Binoculars review

Swarovski SLC New 10x42 WB

The Swarovski company doesn’t have to be introduced, I suppose. When it comes to binoculars and spotting scopes production the company has belonged to the world elite for several dozen years. Its products are aimed mainly at hunters but they are also very useful to astronomers, ornithologists and ordinary tourists. The SLC series, tested here, consists of roof-prism, three-element objective lens binoculars (with a diameter of 42 mm in this case). The binoculars are equipped with at least four-element eyepieces. All the optical elements are covered by high quality multi-layer anti-reflection coatings (SWAROTOP/SWARDOUR on lenses and SWAROBRIGHT on prisms). According to the manufacturer, these coatings make the light losses on any air-to-glass surface lower than 0.2%. Additionally, the prisms are coated with the so-called P layers, which eliminate effects of light reflection and interference at the edges of a roof prism.

Mechanically, the binoculars are made of anti-allergic and odourless material, comfortable to hold. They feature adjustable eyecups which can be twisted up and down. These binoculars come with central focusing. The individual focusing of the right eyepiece was solved in an original way – you have an additional knob, situated on the central focus wheel.

The binoculars are nitrogen-filled and waterproof down to a depth of four meters. They are equipped with a tripod exit and a wide range of additional accessories is available. You can complement the set by buying profiled eyecups, a very stable and solid tripod adapter (included in box in the case of a 15x56 model) and a so-called “booster” - an eyepiece cap that increases the binoculars’ magnifications two times.

In 2005, Swarovski launched a new SLC series, slightly made over. Binoculars got a better strap, a nicer and a bit more comfortable housing and, what’s the most important thing, they got physically lighter by even 50 grams. Unfortunately their price is also “new” so a several hundred PLN more than previously.

In the SLC series Swarovski offers the following models: 8x30, 7x42, 10x42, 7x50, 8x50, 10x50, 8x56 and 15x56.

Manufacturer:
Swarovski
web site

Distribution / Sales:
Hubertus Pro Hunting
web site
e-mail
ul. Ptasia 4a
00-138 Warszawa

Results of the review

Real front lens diameter	Left:   42.48+/- 0.05mm Right:  42.47+/- 0.05mm	8/8.0
Real magnification	10+/- 0.15x	3/3.0
Transmission	92+/- 3%	13.5/15.0
Chromatic aberration	Slight.	7.5/10.0
Astigmatism	Almost perfectly corrected.	9.4/10.0
Distortion	The distance of the first curved line from the field centre compared to the field of view radius: 45% +\- 5%	5/10.0
Coma	Appears very far from the centre of FOV but is significant at the very edge.	7.6/10.0
Blurring at the edge of the FOV	The blur appears in the distance of 89% +\- 4% from the field of view centre.	8/10.0
Darkening at the edge the FOV	Imperceptible.	4.8/5.0
Whiteness of the image	Perfect.	4.9/5.0
Collimation	Exemplary.	5/5.0
Internal reflections	Left: Right: Minimal.	4.4/5.0
Housing	Very solid, very convenient to hold. A bit heavy. Eyecups set in detented stops can collapse under a very high pressure.	7.7/8.0
Focusing	Exemplary. Two screws in one so you can focus with just one finger. The full turn takes 360 degrees.	5/5.0
Tripod	There is an exit for a brand-name tripod foot.	2/3.0
Interpupilary distance	from 56 to 76mm	5/6.0
Closest focusing distance	3.30 m.	1/2.0
Eyepieces FOV	Apparent field of view of 61.8 degrees.	7/10.0
Field of view	Measured by us amounted to 6.18 +\- 0.04 degrees and it was slightly narrower than in the specifications.	6/8.0
Quality of the interior of the barrels	Inner tube gray and matt. Bottom gray and slightly less matt. Very clean.	4.7/5.0
Vignetting	Left: Right: No. OL: 0.0%, OR: 0.0%.	8/8.0
Prisms quality	High quality BaK-4.	8/8.0
Antireflection coatings	Green-yellow on objectives and prisms.Green-yellow-pink on eyepieces. Very low intensity.	5/5.0
Warranty [years]	30 years	5/6.0
Final result	2nd place in the overall ranking of 10x42 binoculars test.	145.5/170 85.6%
Econo result	28th place in the econo ranking of 10x42 binoculars test.	0.8pkt.

 

Summary

Pros:

• excellent quality of housing, very convenient to hold and to look through,
• very good transmission,
• slight chromatic aberration,
• practically zero astigmatism level,
• low coma,
• excellent whiteness reproduction,
• imperceptible light fall-off at the edge of the field,
• perfectly circular exit pupils on almost black background,
• sharp image almost to the edge of the field,
• high quality prisms and coatings,
• wide maximum gauge of the eyepieces,
• good blackening inside the binoculars,
• long warranty period.

Cons:

• distortion could have been lower,
• minimal focus distance amounts to 3.3 meters.

Here we have another practically flawless binoculars, which won a very high, because second place, in our 10x42 binoculars test. What’s interesting, it fared better than the flag EL 10x42 Swarovski model, which is physically lighter, has shorter minimal focus distance but is also over 200 USD more expensive. It proves that the SLC series’ renown is fully deserved and a forced slimming down of binoculars doesn’t always do you good.

The results of the Swarovski SLC New 10x42 are difficult to flaw. Even the high distortion level was added a bit by force to the “cons” list - the binoculars’ result was, in fact, medium (5 points out of 10). The minimum focus result is a bigger slip-up – it would be perhaps accepted if we dealt with a Porro binoculars but in the case of an expensive roof-prism instrument it can’t be deemed satisfactory. In you don’t see a problem with these 3.3 meters, though, you can buy the SLC model and never even look at the EL series.

The Allbinos.com/Optyczne.pl editorial team decided to award this set of binoculars the “The Choice of the Allbinos.com/Optyczne.pl Editorial Team” distinction for winning the 2nd place in the 10x42 binoculars ranking.