Forum Boss
Administrator
Guys, last year on a New Mexico Pdog safari I had a chance to try out two pairs of Steiner 8x30mm Military/Marine binoculars in the field. I came away very impressed. These things were very sturdy and comfortable to hold in the hand. The most remarkable feature was the depth of field. Once you adjust the individual eyepiece diopters for focus, I found that everything from about 30 yards out was in sharp focus -- honest! That's a huge deal in the field. Basically you "set and forget" and everything you look at is in focus.
I shot one fat pDog at about 150 yards, and I could see individual blades of grass sticking out of its mouth while it was on its hind legs.
You can read my complete field test review on today's bulletin: http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2012/04/gear-review-steiner-8x30mm-militarymarine-binoculars/
The Steiner uses a roof prism design that makes the binoculars shorter front to back, but wider side to side. That's not the current "fashion trend" among optics makers, But I think it actually makes the optics easier to hold steady in your hand -- you have a wider platform and it doesn't hang out so much in front. Moreover, you can build a better binocular (for the money) with the roof prism. This was confirmed to my by the USA president of a major competing German optics company (noted for its rangefinders). He told me: "The poro-prism offers great field of view and depth of field at 7-8X power. You can produce a better optic at a lower price with this porro-prism design. However, we don’t use the porro-prism in our binoculars because we think consumers prefer the narrow styling of roof prism [straight lens body] designs.â€
If styling were not a controlling factor, you'd see more porro-prism binoculars. Experts says that porro-prism binoculars will produce a brighter image than roof-prism binoculars of the same magnification, objective size, and optical quality, because the roof-prism design employs silvered surfaces that reduce light transmission by 12% to 15%. Roof-prisms designs also require tighter alignment tolerances for their optical elements (collimation). This adds to their expense since the design requires the use of fixed elements that need to be set at a high degree of collimation at the factory.
Right now, on Amazon.com the Steiner 8x30mm Military Marine is just $229.99 with FREE shipping. I honestly don't know any fully-armored binos that are as field-functional as these for anywhere near that price. After my pDog hunt, I ordered a pair for myself.
Some guys feel that Steiner quality has declined now that Beretta-owned Burris acquired Steiner. I can't comment on that. The Binos I bought last year (post Burris acquisition) are excellent.
I shot one fat pDog at about 150 yards, and I could see individual blades of grass sticking out of its mouth while it was on its hind legs.
You can read my complete field test review on today's bulletin: http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2012/04/gear-review-steiner-8x30mm-militarymarine-binoculars/
The Steiner uses a roof prism design that makes the binoculars shorter front to back, but wider side to side. That's not the current "fashion trend" among optics makers, But I think it actually makes the optics easier to hold steady in your hand -- you have a wider platform and it doesn't hang out so much in front. Moreover, you can build a better binocular (for the money) with the roof prism. This was confirmed to my by the USA president of a major competing German optics company (noted for its rangefinders). He told me: "The poro-prism offers great field of view and depth of field at 7-8X power. You can produce a better optic at a lower price with this porro-prism design. However, we don’t use the porro-prism in our binoculars because we think consumers prefer the narrow styling of roof prism [straight lens body] designs.â€
If styling were not a controlling factor, you'd see more porro-prism binoculars. Experts says that porro-prism binoculars will produce a brighter image than roof-prism binoculars of the same magnification, objective size, and optical quality, because the roof-prism design employs silvered surfaces that reduce light transmission by 12% to 15%. Roof-prisms designs also require tighter alignment tolerances for their optical elements (collimation). This adds to their expense since the design requires the use of fixed elements that need to be set at a high degree of collimation at the factory.
Right now, on Amazon.com the Steiner 8x30mm Military Marine is just $229.99 with FREE shipping. I honestly don't know any fully-armored binos that are as field-functional as these for anywhere near that price. After my pDog hunt, I ordered a pair for myself.
Some guys feel that Steiner quality has declined now that Beretta-owned Burris acquired Steiner. I can't comment on that. The Binos I bought last year (post Burris acquisition) are excellent.
