Why so dimm?

I recently almost purchased a pair of Steiners military marine binoc's and dicovered how "dim" they were compared to other brands similiar priced.

Is that due to the "autofocus" feature that I don't see in the other high end models?

Someone told me that was the "original" way the Germans made their binoc's but people have turned away from the autofocus feature?... is there a tradeoff in viewing quality with the autofocus feature or are all of the Steiners dim?

the military/marine steiners are not as bright as the higher end steiners.

They are 80 something percent light transmission, which isn't great.

 

compare them to the admiral gold / navigators and it's night and day.

 

the auto focus shouldn't be an issue as rifle scopes are the same way - BUT, i don't know the science behind this.

 

what power/objective did you get? 6x30? 7x50? 8x30?

 

J

My old pair are the 8 X 30's... I almost bought the 10 X 50's.

The autofocus is a nice feature when trying to find game and not knowing what distance you may encounter them at... but even the non-auto seems to be in focus beyond 70 yards are so and obviously can  focus down much tighter if needed..... but I would have bought autofocus if the lenses weren't so dimm.... too bad more high end models don't come in that.

8x30's only have an exit pupil of 3.75mm - the human eye can only digest 7mm of exit pupil (light that reaches the eye)

 

a 7x50 bino has an exit pupil of over 7 - you would notice a big difference between the 7x50 military marines, and the 8x30's you have.

 

they larger the exit pupil, the brighter the image - divide the objective size by the power = exit pupil.

 

BUT glass quality is just as important in some cases, and the military marine is not steiner's best glass/coatings.

 

i hope this helps. Steiner DOES make some good stuff.

 

J