- Thread Starter
- #21
I received my new Swarovski CL 8X30 B's from Doug at Camera Land yesterday. My initial impressions are... Wow! I spent some time with them late in the afternoon, until dark, comparing side by side with my EL 10X42 SW's. I was glassing into my pasture at about 100yds, and into the woods at about 250 yds. I glassed into the setting sun to the west, and with the sun at my back to the SE. Honestly, the CLs gave up very little, if anything at all, to the EL's. I was simply blown away by the image quality, and how well they compared with the ELs.Awesome, thanks for the extra assurance that I made the right decision. After spending a lot of time behind my SV 10X42 ELs and my 15X56 SLC's, edge to edge clarity is hard to give up. I'm pretty sure I would have been disappointed if I had gone with one of the glasses in my initial short list, although I'm sure they are quality optics in their price range.
I read many more reviews from optics critics yesterday, that were written shortly after the new CLs were first released. They were all very complimentary, giving ground only to glasses that were twice the price of the new CL's.
I should have my new pair by the end of the week and will certainly post my initial thoughts.
The image on the CLs was clear all the way to the edge. The eye relief was superb. I had no problem with kidney beaning. I had no issues getting a comfortable full field of view. I don't wear glasses so used with eyecups fully extended. I did not experience any glare, CA, or any optical distortion. Honestly, I almost preferred the color contrast / clarity of the CL's over my EL's. I think the overall definition is slightly crisper with the EL's, but I can't be sure of that. What surprised me the most was that the CL's hung right with the EL's until the end of visible light. I'm sure this was in large part due to the CL's being 8X, and the EL's being 10X. However, at 42MM, the EL's have a substantially larger exit pupil, so I really expected them to significantly out-perform in low light.
About me... I have 60 year-old eyes, so I have probably lost some ability to take advantage of larger exit pupil. I just had my eyes tested earlier this week, and my optometrist told me that I still have solid 20/20 vision despite a slight stigmatism and very early stage cataracts, which can again impact light gathering. He also reiterated that I have very "discerning" vision, meaning I notice very slight corrections when he tests me. With this said, I went back and forth with the CL's and EL's, trying to differentiate which image is better and could not come up with a clear winner from yesterday's session. I think that says something really positive for the little CL's.
Oh, I left out one important part... I was hand holding both binos from a sitting position. They were not mounted on a tri-pod. I could certainly notice that it was much more difficult to stabilize the 10X ELs than the 8X CL's. My guess is that the EL's image would be a clear winner if I tested using a tripod. I am really glad I purchased the CL's in 8X instead of 10X. IMHO,10X is on the hairy edge of being too much power for hand-held use.