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During the time when I lived in China, from 2005 to 2016, I occasionally received binocular samples from UO for field testing. After I had collected my experiences with these samples, I sent them reports in which I complained about various issues that I had encountered, and among the most frequent complaints were problems with stray light in difficult (or not so difficult) light conditions due to incomplete baffling and/or prism leaks. In the last of these reviews, which were among the few that actually got published on my website, the Sky Rover 10x50 MS scored on a similar level as the Fujinon FMTR-SX in terms of stray light. Yet far from being perfect, but on an acceptable level. Meanwhile, the new Banner Cloud binoculars suppress stray light on a truly excellent level. Some parts of this learning curve I have probably experienced first hand, but more recently, they have reached a level of glare resistance that actually exceeds that of Swarovski binoculars in difficult light.
Swarovski binoculars I have field tested a couple of times. These are outstanding binoculars, but in terms of stray light they have always scored a little bit lower than similar high end models from Zeiss or Leica. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to improve over time, and with the latest 8x32 NL Pure these problems remained unsolved. I hope that this fact doesn't reflect an attitude as expressed by FatBoy Slim on his T-shirt. Time will tell who is going to plagiarize whom if the developments continue like that for another couple of years.
Cheers,
Holger |
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