Hi all,
I've been following Spyglass's "Survey of your fellow birders instruments...." thread and it has got me wondering.......
I recently got my hands on a pair of 7x myself after months of biding my time. They're Konica Minolta 7x35 Activa porros, bought used from a BF member for £50. When they were available new they cost £120.
I have to say that optically they're nothing special (in centre field they are nice and sharp but at the edges they fall off quite severely) but they do the job just fine and I really like the huge depth of focus and 9.3 degree fov. In woodland especially, where (combined with the 3D porro effect) they make locating moving birds nice and easy. I would be happy with paying £120 for a new pair.
Now I can understand why ZR caused such a stir here with their 7x36s. I would like some 7x42s though so I have something with more light gathering than my 8x42s but there are so few on the market and most of those are right at the top of the price range (i.e. Leica, Swaro, Zeiss & Nikon) which is out of my league.
Anyway, I'm waffling on when all I really wanted to ask (in a similar vein to Spyglass) is-
How many of you use 7x and how many 7x bins have you noticed other people using while you're out and about.
Best wishes
Martin
Martin,
My Zen-Ray 7x36 ED2 and Swaro 7x42 SLC bins are my most used. I find 7x to simply be much more relaxing to use than anything higher powered. My age might be a factor but regardless 7x (as well as 6.5x and 6x) are my preferred choice.
As for others, 10x and 8x are still what you'll see locally, almost exclusively with hunters.
I tend to use my ZEN ED 7x36 nearly exclusively. There is a two pronged appeal with these for me. First is that there is an outstanding depth of focus. In fact they are better in that regard to my eyes than anything else I have. They are nearly focus free in this regard, mainly requiring some focus tweaking when looking at something close up. I think that in my case this depth of focus and a resultant increased 3-D perception makes it as easy to discern detail as any 8x I have. Like Bob, I find it a very relaxing view. Second, the wide fov is a nice combination to go along with the depth of focus. There may well be a touch of edge fuzzieness that might bother some, but I really am not affected by it.
7x is sort of the odd man out these days, as there is not much aside from the ZEN and Swift Eaglet 7x36 until one hits the Meopta Meostar and upwards in price in other alphas. There are a few more choices in 6-6.5x, but a broader selection is certainly available in 8x and 10x.