brief encounter with the curio 7x21 (1 Viewer)

[iseegeorgesstar]

Hello,

I wanted to share some brief impressions I had recently with the curio 7x21. It was my second Swarovski binocular and while it had a lot of good variables constituting it ... it just didn't come together for me. In hindsight, maybe I wasn't in the best of moods and that colored things. But when I first looked through it I knew instantly it wasn't for me.

If I had to summarize my experience or what went wrong. I would say that when I use the curio's it felt like luxury. But when I use my Habicht 10x40 GA it feels like magic. The curio's didn't bunch high enough for me to want to keep them or like them. I'm sure I'm in the minority with this -- and perhaps in truth I was too dismissive and I need to return to them one day.

But while the image was overall nice. I had the misfortune of using them on an overcast day and one of things I instantly noticed was CA. And it was a semi-thick band of CA too. Not phasing in and out with just a thin line. But semi-thick. This was seen along the church spires and rooftop.

The other thing that didn't land for me surprisingly -- though many people love and I thought I would too -- was the depth of field. It is MASSIVE. (Sorry for the caps but it just utterly massive...) I've never had this experience before but, apparently for me, there's such a thing as too much depth of field. I constantly felt lost and didn't know if I was on target or not -- meaning, I thought I was zoomed/focused in and then I realized I could turn more and sharpen the image and doing so constantly took me away from enjoyment and observation of the target which is only there for a few seconds at most.

On the more positive front I would say they did feel very sturdy and they were a lot shorter than I was expecting. I thought they would be at least 3/4th to 1 inch longer. Also I have no idea what they were thinking with the plastic bottom cover with the designers name -- not sure if that's a contract issue or budget/financial issue. But it seemed odd/out of place.

That's about it. The image was very nice and strong. It felt like you had a much bigger optic in your pocket. But the whole time I was using it I kept thinking to myself I rather use the funds locked up in this somewhere else. Funny enough, the other day I was out grocery shopping and saw a hawk/falcon give a beautiful display swirling by showing off. Very beautiful and a fortunate view to be seen. I really wished I had pocket binoculars on me but at the same time using my eyes was okay too.

So the journey continues. Thanks for reading.

 

[Canip]

……. apparently for me, there's such a thing as too much depth of field. I constantly felt lost ……

My sincere condolences

 

[iseegeorgesstar]

I didn't know it was possible! Since I got the Habicht I always thought I was a depth of field junkie now. But with the curio's it was overwhelming personally. Maybe it has to do with the small sized eyecups or some other optical characteristics combining with it. I don't know. But I just felt lost and couldn't settle into it.

Maybe I will try again in the future and things will be different.

 

[Thotmosis]

I feel your pain I was a depth of field junkie to.
Too much DOF hmm, its strange but possible ofcourse. For me a binocular can be too bright sometimes, especially my Habicht’s (10x and 8X) in the summer in the Mediterranean. That’s where my Leica’s shine.
Enjoy your Habicht GA!

 

[gweller]

Interesting, I've never seen really any CA with my pair. And as for DOF I think that comes with the territory with 7x bins. The 7x35 Retrovid has also a large DOF which, a bit contrary to you, I really like.

 

[Viraj]

I can also understand what does it mean by too much of FOV or DOF. Those are the thing I encountered with NL 8x42 in the beginning of the time I started to use them, too much FOV and compressed view. I like the Curio however I can see a clear difference between the view through it and the Habicht 7x42. Curios view is also compressed while Habichts view gives you so much more freedom to scan on objects closer and further away from the focal point. It seems to be an effect of increased DOF combined with the 3D and the larger exit pupil.

 

[iseegeorgesstar]

I feel your pain I was a depth of field junkie to.
Too much DOF hmm, its strange but possible ofcourse. For me a binocular can be too bright sometimes, especially my Habicht’s (10x and 8X) in the summer in the Mediterranean. That’s where my Leica’s shine.
Enjoy your Habicht GA!

Thank you. The 12x50 Leicas are on my to try list! Habicht are definitely very bright. I love using my Habicht for cloud watching during the summer and initially when you view it is so glaringly bnght. Eventually your eyes kind of adjust. My balcony is turned away from the sun so that is in favor too.

Interesting, I've never seen really any CA with my pair. And as for DOF I think that comes with the territory with 7x bins. The 7x35 Retrovid has also a large DOF which, a bit contrary to you, I really like.

When the sun was out I couldnt really see any CA. But literally the first thing I had looked with the curio when it was overcast was the church rooftop architecture and I was smacked with some unholy CA.

I can also understand what does it mean by too much of FOV or DOF. Those are the thing I encountered with NL 8x42 in the beginning of the time I started to use them, too much FOV and compressed view. I like the Curio however I can see a clear difference between the view through it and the Habicht 7x42. Curios view is also compressed while Habichts view gives you so much more freedom to scan on objects closer and further away from the focal point. It seems to be an effect of increased DOF combined with the 3D and the larger exit pupil.

Compressed is a very good word. Yes it felt like there was just a whole lot of depth squeezed into a somewhat slight tunnel and the more I focused on the depth of field the more unnerving or uncomfortable I felt. I was thinking maybe this was because of the smaller eyecups. I wish i tried the curio's with a glare blocker and how that would have been.

They're really a great binocular they just didn't instantly sit with me as I thought they were going to. Your comment about having the freedom to scan with the Habicht resonates with me.