Zeiss Victory SF review: 10x vs. 8x

[SecretSpot]

Seems like there is not much of a benefit of having an 8x32 vs 8x42 or 10x32 vs 10x42. How much more light is caught be the extra 10 mm objective? Sorry I having this debate and cannot get my hands on all 4 to look through. Any difference in looking in the shadows or is does the difference tend to be only early and last light.

I'd put my 8x32 victory SF's against any mid tier 42mm bino (as far as brightness goes). The view is gorgeous especially in thick timber when still hunting. Have no problem finding elk/identifying bulls from cows at over a mile in blowdown and thick timber, all off hand mind you. My new favorite peice out of my collection (el 10x42, el 12x50) also I must say a buddy has the el 8x32 and i used them quite a bit side by side during archery. I would not trade him, the field of view in the sf is noticably larger and more natural feeling. The black space between the image and your eyes natural blackout is thinner and more comfortable. You could not take these from me unless you left me the nl 8x32

The weight savings is around 7-10oz, and the size savings is also about 30%. These binos are so smooth, beautiful to view thru. Everytime I look through them I think to myself, "I wish everyone could see what I'm seeing right now!"

 

[DrewskiMT]

Seems like there is not much of a benefit of having an 8x32 vs 8x42 or 10x32 vs 10x42. How much more light is caught be the extra 10 mm objective? Sorry I having this debate and cannot get my hands on all 4 to look through. Any difference in looking in the shadows or is does the difference tend to be only early and last light.

Well, this is, and is not, a bit of a tricky one to answer. Twilight Factor and Relative brightness (exit pupil squared) don't provide me with anything useful. Calculating the Light Gathering Power: comparing a human eye (with a pupil dilated at 5mm) to 32mm and 42mm objective lenses gives us a LGP score of 41 for 32mm and 70 for the 42mm. A 40 to 70 ratio seems about right to me after the sun has set below the horizon.

I hunt to the end of legal shooting light with 8x32 Conquest HDs just fine. I like the reduced weight of 32s vs 42s. If I am just trying to see stuff in low light, 42mm hands down. There is a significant amount of detail to see in shadows with a 42 that a 32 cant resolve after sunset. And it becomes more pronounced the closer you get to the end of legal light.

If you click the setting "gear" icon you can get youtube to auto translate into english.

Go to 14:00. At 14:20 ish the video jumps, and it gets a lot darker and he explains that the pockets and 32mm's are out performed by the full size optics.

Hope this all helps.

 

[Matt G.]

Another comment/ question is that all these calculations are based on the numbers of the glass size, exit pupils etc. However we know that prisms and coatings can also influence the overall brightness. So how do we differentiate that without actually sitting down and doing these tests. Thats the part where I think everyone goes crazy and we keep reading articles, critiques because very seldom do we find these optics together at a big box store. Thank you Rokslide for all these reviews. These are all great conversations and I have officially fallen down the rabbit hole.... My poor wallet.

 

[robby denning]

Another comment/ question is that all these calculations are based on the numbers of the glass size, exit pupils etc. However we know that prisms and coatings can also influence the overall brightness. So how do we differentiate that without actually sitting down and doing these tests. Thats the part where I think everyone goes crazy and we keep reading articles, critiques because very seldom do we find these optics together at a big box store. Thank you Rokslide for all these reviews. These are all great conversations and I have officially fallen down the rabbit hole.... My poor wallet.

Hahaha. And you are correct, we just start the conversation, I’m far from an optics expert, but I like to give people a feel at least for what I see when using an optic.


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