Zeiss Binocular 12x56

Hi Group,

I now have my Zeiss Victory 12x56s. There was even 15 mins. of clear
night sky yesterday to test them...

Well firstly - they were hard to get. I organised a demo pair which
seemed to go well but then the wrong ones were sent (10x56) then the right
ones arrived ; and they are astounding.

Basically I can't put them down. Handheld is very good (10x would be
slight less shakey, but still shakey ) -so you can't hold them completely
still because even your heartbeat will disturb your hold. But, you can hold
them steady enough to see lots of stars in the Pleiades... many more than
with my Swarovski EL 8.5s.

In fact, these are the first binos that I have tried that make the
Swarovskis look a bit average ! Whereas up to now the ELs seemed much better
than the Pentax & Opticron Binos I had. So my overall impression is very
positive about the Zeiss. (The 10x seemed a little rich and came with much
CA ( purple and green fringes) around daylight objects against blue sky.
Anyway the 12x have a more relaxed view... big view (apparent size is 62 or
63 degrees). Same with the Swarovski ELs.. which would be my choice for
daytime general viewing... but for Astronomy... the Zeiss far out-perform
the ELs. I'm going to do a more serious review and post it on my site - I
really enjoy Binocular Astronomy !

Regards,
Roland Herrera
Bristol UK
http://www.wps.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/astronomy.htm