Zeiss SFL 8x30 black out, kidney bean issue (1 Viewer)

[Patudo]

It can take some time to get used to a new binocular, especially if you've changed from a binocular with a larger exit pupil (eg. 8x40/42) and/or one with shorter eye relief. To the OP: in your last post it looks as though you are already getting accustomed to it, but when reading your earlier post (#10) my first thought was that you might want to try extending the eyecups further out than the first stop. Kidney beaning or blackouts normally happen when your eyeball is too close to the eyepiece - which is difficult to do with older designs with shorter eye relief, but can be an issue with modern binoculars with longer eye relief. My own Nikon 10x42 SE is susceptible to the same thing. Moving your eye further away (via extending the eyecups) should help. Give it a try. You may also want to experiment with how you put the binocular to your eyes - the best position for the 8x30 SFL may be different to your previous binocular - and also the IPD as smaller binoculars often need the IPD to be set quite precisely.

You may find that the best eyecup position lies between the main click stops, and might need to be carefully dialled in: if the eyecups won't stay there, lock them in position with a spacer (O-rings or similar).

 

[wildbill85]

After another full day with these, I ordered the 8x40 SFL. They'll be here Tuesday. These 8x30s just take so much fiddling with to get them to work how I want them to. It's like they need two adjustment settings. One for the full bright FOV with no vignetting, and another for scanning and panning without kidney beans. I can't adjust them to do both well! I really want them to work, because they're the perfect size and weight and feel amazing in my hand. It's just hard to justify them when my M7 8x42 are a 3rd the price and just work.

 

[gweller]

After another full day with these, I ordered the 8x40 SFL. They'll be here Tuesday. These 8x30s just take so much fiddling with to get them to work how I want them to. It's like they need two adjustment settings. One for the full bright FOV with no vignetting, and another for scanning and panning without kidney beans. I can't adjust them to do both well! I really want them to work, because they're the perfect size and weight and feel amazing in my hand. It's just hard to justify them when my M7 8x42 are a 3rd the price and just work.

If you want a nice, lightweight bin with easy eye placement, try the Swaro 8x30 CL!

 

[[email protected]]

After another full day with these, I ordered the 8x40 SFL. They'll be here Tuesday. These 8x30s just take so much fiddling with to get them to work how I want them to. It's like they need two adjustment settings. One for the full bright FOV with no vignetting, and another for scanning and panning without kidney beans. I can't adjust them to do both well! I really want them to work, because they're the perfect size and weight and feel amazing in my hand. It's just hard to justify them when my M7 8x42 are a 3rd the price and just work.

I think you will like the SFL 8x40. Here is an excerpt from a review on them describing how they have easy eye placement. The review is on the SFL 10x40, but eye placement is even easier on the SFL 8x40 because of the bigger exit pupil. The Swaro CL 8x30 mentioned above has some of the easiest eye placement I have seen in an 8x30 because it has a large eye box, but it is still only an 8x30 with little 3.8 mm exit pupils, and it can't match the SFL 8x40 with 5 mm exit pupils for easy eye placement.

Zeiss SFL Review | 10x30 & 10x40 Best Ultralight Binoculars

When we first considered putting together this Zeiss SFL review, we didn't really know what to expect. Zeiss Optics has made top notch binoculars, spotting

backwoodspursuit.com

"One of the signature features of these Zeiss SFL binoculars is how forgiving the eye box is. By “forgiving” I mean that they give you a fair amount of cushion” concerning the placement of your face/eyes in relation to the eye cups in order to get a full and complete field of view without having those annoying black spots. In this regard, the Zeiss SFL binoculars offer one of the most forgiving eye boxes on the market today. Because of this, the viewing experience is remarkable because you aren’t in a constant fight trying to avoid black spots as you move across hillsides glassing for animals.

Eye box forgiveness is something not often talked about in terms of binocular features, but when a binocular’s eye box is not forgiving, you notice. A perfect example of this is the Swarovski NL Pure. These are some of the most impressive binoculars we’ve ever tested at Backwoods Pursuit, and are the top performers in our review. Personally, I’ve been using them for a couple of years now, and they are fantastic. However, their eye box is not very forgiving, which can be frustrating at times when they move slightly out of the “sweet spot” in the eye box, making you fight black spots in the field of view.”

 

[wildbill85]

Got the 8x40s in early. They are very slightly better at eye placement for me and the image is just a little brighter. The advantages don't outweigh the size and weight savings of the 8x30 for me. The more I use the 30s, the easier they are. At first they were finicky, but after a week of practice they are practically perfect and I'll be keeping them.

My wife LOVED the 8x40... she put them up to her eyes and said "wow!". She had no idea binoculars could be so good! She couldn't seem to adjust the 8x30s to avoid black out. She struggled with panning quite a bit. She doesn't have a need for expensive binoculars though so she's sticking with her 10x42 Monarch 7.

Also, Ross Outdoors sent me a used 8x40 SFL from Amazon. It was obvious they were used. The rubber had minor wear and the armor finish almost looks uneven like it has bubbling under the rubber.. My 8x30s were clean as can be and I could tell I was the first person to touch them.