SFL 50mm first look, first touch. (5 Viewers)

[HenRun]

So, I managed to drive by the local pushers nest in order to have a look at the new siblings from big Z:





Pictures tell some of the story. Pictured above is the SFL 12x50 next to the Meopta Meostar 12x50.
The Meostar is a short, chunky bino, weighing in at 1075 grams with the rubber front lens caps.
The SFL 12x50 is a little shorter and weighs in at 875 grams without caps.

Most people will not be able to relate the size since the Zeiss is new and the Meopta fairly unknown.
Here is a "regular sized" 12x50 to relate to, Leica UVHD+ 12x50 next to the same Meopta.

AFAIK the Swarovski EL12x50 is similar in size to the Leica.

 

[HenRun]

Just waiting for a cup of tea to brew up and I'll share my views. Literally, not optically.

 

[HenRun]

Last time I stopped by the Binowranglers the PoPo fired up the siren, had the flashy red blue thingy spinning and blocked off the bus lane, five meaty cops stepped out of the van and demanded my license. Quite an entrance. My rap sheet was clean as a whistle and they had nothing on me. Nuuuthin'. With a look of disappointment they retraced their steps into the Coptainer and drove off.

During the license check the lady cop asked me why I was there and a string of follow up questions. Half way into the Binocular Store > Customer > buying binostrap > what I am looking at with binos > what's your favourite Bird - she just ended it with, I know nothing about birds...

(I had a very dirty car, and they came up behind me and probably thought I made a very sudden turn into a parking pocket as soon as I saw them on my tail - but the thing was that the bus lane ends right before the parking spot outside the Binocular shop... ...so I only had about 30 metres to indicate and pull in as there was just the one spot left... and since the bike lane is right next to the bus lane I made sure there was no one there.)

Anyway the look on the staff's faces when I walked in after that was pretty funny. An old guy, customer, looked at me as if I was a CRIMINAL but when I told them they just checked on my license with a "random stop" he just chuckled.

Today the same thing happened in the same spot - but not to me, they caught a guy driving studded tires in a no Stud Zone. That is expensive...

Anyway, let's head into the shop shall we:

 

[NatureLover123]

Last time I stopped by the Binowranglers the PoPo fired up the siren, had the flashy red blue thingy spinning and blocked off the bus lane, five meaty cops stepped out of the van and demanded my license. Quite an entrance. My rap sheet was clean as a whistle and they had nothing on me. Nuuuthin'. With a look of disappointment they retraced their steps into the Coptainer and drove off.

During the license check the lady cop asked me why I was there and a string of follow up questions. Half way into the Binocular Store > Customer > buying binostrap > what I am looking at with binos > what's your favourite Bird - she just ended it with, I know nothing about birds...

(I had a very dirty car, and they came up behind me and probably thought I made a very sudden turn into a parking pocket as soon as I saw them on my tail - but the thing was that the bus lane ends right before the parking spot outside the Binocular shop... ...so I only had about 30 metres to indicate and pull in as there was just the one spot left... and since the bike lane is right next to the bus lane I made sure there was no one there.)

Anyway the look on the staff's faces when I walked in after that was pretty funny. An old guy, customer, looked at me as if I was a CRIMINAL but when I told them they just checked on my license with a "random stop" he just chuckled.

Today the same thing happened in the same spot - but not to me, they caught a guy driving studded tires in a no Stud Zone. That is expensive...

Anyway, let's head into the shop shall we:

Different country, different traditions 😂

I bet it‘s normal there, that cops point a loaded and ready gun at you when they just doing normal license checks or asking you if you know that your rear light is broken 😅

 

[HenRun]

As I walked in, at the nearest counter there was a familiar face. The Zeiss rep.
And he had the three siblings on the counter. I did not know it was a demo day, that was a bit of luck!

I said hello and he said, I remember you from last year.

So, they had a scale in shop (funny conversation ensued with the cops still outside) and we did some size comparisons and weighed them in before the shootout.

First impression is: they are a good size. I have not seen a 12x50 shorter than the Meopta before. The Meopta is compact, and dense.
The SFL 12x50 is a little slimmer, a little shorter and 200g lighter at 875 grams.

We popped outside for a look up and down the street. Overcast day, white skies, plenty of seagulls and plenty of high contrast poles, roof structures, black chimneys and metal roofing and balconies. And lots of people and traffic.

I know the Meopta inside and out so for me there was really no point even looking through it in comparison.

