As for roof prism binoculars, the very best now equal porro glasses, but at signifigant expense.
Happy bird watching,
Arthur Pinewood
It seems like the roofs have won the day. Most of the major manufacturers of high-quality binoculars appear to have decided that it's going to be roofs and nothing but roofs, and there can be no doubt that modern roofs (with phase-coatings) are excellent. This wasn't always the case. (When, for instance, Zeiss West abandoned its line of high-quality porros in the 1970's, the roofs that replaced them didn't even come close to the image quality the porros had. The old Zeiss West 10x50 porro with its huge field of view (128m/1000m), for instance, easily outclassed the Zeiss West 10x40 GAT.)
I got my first pair of roofs in 1980, a Zeiss 10x40. It was light, fairly waterproof, had excellent built-quality and very good handling. And, of course, most "serious" birders had one. I've been using roofs ever since (even though I bought a couple of old porros over the years, like a Zeiss West 8x50B, an excellent example of what a porro can do even without modern coatings). And with the introduction of phase-coating the high-quality roofs finally gave images that were both acceptably sharp and contrasty.
So far, so good. However, I still like porros. The view through a good porro is - to my eyes at least - different from that through a roof of similar optical quality. I know that theoretically that shouldn't be much difference (Zeiss, for instance, claims that the "three-dimensional effect" of porros is almost negligible), but it's there, at least I can see it. The image doesn't look quite so "flat", it feels more natural to me.
How much I like porros I only realized when I bought an 8x30 Hensoldt Fero some time ago. Now, that's certainly not ideal for birding; it has a fairly narrow field of view (120m/1000m, Kellner eyepieces), laser filters that cost some transmission (some 10 percent in the visible spectrum as far as I know), a slight greenish tinge to the image, and - like most military binoculars - individual eyepiece focussing. I used that pair quite a lot during the winter when birding at lakes where I knew I wouldn't have to change focus all that often, and I *really* like the image because it feels so natural. I also found I actually prefer the shape of porros, I find it easier to hold them still than a pair of roofs of similar weight and size.
Sorry if this has turned into a ramble. But I'd really love to see Zeiss or Leica or Swarovski make a line of high quality porros with centre focussing again. I know porros are out of fashion so to speak, but I for one would buy one in no time - even if they aren't fully waterproof.
Meanwhile, I've got a feeling I'll have to have another look at the Nikon SE's ...:-)
Hermann
They've probably concluded that the market just isn't there for high-end birding porros. The market that exists seems to be accommodated quite well by Nikon. If Zeiss did come out with a new porro, then we'd be reading that the off-axis performance doesn't match the SE, etc., etc., and, at twice the price of the Nikon, why bother even looking at it?
I often go bird watching with my Leitz Binuxit 8x30, made in 1950. I prefer it to the Nikon SE. If it had multicoating, rather than the earlier coating, I would use nothing else in fair weather.
As for roof prism binoculars, the very best now equal porro glasses, but at signifigant expense.
Happy bird watching,
Arthur Pinewood