Rolling ball binos

[Brush Buster]

How many of you experience “rolling ball” when using field flattener equipped binos? And if you don’t, do you see a noticeable beneficial difference between binos equipped with field flatterers? Such as Els vs SLCs or Victory SF vs HT.

 

[Travis Bertrand]

The older Els I felt it. They fixed it with the new ones.

 

[jhayes6405]

I get it with my Nikon HG. I think with time you get over it, but once my slc come back from swaro I’ll sell the HG because of it.


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[wannakillabigbull]

I didn’t have it with the new ELs. The Nikon HGs make me dizzy every time I look through some.

 

[Newtosavage]

I hate it. It bothers me quite a bit. I've sold some pretty high-end optics over the years because of that. For whatever reason, older design "low tech" Japanese bins suit my eyes the best. Go figure.

 

[Steve C]

I get rolling ball with SV EL's to the point of their being totally useless for me. Field flattening systems remove most or all of edge distortion. That distortion, mainly in the form of pincushion distortion, serves to break up rolling ball effects. With field flattening systems, different systems use somewhat differrent methods, so whileall are more prone to showing it, not all field flattening systems are effected in the same way. It comes down to whether your eyes have enough built in distortion to correct for it or not. So the only way any particular individual will find out if a Zeiss SF is better for them than say a Swarovski SV is to see for yourself. I am not particularly susceptible to most adverse binocular effects, so the reaction I had to the SV EL really blew me away.

 

[timberbuck]

How many of you experience “rolling ball” when using field flattener equipped binos? And if you don’t, do you see a noticeable beneficial difference between binos equipped with field flatterers? Such as Els vs SLCs or Victory SF vs HT.

I feel the only time the flat field has a benefit is static viewing on a tripod. I can't stand the flat view / see the rolling ball when panning and have stayed with "classic view" designs like the SLC and Zeiss HT and Leica Ultravid HD Plus which are much better for panning. IMO high power versions of the flat field design like the 12x50 EL are great for finding game but in 8 or 10x give me the classic view of which my 10x42 SLC is the best overall optically I have seen of any 10x42. My Leica Ultravid HD plus 10x50 is slightly better.

 

[tdhanses]

Never bothered me but that said I don’t really see a benefit from it. I went from SV Swarovski EL’s to the Leica HD-B and don’t feel I gave up much at all.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

I cant use the new EL due to rolling ball. It bothers me. I actually get nauseated. I like how Lieca did the Noctivid, they didnt totally flatten the field.

 

[BluMtn]

I have the Swaaro 12x50 ELs and I have not had an issue glassing with them. I have read about the rolling ball, but have not encountered it. And I spend a lot of time looking through them.

 

[FURMAN]

I have never seen the rolling ball. I have tested HTs next ELs and the field flattener is very noticeable and much nicer for gridding on a tripod. The HTs might have a very slight edge in center clarity and light transmission but the ELs rule for my style of glassing.