Thanks for the little mini-comparison though.....it is raining here too so I can sympathize.
Ok, its pouring down with rain here and I was bored so I just did a little test with my three binos, a very simplistic and far from scientific one I know, soley concerned with the ease in which i could read the serial number on a small notebook on my windowsill from 35 ft away.
Here are the results :
In third place were the Zen ray ED2 7x36. I could just about read the numbers but they were a little fuzzy and ill defined with the right lens appearing ever so slightly less sharp than the left. No amount of diopter fiddling seems to help this. Image appears slightly bigger than the others.
Second place : Opticron HRWP 8x42 ( same as leupold cascade porro and minox 8x44) Super sharp and well defined but not the winner. This was a bit suprising as I know they are sharpest and happen to be my favourite of the three in everyday use.
First place goes to: Celestron Nature 8x30 porro. This is interesting as I know they are not quite as sharp as the HRWP (though sharper than the Zens) I think they won here because of their light weight and because they are in reality a 7x rather than an 8x so a little easier to keep steady than the HRWP.
So there you go. Time for a cup of tea and to gaze out the window and wait for it to stop raining :)
Just a suggestion....but an easy way to determine if the difference in apparent resolution is due to the magnification is to simply rest them on some object (ledge, chair, table, etc...) and redo the same test. That would eliminate the possibility of the handheld condition affecting apparent sharpness and potentially resolution. It is also a nice way to determine if there are any quality control issues with any given unit.
Thanks for the little mini-comparison though.....it is raining here too so I can sympathize.
Thanks Frank, I'll repeat the test properly tomorrow with something to rest on. I did have another go a little while later though and this time, probably as my arms were less tired, I found the HRWP to be best. The Zens still come out worst though, I don't think this is to do with shake or difference in magnification, they just don't seem to be as sharp as the two porros at a distance.