Hello Elkoholic .... Welcome to the Bird Forum. I have a Zeiss SF 10X42 that gets a lot of use in the summer and fall spotting elk in the Arizona high country of the White Mountains. It seems to do just a bit better in cutting through the haze and moisture in the air for some of those long early morning meadow spots.
The eye cups work just fine. The eye cup body is made of a composite material with a rubber like covering for the part that meets the users face. Some of the competition makes the eye cup body out of metal, such as aluminum. Some folks on this forum have equated the composite material as being plastic and that carries a stigma as being cheap but that is not the case. I prefer the composite material over metal because if the binocular is dropped on the eye cup, it is likely to break without doing damage to the eye piece threads. It would just then be a simple matter of calling Zeiss USA and getting a free replacement eye cup.
The rubber like eye cup covering material has an inward slope which I find more comfortable than some of the other binoculars I have with a more squared profile. I have not had any problems with the eye cups slipping from the chosen position.
Zeiss made a change to the eye cups last summer when they came out with the black SF that replaces the original grey armored SF. The only change is the eye cup now has two intermediate positions rather than one. Everything else, including the total length is the same. Zeiss USA will send an owner the new version free. Then it is just a simple matter of unscrewing the original and replacing it with the new version. It takes less than a minute. Here is a thread by Lee on how to properly replace the eye cup .......
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=336799
My viewing is normally without glasses but I have done limited testing and I am able to get the full field of view when wearing glasses with the new eye cup extended out to the first intermediate position. All the way in is just a little to close for me and makes the binocular more sensitive to black outs. Eye relief is not a problem for me.
You hit on one of the other changes to the newer black version of the SF and that is the focus mechanism. From what I was told, the design is the same but Zeiss increased the tolerance requirements for more precise manufacturing. I was also told this was an inline change for the grey version so the last of the grey models on clearance should have the same focus mechanism as the new black version. I bought a close out grey 8X42 SF and the focus is a litter smoother than my 10X purchased earlier. I would not be surprised that parts were from a supplier and Zeiss went to a new source.
The Zeiss focus functions just fine. It is not quite at the level of a Nikon EDG (and neither is much else), but it is better than the competing Swaros that I have tried. I have no trouble locking focus. The focus speed is such that I can go between about 20 feet and infinity without having to reposition my finger yet it is not so fast that it is touchy to focus out at infinity. I would estimate that it has roughly 70 degrees of over travel past infinity for those who are near sighted and using it without eye glasses.
The only other difference that I know of between the grey and the black versions of the SF is the armoring. From what I read, there is a slight difference in texturing in addition to coloring. The advantage I see to the black is it is less likely to show dirt or staining whereas the grey will be cooler in the hot Arizona sun. I prefer the grey but it is no big deal.
Of the binoculars I have, the Zeiss SF 8X42 is the one I enjoy using the most. Due to the wide open spaces of Arizona and other western sates, if I could only have one binocular, it would be the Zeiss SF 10X42. The Zeiss SF is a great product and the close out deal makes it a great buy.
The one other binocular that I have for spotting elk is the Swaro SV EL 10X50. It is optically excellent as is the SF. It does offer a little more brightness in the very early morning and those last few minutes before dark. The down side is it is a large heavy beast without the balance or FOV of the SF. It is also just not quite as good as the SF in cutting though haze. If I could only have one, I would go with the SF because I think the advantages it has outweigh the few minutes of the day where the Swaro comes on top.
Please let us know what you end up doing!
