Happy bird watching,
Arthur Pinewood
I'm going to try out a bunch of new binos this week, but, since I'll be in a brightly lit store, I'm not sure how to test the binoculars' brightness. And, since I'll be in Manhattan, I'm pretty sure I won't be able to take them outside.
Anyway, how do the Nikon 8x32 SE stand up in low-light conditions compared to the top 8x42 roofs? Are the larger aperture roofs--the ELs and Victories-- brighter simply because they have larger objectives, or are the SEs just as bright?
I have found the EL's and FL's to be exceptionally bright, and would expect the difference between those and the SE's to be noticeable. Put Cameraland on your list of stops. I don't know if they will let you go outside, but it is a smaller store and I know several people on the Forum have shopped there in person and had good experiences. Doug, the owner, posts here regularly. I've talked to him and he gave excellent advice.
The Camaraland staff have accompanied me outside for short a "field test," on at least one occasion. This was in contrast with the biggest vendor in New York, B&H, who would not. However, I think that daytime would not reveal much of a difference between the kinds of binoculars in question.
Happy bird watching,
Arthur Pinewood