SF, we have always agreed that the eyecups don't match the retail price. After three years of use mine are still reliable but to me they feel 'low rent', however I have never stopped lobbying for an improvement and I won't now.

Lee

 

[SeldomPerched]

It's all personal preference so it would be nice if people stopped making their personal preference appear universal.

Not the SF, but I find the ergo's of the HT (compared to the 12 other bins I have) to be the best - best hand-feel, best balance and best ease-of-use.....but that's just me....

James, I like the handling of the HT too. In fact, if I am outdoors using the HT -- rather than just fiddling about with it in the house -- I never have to think any longer about how to hold these binoculars. My hands have got used to holding them just a little further forward than normal. That gives the right balance and my forefinger then falls naturally on to the focus ring. Thanks to Lee for showing me this when he let me borrow them... I ended up buying them.

I should add I tried out SFs using Zeiss's borrowing scheme, and really liked them. The reason I didn't buy was that I got a second-hand Zeiss Dialyt 7x42BGAT*P* instead, and I am a great fan of 7x magnification.

Tom

 

[SeldomPerched]

It's all personal preference so it would be nice if people stopped making their personal preference appear universal.

Not the SF, but I find the ergo's of the HT (compared to the 12 other bins I have) to be the best - best hand-feel, best balance and best ease-of-use.....but that's just me....

James, 'just me' also -- I used my 8x42 HT this morning, a fortnight since my post above, from my back room window and found exactly the same. I should add I had already been looking for ten minutes through a 7x42 FL, but wanted to draw in a bit more detail from some birds 50 yards away through slightly greater magnification. I surprised myself at finding the HT was even more comfortable to hold than I remembered from a few weeks ago. My hands and fingers immediately fell to the right place for a well-balanced hold with easy focus control. As a result the image feels as shake-free as that of the 7x binos. The material feels grippier to me also.

Perhaps it's because the HTs had been well broken in and trained by Troubador, their previous owner... ...

I fully understand there will be others who find them more awkward and perhaps less grippy.

Tom

 

[james holdsworth]

I find it strange that some [even some owners of the SF] have complained about hand position on the HT. Look at the two binos side-by-side and they offer nearly identical hand positioning, maybe a few millimetres either side of the lower bridge.

 

[teelgul]

I have the SF 8 x 42 black edition. It feels so light , easy to hold
and brighter than any other premium 8 x42.