First impression of the SFL 12x50 was very positive. Superb balance and a good grip. Same as the SFL 40 line in look and feel.
Eye relief is very good with glasses, and the view is very immersive. Balance and weight is so good I felt like looking through a 10X and even comparing it to the Swaro 12x42NL (from memory) I think the SFL12x50 is the easiest/steadiest of all 12X I have looked through.
I am used to the Meopta and pretty good at handholding it but the SFL is clearly easier.

So TOP MARKS for size, weight, ease of use and handholdability.

Focuser is the same as I am used to with the SFL 8x40. Speed and resistance is very well balanced and one finger operation is a breeze.
Focus SNAP is superb.

Like with the Meopta I could lock onto birds and with the even better focuser of the SFL following a seagull weaving back and forth above the street was super easy and keeping the bird in focus midrange was as easy as it gets. Together with the generous AFOV and bright image it was literally a breeze. TOP MARKS for the focuser. I must admit it did a little better than my Meopta, which is my benchmark for birds in flight.

So, did I go ahead and make use of the on-the-spot 5% discount from the Zeiss guy and get one? No.
Reasons for that will follow.

All the while we had a running conversation about the design and criteria they were going for. During the conversation I was impressed by the ease of picking out VERY small detail at range. On par with the Meopta but with the added bonus of more stability handheld.

However, this is the BUT part, I did find some things to consider and some things that I thought could have been better. CA levels are "well controlled" but nevertheless the CA is there. It is about the same CA level as the Leica UVHD+ 12x50 - perhaps even slightly more.
I don't want to draw to much conclusions out of a ten to fifteen minute view through the 12x50 SFL but the CA level was - at its worst - a little more than I would accept at this price point.

With some time, adjustment and perhaps a more careful setting of IPD and diopter correction I could get it down to "acceptable" - just like with the Leica 12x50. To be perfectly fair, the SFL displays a very crisp and bright image and this type of weather brings out much of the worst in binoculars but at this point I did break out the Meopta and the Meopta is clearly on top in this regard.

The Zeiss guy took a look through my "bench mark bino" and I can tell he was a bit impressed. He did comment that the Meopta was similar in color to the SFL line up - and/as in more neutral than the SF which he said were a bit biased towards" warmth" and sometimes overemphasizing greens in comparison. Not verbatim as he said it, but what he said.

Short break.

 

[HenRun]

Different country, different traditions 😂

I bet it‘s normal there, that cops point a loaded and ready gun at you when they just doing normal license checks or asking you if you know that your rear light is broken 😅

Police are for the most part VERY polite and you would have to literally start throwing pointy things at them before they would ever pull a gun on you. I think my dirty car and my "sudden" turn into the parking space caught their attention. But I was a bit surprised still, after all I drive a Subaru Outback. But this was after a long weekend so I guess alcoholics drive any type of car. ( I did have to do a blow test for alcohol.)

 

[HenRun]

First impressions are very good.
There are many things to like about the 50mm SFL line.
For starters they are about the same size as the high quality 42mm binos. They are compact enough that one could easily mistake them for a 42. Both for weight and size!

We popped back in and got the 8x50 and 10x50 out. Might as well. The 10x50 and 12x50 are same size and same weight. Give or take a few grams. So, they feel just the same.

The 8x50 is slightly smaller but only about 20g lighter. Still, it feels like a very compact 8x50 and the balance is equally superb. This is one of the things that SFL really has going for it.

However the 8x50 did not feel like it had the same immersive view as the 12x50. It was more or less like my SFL 8x40 which is very good and very good with glasses and certainly they are good enough. But the 12x50 is more immersive for sure. Characteristics between all three of them are very similar. Same feel, focuser felt exactly the same and the view is very similar between them in terms of focus snap, brightness across the field and contrast, as far as I could tell.

CA levels are lowest on the 8x50 and resembles my SFL 8x40: it is there. But there is so little that it is never that intrusive and except for the high contrast scenarios (which were plenty today) you did not see it. Even today it was more than manageable.

So, saving the best for last: the SFL 10x50.

Neither the 8x50 nor the 10x50 are of no particular interest to me. It is not my type of binocular. But, seeing the CA levels of the 12x50 - which are not BAD - but they are certainly not top three either - I wanted to see if the other two were similar or - as I suspected - on par with the magnification. And they were. The 8X I think is handling it really well, without being a stand out. Same with the 12x50.

The surprise for me was the 10x50. I thought it was extremely nice to look through. For me that was like a "wow" moment.
The view is as immersive as the 12x50 and the balance of the 10x50 is so good that it felt like handling an 8X bino. I spent more time with the 10x50 in the end and I was surprised at how steady it was to operate effectively.

