Cameras and Lenses
Birdfair Optics Marquee
Spent a large part of yesterday mooching around the Optics Marquee. A great opportunity to compare bins. Just some thoughts.
Bushnell Elite E2
I'd really liked the looks of these in magazines so was very keen to try them out. Good image quality for the money but they were let down by a focus dial that just felt too plasticy to me.
Kowa BD42
Similar price range to the E2s. Marginally less crisp image and not as light but felt better build quality. A nice surprise.
Swarovski and Leica.
Pretty much everything on their stands were as good as you'd expect. Impossibly expensive but you'd have to be picky to find fault with the quality.
The Leica APO Televid HD82 scope with a zoom eyepeice was just stunning. 
£2500 anyone?
Steiner Discovery 10 x 42s
The star of the show for me. When you pick these up you just know they are built to last, it's like holding a small armoured vehicle between your hands. Weight may be an issue for some. Image quality pushes some bins at nearly twice the price. Not cheap at a grand (have seen them online for under £800) but still great value for money. If any filthy rich forumers want to donate a pair then please feel free to pm me.
Well done to all the staff there, they were all very helpful without being too pushy.
I too spent much of Friday testing bins in the optics tent at Birdfair - one of the few opportunities to test such a wide range of optics. I agree with you about the Bushnells, decent image let down by the build quality. As I'm in the market to upgrade/invest in a quality set of bins I decided to do several tests on those that represent a significant hike in quality on my Opticron travellers - my first binoculars. I really liked the Swarovski 8x32 slc - what a superb image from such a small binocular. I kept switching from them to the 8x32 EL and optically they were closer than I had anticipated. The slc went to the top of my shortlist. (I have a budget of (£600) The 8x32 Nikons are also a serious consideration - right up there for optical quality. My star of the show was the new Pentax ED range - I have to be honest and say that I did not imagine looking outside of the more established names and I was amazed at the quality of the 8x32s. I had a good chat with the bloke overseeing the Pentax section and he said the feedback from the birding community has been very positive. I tested the 8x43s and they too are superb. The price at Birdfair(IN FOCUS) was £599 for the 8x32s and the 17mil eye relief seemed a perfect match for my varifocals. During the course of the day I went back and tested them thoroughly on two further occasions, each visit confirming my initial impression. Had a surf around and tomorrow I happen to be passing a shop that sells them for £499.
Will take a cool look at them and perhaps bite the bullet and buy them!
So the new Nikon Edg line was not there? No news on a new Nikon Zoom either?
Nev