Phase Corrected Roof Prisms

[james_cooke]

I have been reading reviews of compact binoculars and they generally

state that if you are buying roof prism binoculars that ones with

Phase Correction are the only way to achieve reasonable quality. I

know the current Trinovid binoculars use phase corrected prisms but

Trinovids have been made for a while now, were they always built with

phase corrected prisms if i were to buy a secondhand pair?

[leeblackman]

Probably just a sales or marketing strategy. Personally I prefer image stabilizing binoculars. I'm pretty sure that when hand held they will produce a far better image than any normal binocular with any coating on the roof prism...

[eric friedemann]

I understand that this is heresey in the Leica forum, but my store has been selling Pentax DCF SP waterproof and fogproof line of binoculars for several years. Looking through a pair side-by-side with a Trinovid pair of the same magnification and brightness, I couldn't see a difference in sharpness or contrast.

 

 

The Pentax DCF SP line have phase-coated roof prisms and are built like a brick outhouse (e.g. magnesium frame). If you are struggling to justify the price of a new pair of Trinovids, the DCF SP line is about half the price of the Trinovid line. For example:

 

 

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=278463&is=USA&addedTroughType=search

 

 

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=212000&is=USA&addedTroughType=search

 

 

Also, this Pentax flagship line has been well-received by birding and hunting publications:

 

 

http://www.optics4birding.com/RevPentaxDCFSP.aspx

 

 

http://www.outdoorlife.com/outdoor/gear/fieldtested/article/0,20280,binoculars-0063,00.html

[john_boyle3]

There is a valid reason why binoculars from Leica, Swarovski and Zeiss are more expensive than other brands. If they were not worth the money they would not sell. The February 2005 issue of "Birder's World" has an interesting article on high-end binoculars. If you are looking for top performance look for binoculars made within the past ten years or so.

[eric friedemann]

"There is a valid reason why binoculars from Leica, Swarovski and Zeiss are more expensive than other brands."

 

 

Which is? Specifically, why are Leica Trinovids, with the same construction and optical quality as Pentax high-end glasses, priced twice as high?

 

 

Trinovids aren't twice as durable, don't resolve twice the detail and aren't twice as contrasty. So what gives?

 

 

"If they were not worth the money they would not sell."

 

 

Sure they would- I get customers all the time who have more $$$ than brains, who have no idea what they are buying and who simply purchase the most expensive product assuming its the best.

[leeblackman]

There are name generic cloths and name brand cloths, there are generic foods and name brand foods, there are generic people and name brand people, there are generic optics and name brand optics. Is the name brand really better? Maybe for name sake.

[leica ron]

When I was looking into buying a pair of high-end bino's a learned fellow forumer (I'll let him own up if he so desires) told me that the roof prism design has the inherent issue with phase errors.

 

None of the specific issues are present in the old-fashioned porro prism design.

 

While you're out there looking through roof-prism Swaro's, Zeiss or the famous red-dot brand, take a peek through a pair of Nikon 8x32 SP. These have a clarity and brightness which often exceeds bino's which are three-times it's price. You just have to put up with the old fashioned shape.

 

Don't take my word for it, google it, or even better go look through a pair ....

[leeblackman]

I guess on the plus side, name brands seem to hold their value alot better than generic.