Nice pop and snap to focus, even easier to track birds in flight and a overall a very immersive view. CA levels are more controlled than on the 12x50 and to the point of being so little of a distraction that I really, really enjoyed the view through it.

After almost twenty minutes of looking through the three (90% through the 10 and 12X) I came to the conclusion that the 10x50 was so steady there was very little to no difference in what I could make out with the 12x - and normally I think a 12x always brings out more detail.
At the end of the comparison I have started to see micro tremors through the 12X spoiling the view of static objects but none with the 10x50.

For birds in flight the 10x50 and the 12x50 are probably the best I have tried so far, even besting my Meopta, which has bested all others so far.

But, the Meopta 12x50 is going nowhere. Even with a smaller AFOV and 200g extra around the waist the Meopta is a hell of a binocular and center/mid center CA levels are visibly much lower in the Meopta. A bit of a relief for the wallet!

The SFL 50's in shop are demo units, they will get stock in May so there are none in stock to actually purchase at the moment.

With some time I will revisit both and see if first impressions change. The 10X made a first impression that lasted.

I am not in the market for a 10X50 - or any 10X for that matter - but if I was I might have snagged this one.
Also, if I did not have the Meopta 12X50 and I was looking for a 12X bino and threw this in the mix I am sure I might have taken the 10x50 home instead of a 12X. In direct comparison to 12x50 there was very little to no detail I could squeeze out hand held with the 12X that I could not with the 10X all things considered.

On a monopod the outcome might have differed but the 10x50 has been the steadiest of the 10X binos I have looked through so far.
Sure, maybe I had a very stable day as well, but as I wrote; twenty minutes in or so the 12X started taking its toll on stability - but also to be fair, I kept using it because it still felt so steady.

As for the optical properties I commented on the CA (gently) and asked "but, surely there is no FL glass in these?"

And no, that is what they have "removed" from the criteria, as well as having them made in Japan to fit the price point at a competitive level and not eat into the SF line up.

In the subsequent discussion with one of the sales staff we all agreed that these might eat into the SF sales for being so capable, light and "small/short" 50mm instruments. That will appeal to some more discerning customers.

They do sell a lot more SFL 30's and, in general, binoculars up to or below 40mm for general use, people in general want compact binoculars.

EDITED for some spelling issues, iPad is on top of the dog. Touch typing hit rate takes a toll.

 

[Dennis Mau]

As I walked in, at the nearest counter there was a familiar face. The Zeiss rep.
And he had the three siblings on the counter. I did not know it was a demo day, that was a bit of luck!

I said hello and he said, I remember you from last year.

So, they had a scale in shop (funny conversation ensued with the cops still outside) and we did some size comparisons and weighed them in before the shootout.

First impression is: they are a good size. I have not seen a 12x50 shorter than the Meopta before. The Meopta is compact, and dense.
The SFL 12x50 is a little slimmer, a little shorter and 200g lighter at 875 grams.

We popped outside for a look up and down the street. Overcast day, white skies, plenty of seagulls and plenty of high contrast poles, roof structures, black chimneys and metal roofing and balconies. And lots of people and traffic.

I know the Meopta inside and out so for me there was really no point even looking through it in comparison.

First impression of the SFL 12x50 was very positive. Superb balance and a good grip. Same as the SFL 40 line in look and feel.
Eye relief is very good with glasses, and the view is very immersive. Balance and weight is so good I felt like looking through a 10X and even comparing it to the Swaro 12x42NL (from memory) I think the SFL12x50 is the easiest/steadiest of all 12X I have looked through.
I am used to the Meopta and pretty good at handholding it but the SFL is clearly easier.

So TOP MARKS for size, weight, ease of use and handholdability.

Focuser is the same as I am used to with the SFL 8x40. Speed and resistance is very well balanced and one finger operation is a breeze.
Focus SNAP is superb.

Like with the Meopta I could lock onto birds and with the even better focuser of the SFL following a seagull weaving back and forth above the street was super easy and keeping the bird in focus midrange was as easy as it gets. Together with the generous AFOV and bright image it was literally a breeze. TOP MARKS for the focuser. I must admit it did a little better than my Meopta, which is my benchmark for birds in flight.

So, did I go ahead and make use of the on-the-spot 5% discount from the Zeiss guy and get one? No.
Reasons for that will follow.

