| Zen-Ray ED2 7x36 | Vortex Viper 6x32 | Hawke Frontier ED 8x43 | Swift Eaglet 7x36 | Meopta Meostar 7x42 |
Prism type | Roof | Roof | Roof | Roof | Roof |
Weight, ounces | 22 | 19.4 | 26.2 | 20.6 | 31.39 |
Height, inches | 5.8 | 4.9 | 6.5 | 4.9 | 5.5 |
Width, inches | 4.8 | 4.8 | 5 | 5 | 5.2 |
Field of View, ft @1000 yards | 477 | 420 | 426 | 374 | 411 |
Real FoV, degrees | 9.15 | 8.04 | 8.16 | 7.16 | 7.87 |
Apparent FoV, degrees | 64 | 48.3 | 65.3 |
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tahqua
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Posted: January/17/2010 at 21:37 |
ILya, I don't know if this is apples to oranges or Granny Smith to McIntosh; how would the Zen stack up against the 8x32 Leica, even the non-HD version? I'm asking because having a bright, compact binocular is beneficial when bow hunting? The Zen is only a bit longer and right there otherwise.
Thanks for the excellent review, Doug
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koshkin
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Posted: January/17/2010 at 21:58 |
tahqua wrote:
ILya, I don't know if this is apples to oranges or Granny Smith to McIntosh; how would the Zen stack up against the 8x32 Leica, even the non-HD version? I'm asking because having a bright, compact binocular is beneficial when bow hunting? The Zen is only a bit longer and right there otherwise.
Thanks for the excellent review, Doug
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Honestly, I do not know yet.
I suspect that Leica will outresolve it in good light, but barely. In low light, I fully expect the 7x36 Zen-Ray to have a slight edge.
ILya
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spf2
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Posted: January/18/2010 at 11:20 |
Great review! By looking at the picture of eyecups, it seems both ZEN ED2 and Hawke ED have larger exposed ocular lens area than Viper 6x32. or it is just an artifact from picture. Do you think that might explain the different AFOV among those binoculars?
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koshkin
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Posted: January/18/2010 at 11:56 |
spf2 wrote:
Great review! By looking at the picture of eyecups, it seems both ZEN ED2 and Hawke ED have larger exposed ocular lens area than Viper 6x32. or it is just an artifact from picture. Do you think that might explain the different AFOV among those binoculars? |
I do not think that we can read too much into the exposed area of the eyepiece. FoV is driven by internal design requirements. It is entirely possible that they could make the lens smaller BECAUSE they designed the binocular for a slightly narrower field of view, not the other way around.
ILya
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Zen-Ray
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Posted: January/18/2010 at 15:43 |
tahqua wrote:
ILya, I don't know if this is apples to oranges or Granny Smith to McIntosh; how would the Zen stack up against the 8x32 Leica, even the non-HD version? I'm asking because having a bright, compact binocular is beneficial when bow hunting? The Zen is only a bit longer and right there otherwise.
Thanks for the excellent review, Doug
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Ilya, thank you so much for providing such an invaluable feedback on our products.
Doug, there was light transmission rate study by another reviewer, comparing 7x36 ED2 with several other models, including 8x32 Trinovid and one Ultravid (not sure which model). You can see how the ED2 lens coating is measured up with some of the best in the industry.
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koshkin
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Posted: January/18/2010 at 16:02 |
I certainly expect the coatings on the Zen-Ray to be very good.
As far as apparent brightness of a binocular goes, light transmission is only part of the story. Because of the way we process information, a binocular with ostensibly lower light transmission can appear brighter to the eye because of other qualities.
Charles, I looked at the thread on birdforum you linked and there is some interesting discussion there on phase coatings. I never really looked into how they are constructed, but I suspect they are simply phase-delay coatings that pick the evanescent wave at the interface. I'll look into it out of curiosity, if nothing else.
ILya
P.S. Charles, your mailbox is full.
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Zen-Ray
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Posted: January/18/2010 at 18:30 |
I totally agree with Ilya. There are so many other factors that determine the overall perceived brightness: tranmission rate, effective aperture size, ocular lens design. It is the whole package that really counts.
Ilya, your interpretion on P-coating is right on. It just corrects the phase shift of the polarized wave by applying optical coating on the roof surface.
Thanks a lot for pointing out my mailbox issue. Still a slow learner on using forum.
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koshkin
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Posted: February/08/2010 at 02:44 |
I added another part to my review: low light.
You can read it here:
ILya
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RifleDude
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Posted: February/08/2010 at 06:14 |
Good work, Ilya!
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Ted
Money can't buy happiness... but it's much more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than on a bicycle.
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