My "old" 10x50's are the "HG Series" Chinese-made (http://www.binocularschina.com/binoculars/HG.html ). These are quite nice for the price, but are stopped down to give an exit pupil of around 4.2mm (a good cheats way to sharpen the edge view, and making them effectively 10x42's)... so I have been thinking about a nice 10x50 for a long time. (The HG's are now relegated to the side pocket of the car door.)
There are heaps of reviews of the Fuji's out there, and most will tell you they are the best of the best, especially for their price. Allbinos have rated them second only to the Nikon WX (and that is only because they don't have as wide a
First light:
Well, for a start, they aren't stopped down!
In the daytime they are very bright, and sharp out to around 90% of the field; in fact the edge view is quite acceptable. Very little
The colour of the view seems very natural.
I compared them for colour and sharpness against my Habicht 8x30's, which are some of the sharpest binos ever in the centre, and the Fuji's didn't give any ground at all. The Habicht's are amazingly sharp, but only for the centre 1/2 of the
The Fuji's are IF, so they are not ideal for day-time viewing; but their depth of field is such that they require very little change in focus from (say) 100m to infinity. This means you don't get as much of a "3D" view as some (like the Habicht's and my old Carton 11x80's), but it also means you can see most things in sharp focus without adjustment; except that bird in the garden... (The close focus is around 8-9 metres, so you can see that bird as long as it doesn't get too inquisitive, but that requires lots of eyepiece turning. These aren't meant for bird-watching.)
Night-time: I will reserve more comments until I get to a good dark sky site, but initial impressions from my suburban home are very good: stars are sharp almost to the edge, and the contrast is excellent. Views of Eta Carina, M42, the Magellanic clouds, Omega Centauri and 47Tuc are all that I could possibly expect from 50mm binoculars.
They provide the (to me) perfect complement to my 8x30 Habicht, 22x60 Tak's, 15x70 Resolux and 25x100FB's, so I reckon these are keepers, no need for anything else... (BTW, the Habicht's are the only ones I have bought new, and were therefore the most expensive of the set. The Tak's were a wonderful bargain from a friend.)
Hang on a minute: I see someone local is advertising some 3 month old 8.5x42 Swaro EL's at the moment for around 60% of the new price... Sadly I don't have to ask: I can hear my wife now; "NO MORE BINOCULARS!"
Happy viewing all,
Dean