All the while we had a running conversation about the design and criteria they were going for. During the conversation I was impressed by the ease of picking out VERY small detail at range. On par with the Meopta but with the added bonus of more stability handheld.

However, this is the BUT part, I did find some things to consider and some things that I thought could have been better. CA levels are "well controlled" but nevertheless the CA is there. It is about the same CA level as the Leica UVHD+ 12x50 - perhaps even slightly more.
I don't want to draw to much conclusions out of a ten to fifteen minute view through the 12x50 SFL but the CA level was - at its worst - a little more than I would accept at this price point.

With some time, adjustment and perhaps a more careful setting of IPD and diopter correction I could get it down to "acceptable" - just like with the Leica 12x50. To be perfectly fair, the SFL displays a very crisp and bright image and this type of weather brings out much of the worst in binoculars but at this point I did break out the Meopta and the Meopta is clearly on top in this regard.

The Zeiss guy took a look through my "bench mark bino" and I can tell he was a bit impressed. He did comment that the Meopta was similar in color to the SFL line up - and/as in more neutral than the SF which he said were a bit biased towards" warmth" and sometimes overemphasizing greens in comparison. Not verbatim as he said it, but what he said.

Short break.

Did you test the SFL 8x50 for CA? It might have less CA than the SFL 12x50 because of the lower magnification and bigger EP. If you checked the SFL 8x50, did you think the view was more aberration free than the SFL 12x50 or less? Was the CA on the SFL 12x50 in the center or on the edge more? Thanks!

 

[HenRun]

Quick summary:

SFL strong points:
Light and compact for the 50mm class.
Build quality same as previous SFL. Not to everyones taste but seemingly durable.
Excellent focuser (1.4X turns from near to infinity) and same friction and feel. One finger operation is smooth.
Very easy with glasses. No kidney beaning for me.
Good to great AFOV.
Very bright image.
Color "neutral" as far as I can tell.
Balance among the best on the market
Perceived center resolution is top notch (subjectively perceived ease of extricating mid to long range small detail handheld)

SFL weak points:
CA is not peak level Alpha. I think it is about Ultravid level or thereabouts.
Price point is way over Conquest HDX and some might not see much of a difference.
Price point is not too far off SF and some may go for the SF purely on the idea that the SF "must be better".

I honestly struggle to find any more weak points. In this environment I could not judge edge sharpness or sharpness fall off, CA on the edges etc but overall I find the SFL 50mm very good to excellent. Perhaps even superb when it comes to the 10x50.
As for the 12x50 I was not disappointed - it was just about what I expected it to be, and it did impress me in most areas. Just not enough to place an order.

Depending on future scenarios I will keep the 10x50 in the memory bank and I will make sure to revisit both the 10X and 12X50.

All that said I find it hard to recommend them at this price point. For some they might tick all of the boxes and for some they might lack that little something they prefer or want to have in a binocular. But they are quite impressive to me.

 

[HenRun]

Did you test the SFL 8x50 for CA? It might have less CA than the SFL 12x50 because of the lower magnification and bigger EP. If you checked the SFL 8x50, did you think the view was more aberration free than the SFL 12x50 or less? Was the CA on the SFL 12x50 in the center or on the edge more? Thanks!

Only by brief comparison with the other two and as I wrote the CA levels were corresponding to the magnification so the 8x50 had the least.

The SFL 12x50 CA levels I mention are center CA only. They levels increase towards the edges but many of the subject shapes were such that some of the center CA would be from out of focus areas. Anyway I looked at it the center CA levels ranged from acceptable to higher than I like, all depending on subject matter.

CA levels on the 12x50 is, perhaps, a little disappointing in this price range and considering it is a new binocular.
They did opt out on FL glass though. Since they don't have a 12X SF model (at least I think that) they could have included FL glass in the 12X.
But hey, who am I to give advice to the marketing department?

Having said that, CA levels were of little concern for the most part - just like with the Leica UVHD+ I did not even think about it unless I specifically looked for it and in EDIT: most (not some) cases it was well controlled. But in those unforgiving instances it does pop out.

EDIT: Regarding ambiguity: I DID look for it and it presented itself without me looking for it as well... ...depending on subject matter I noticed it or did not think of it much.

For those that have very low CA levels as an important metric the 12x50 may or may not be sub par. I am on the fence. I would have hoped it would be a little better - but in a way I am glad it isn't...

 

[Ignatius]

Different country, different traditions 😂

I bet it‘s normal there, that cops point a loaded and ready gun at you when they just doing normal license checks or asking you if you know that your rear light is broken 😅

Afaik he lives in Sweden, not the good ole US of A.

