Hello everyone,
just signed in and I start bothering you right away.
I accidentally stepped into this forum in my search for info on binoculars. Planning to buy one and knowing about nothing on the subject, I’m trying to build some knowledge on the matter.
Needless say that at this stage I’m still looking for the perfect binocular; the one that would be the best for any kind of use but I know this utopia won’t last for long.
So, let’s see if I got it right so far.
The top gun product lines, in random order and with regards to optical quality first and build quality second only, should be:
Leica Ultravid
Zeiss Victory FL
Swarovski EL
to which I might add the Minox HG as soon as reviews/opinions start to come out, even though the much lower price, compared to the above, might suggest equally lower performances.
That is to say, these are the ones you quickly scratch out of possible buys as soon as you see the prices!!!
Am I wrong to assume that others follow by a margin? Did I unforgivably leave out something important?
Then come some naive questions:
- Exit pupil, twilight factor and what else[INDENT]If I’m not mistaking these tell nothing about quality. They just follow from the dxM numbers. Correct?[/INDENT]
- Depth of field
as above, doesn’t this, in any optical system, depend from focal length, aperture, focusing distance and circle of confusion only (leaving out the ratio between entrance and exit pupils since focusing at far enough distances for these to have a neglettable effect)? That is, isn’t it independent from materials/build quality?
- Image quality/brightness
Given the same power and disregarding any non optical factor such as cost, weight, etc., isn’t a larger lens preferable anyways? It looks to me that larger binocs, such as *x50, *x52, *x56, are little considered at least on forums like this one and alike.
If we then leave out the above parameters, what we’re left with that makes the quality of the instrument are things such as glass type, coating type, presence of aspherical elements (glass or plastics?), building tolerances, alignment, etc, which are all very difficult, when not impossible to quantify. I also wouldn’t leave out a good dose of fetishism over brand names: “heck man, it says Zeiss on it!!!”
Well, thank you for following so far, all that was just to say: am I correct to think that the “best” binocular is mainly subjective? I would anyways like to hear from those who feel the top gun list above is not correct, anyone think that there are other products (optics quality only) that are up to or superior to the ones I mentioned?
With the promise of keeping quiet for a while,
ciao
Lino
Hello there
In a nutshell the Swarovski 8x32 EL's are the BEST binocular around, which I don't have but WILL have by next year hopefully!!!!!!! They are very light weight, much lighter than the 8.5x42 EL's and although field of view is not quite as good on the 8x32's the extra lightness more than compensates — I think so anyway!!!!
Best Wishes Penny