Small Swarovski 8x30.

[pluton]

Hello,
Today I was looking at a store Swarovski Habicht 8x30 prisms, with a look quite old for the current standards, was a biro porroprism, at his side was a similar model, also Swarovski, but it was 10X40 ¿? I remember ... the owner of the store very kindly unpacked me the small 8x30 and invited me to try them from the outside, they were 5 minutes of observation, although maybe they were less ... all I could say is that possibly the image was one of the best that I have had in all my hobby, I had a contrast that seemed "unreal", a sharpness in the whole amazing, weighed little and I found it quite manageable, ergonomic, well the truth is that I'm used to use binoculars with Porroprism system, and I made a personal reflection, is it possible that this little Swarovski is brighter than my "generic" 10X50 ??? For me that was the feeling, very real!
Has anyone been able to use or test these 8x30 under the stars?
I would be very interested in knowing your experience ..
Thank you
 Paul

[Stargazer McCabe]

Paul

In my collection of Binoculars I have a pair of Swarovski 8x32 EL. I didn’t buy them for Stargazing. But for wide field viewing they do a really good job. They offer 8* FoV. They are lightweight and from time to time they are a joy to use.

My 8x42 pair are obviously a bit brighter. But they’re fractionally bigger and heavier. 

If I was buying solely for Stargazing I’d probably not go for the 8x32. But for a variety of uses and having other pairs in my collection, I’d not sell them...

Not sure I’ve answered your question. But I love them for wide field use on the brighter targets...

[pluton]

Thank you very much for your kind reply.

I have others pairs for more exclusively astronomy use, 15X70/25X70/10x50...but the Swaro. 8x30 offered me a "aesthetic" image for day impressive!! but for night ?

Paul

[mark81]

I had a pair of generic 20x50's for years - when I say generic I mean 'cheap' a brand that nobody has heard of. If you compared them to generic pair made today with those old ones you would notice a difference because of the better optics - but compare them to a 'real' decent pair and the difference can be amazing.  I recently had my hands on a pair of Nikon Prostaff 10x42's.  Although the mag is half of my generics I could see so much more. 

[Stargazer McCabe]

16 minutes ago, pluton said:

Thank you very much for your kind reply.

I have others pairs for more exclusively astronomy use, 15X70/25X70/10x50...but the Swaro. 8x30 offered me a "aesthetic" image for day impressive!! but for night ?

Paul

For night, when they are the binoculars I have selected, my 8x32 EL work wonderfully and I enjoy using them. 

I accept they won’t show what others will. But I really enjoy using them

[plyscope]

The Habicht 8x30 is a classic binocular made to very high standards. It shows beautiful sharp stars and is a pleasure to use for astronomy. It is limited by its aperture and I much prefer a good 10x50. I mostly use the Habicht in the daytime. 

[Doc]

I have the 10x50 Swarovski EL bins and I must say even though they are mainly used for birding they really do excell at astronomy. I once took them to Mallorca and all I can say is WOW, observing around the villa pool in pitch darkness was fantastic, it blew my socks off.

[John]

I have an old pair of Habicht 8x30's by Swarovski that I picked up from a charity shop for under £10 !

The bodywork is worn and has some bumps here and there but the optics are very clean and bright. They are lightweight and excellent birding binoculars. Not shabby on the stars either for their aperture.

I do quite well from charity shops for binoculars - a couple of years ago I found a decent pair of 8x30 Zeiss Jenoptem's for a fiver and about 6 months ago a very clean pair of the USSR Bnu5 8x30's for just £3.99 !!!!. All have great optics - very sharp and surprisingly bright and contrasty even in lowish light, considering their 30mm apertures.

 

 

[pluton]

I think that the quality of the optics is a great factor!!

I have a "generic" 10x50 binocular, but the edges are very poor, and lack of contrast, the visual image is very milky...

Thanks

Paul

[plyscope]

There is a good review with a lot of information on the history of the Habicht 8x30 here.

http://www.greatestbinoculars.com/allpages/reviews/swarovski/swarohabicht8x30w/swarohabicht8x30w.html

[pluton]

Thank you very much.

[davhei]

I have used a pair of Swaro 8.5x42 EL for stargazing (and general daytime use) for more than a year and did a bit of comparing with my older Pentax PCF WP II 10x50's. I found the brightness to be roughly equal between the two when viewing DSOs which I was quite pleased with given a 30% smaller aperture area compared to the 50's. The big difference was in the field of view, the sharpness all the way to the edge and the calm and stable image offered by the lower mag and lighter weight of the 42's. A great visual experience using the swaros but more for the image quality than the ability to go deep (compared to the 10x50).

I did briefly try a pair of swaro 10x50 ELs that I took home from the store but ultimately swapped for the 8.5x42s. Tried them at dusk to view the treeline and for observing the moon and was astonished by the brightness of them. Unfortunately I didn't use them in darkness for proper stargazing so I can't say how they would compare, although my guess is they would be a significant step up in the ability to view DSOs. What put me off was the shaky image. Although not shakier than your usual 10x50s I just found that I valued the calmer and wider FOV of the 8.5x42s more and realised that as allround binos I would probably use the smaller and less heavy 42s more often.

I do wish I had a chance to compare the larger swaros to my 42s during a proper stargazing session, must admit I am quite curious to see the difference.

[PeterW]

Those Habicht have a strong following with birders. Which charity shops should I be hanging around to find bins like those?? I have recently added a Nikon 8x30E for a very sharp, day lightweight (wide angle) daytime use. I have other kit for nighttime use.

Peter