 

[Scott98]

Do you normally leave your diopter setting at "0" or do you need to dial it in? I've found if the diopter setting is just a smidge off it can lead to seeing CA and also edge breakdown. It's difficult for me to set the diopter and usually I need a bright star at night to get it correct. But it sounds like the CA is about what one might expect in the 12x50 version.

In the USA there is a healthy price difference with the SF - the 42mm SF retail price here is $3,000 and the SFL 50mm $1800. A 50mm SF would probably cost $3500.

Seems like 10x50 will be the most popular one. I already have 7x42 and 8x42, it wouldn't make sense to get 8x50. The extra aperture is nice at higher power, 10x or 12x. For people with multiple binos an 8x50 would be nice to have around, I know I liked the 8x50 UVHD's

 

[Vespobuteo]

However, this is the BUT part, I did find some things to consider and some things that I thought could have been better. CA levels are "well controlled" but nevertheless the CA is there. It is about the same CA level as the Leica UVHD+ 12x50 - perhaps even slightly more.
I don't want to draw to much conclusions out of a ten to fifteen minute view through the 12x50 SFL but the CA level was - at its worst - a little more than I would accept at this price point.

Very interesting read, thanks for the effort.

Would you say that the 10x50 SFL were closer to your Meoptas in CA levels, or is there still a clear difference?

 

[HenRun]

Do you normally leave your diopter setting at "0" or do you need to dial it in? I've found if the diopter setting is just a smidge off it can lead to seeing CA and also edge breakdown. It's difficult for me to set the diopter and usually I need a bright star at night to get it correct. But it sounds like the CA is about what one might expect in the 12x50 version.

In the USA there is a healthy price difference with the SF - the 42mm SF retail price here is $3,000 and the SFL 50mm $1800. A 50mm SF would probably cost $3500.

Seems like 10x50 will be the most popular one. I already have 7x42 and 8x42, it wouldn't make sense to get 8x50. The extra aperture is nice at higher power, 10x or 12x.

Yes, I usually have it at "0".

I agree on the importance of diopter setting and I did fiddle a little with the 12x50 to see if I could improve it somewhat but returned to "0".
If I had spent some time with the 12x supported and set the diopter the result might have been improved.

CA levels are there but my initial "complaints" are not to be taken as gospel. That is also why I will revisit the 12x50 further down the road as well as the 10x50. Having said that I am not expecting them to improve much considering the design envelope. (Cost, glass etc).

 

[PatR]

Cracking write up HenRun, thank you for not only a very amusing build-up to the bullet point dissection and comparison of the various bino’s but for your clear and detailed explanations and thoughts. Clearly AI has yet to arrive in Sweden!

What is more than clear though is just how good the venerable Meopta’s are up against the very latest in bino design, coatings and manufacture from Zeiss.

Bravo to our Czech Mates!

I look forward to the ending and whether a sack full of Krona is exchanged for the new kid on the block!

 

[Scott98]

Is it safe to say the eye lenses on the 12x50 are huge? They appear much wider than the Meoptas and wider than the UVHD. Hopefully this leads to comfortable eye placement

So if your regular diopter is 0 then most likely it was set correctly. I've always been dead-on "0" in all the Zeiss binoculars I've used. I've never had to move it off zero for any of the modern roof binoculars.

 

[HenRun]

Very interesting read, thanks for the effort.

Would you say that the 10x50 SFL were closer to your Meoptas in CA levels, or is there still a clear difference?

Yes to both, closer but still a clear difference. I did find the 10x50 SFL to be very good though, personally it passes the bar for me.

Between the SFL 12x50 and the Meopta 12x50 I would say the difference is significant.

 

[hopster]

As I walked in, at the nearest counter there was a familiar face. The Zeiss rep.
And he had the three siblings on the counter. I did not know it was a demo day, that was a bit of luck!

I said hello and he said, I remember you from last year.

So, they had a scale in shop (funny conversation ensued with the cops still outside) and we did some size comparisons and weighed them in before the shootout.

First impression is: they are a good size. I have not seen a 12x50 shorter than the Meopta before. The Meopta is compact, and dense.
The SFL 12x50 is a little slimmer, a little shorter and 200g lighter at 875 grams.

We popped outside for a look up and down the street. Overcast day, white skies, plenty of seagulls and plenty of high contrast poles, roof structures, black chimneys and metal roofing and balconies. And lots of people and traffic.

I know the Meopta inside and out so for me there was really no point even looking through it in comparison.

