What's your opinions on how optics (bins mainly) can be improved?
Can what we see through the top bins at this time actually be bettered,if so how? I'm not talking about shape,size,weight or things like stabilising and integrated gimmicks like cameras.Have manufacturers reached the pinnacle of optical qualities and have to promote products by such things as size etc ?
Hi Thomas
you've got a point here; not sure how much what you actually 'see' thru bins or scopes has improved that much over 15 years....
my old Zeiss 7 x 42 will give any of today's bins a run for their money on optical quality. (see better view desired website if you need convincing) Even construction and hard-wearing wise they are still almost as new despite years of use in some extreme places.
recently tried the ED78 orig. from about 10 years ago and can't see a difference optically from the new 82
likewise the old Nikon ED11 from way back.
is there an optical quality gain that's worth what people are expected to pay?
I've probably got this terribly wrong, but I seem to recall that the largest optical telescope in the world (inevitably in an atronomical observatory) consists of an array of concave lenses angled to reflect and focus the light onto a single collecting lens.
Given that sort of technological finesse I would have thought that it's not so much whether the fiddling little things that we use can be improved, but the price at which it's worth improving them any further. There's probably always room for improvement in theory, but there must come a point where our eyes wouldn't be sensitive enough to perceive the difference.
Personally I wouldn't expect to see any noticeable improvement in optical quality unless and until someone invents a material with better light transmitting qualities than glass.
Jason