First impression of the SFL 12x50 was very positive. Superb balance and a good grip. Same as the SFL 40 line in look and feel.
Eye relief is very good with glasses, and the view is very immersive. Balance and weight is so good I felt like looking through a 10X and even comparing it to the Swaro 12x42NL (from memory) I think the SFL12x50 is the easiest/steadiest of all 12X I have looked through.
I am used to the Meopta and pretty good at handholding it but the SFL is clearly easier.

So TOP MARKS for size, weight, ease of use and handholdability.

Focuser is the same as I am used to with the SFL 8x40. Speed and resistance is very well balanced and one finger operation is a breeze.
Focus SNAP is superb.

Like with the Meopta I could lock onto birds and with the even better focuser of the SFL following a seagull weaving back and forth above the street was super easy and keeping the bird in focus midrange was as easy as it gets. Together with the generous AFOV and bright image it was literally a breeze. TOP MARKS for the focuser. I must admit it did a little better than my Meopta, which is my benchmark for birds in flight.

So, did I go ahead and make use of the on-the-spot 5% discount from the Zeiss guy and get one? No.
Reasons for that will follow.

All the while we had a running conversation about the design and criteria they were going for. During the conversation I was impressed by the ease of picking out VERY small detail at range. On par with the Meopta but with the added bonus of more stability handheld.

However, this is the BUT part, I did find some things to consider and some things that I thought could have been better. CA levels are "well controlled" but nevertheless the CA is there. It is about the same CA level as the Leica UVHD+ 12x50 - perhaps even slightly more.
I don't want to draw to much conclusions out of a ten to fifteen minute view through the 12x50 SFL but the CA level was - at its worst - a little more than I would accept at this price point.

With some time, adjustment and perhaps a more careful setting of IPD and diopter correction I could get it down to "acceptable" - just like with the Leica 12x50. To be perfectly fair, the SFL displays a very crisp and bright image and this type of weather brings out much of the worst in binoculars but at this point I did break out the Meopta and the Meopta is clearly on top in this regard.

The Zeiss guy took a look through my "bench mark bino" and I can tell he was a bit impressed. He did comment that the Meopta was similar in color to the SFL line up - and/as in more neutral than the SF which he said were a bit biased towards" warmth" and sometimes overemphasizing greens in comparison. Not verbatim as he said it, but what he said.

Short break.

I see you still have your gasket ER hack installed on the Meoptas! Perhaps the police wanted to check what was going on there

Interesting comparison. It's clearly a lot lighter and quite a bit smaller. Nice to know that the focuser is excellent.

Very low CA is my favourite thing about the Meostar - I haven't seen anything better at 12x and for my use cases this trumps everything else such as flat/wide field - neither of which does it possess. It also handles potential glare situations very well and is easy to use for long periods.

I wouldn't call the SF 'warm', I would call it 'greenish', or at least I would the three I looked through a few years ago (one grey armour, two black armour). The Meostar however I would call 'warm' - a kind of mild amber tint.

 

[HenRun]

Cracking write up HenRun, thank you for not only a very amusing build-up to the bullet point dissection and comparison of the various bino’s but for your clear and detailed explanations and thoughts. Clearly AI has yet to arrive in Sweden!

What is more than clear though is just how good the venerable Meopta’s are up against the very latest in bino design, coatings and manufacture from Zeiss.

Bravo to our Czech Mates!

I look forward to the ending and whether a sack full of Krona is exchanged for the new kid on the block!

Credit is due to the Meopta engineers, they made their sacrifices in order to achieve something that I really appreciate in the 12x50.
Meopta claims the 12x50 is their best binocular. There are of course trade offs in the design but none that bother me and the pros outweigh the cons.

I did look through a lesser known brand chinese made 12x a few weeks back (I did not even register the name) and it was actually fairly sharp and completely CA free in the center - but with a very small AFOV, small FOV and a dull grey image and really bad off center and edge sharpness. It was very unpleasant to look through unless you looked in the center 5% of the already small image.

The Sack of Krona will not be unburdened by what has been (seen) and the knot will stayeth locketh.

 

[Vespobuteo]

I wouldn't call the SF 'warm', I would call it 'greenish', or at least I would the three I looked through a few years ago (one grey armour, two black armour). The Meostar however I would call 'warm' - a kind of mild amber tint.

I agree, green is not known as a warm color.

SFL:s 40 look slightly more neutral than the SF:s, which is a good thing, but I wouldn't call them "warm" like Leica:s etc.