| This waterproof roof prism Swift Ultra weighs only 24 ounces, surprisingly light for a full-size roof prism binocular. It is armored in two-tone dual density grey rubber. The easy-to-hold armor has embossed dimples on its gripping surfaces for a positive hold in wet weather. Thumb grooves molded into the bottom of the barrels position the hands for easy access to the smooth-acting ribbed focusing knob. Its 5.75" length is easy to handle, and its light weight won’t weigh you down during all-day birding. This is an easy-to-carry all-day/all-weather birding bino. We invariably measure a close focus of a very good 4’ (although Swift specifies 6’), making it a good choice for butterflies, as well as close-in warbler, woodland, and backyard feeder birding. Even at a 6’ close focus, its 8x magnification effectively puts you within a bigger than life size 9" of the bird or butterfly. Phase-coated prisms and the high resolution and brightness of its fully-multicoated 42mm optics make it equally at home when examining the details and colors of distant birds in open field, lake, and shore-side birding. It is a surprisingly good performer across a wide range of observing conditions, from near to far, from bright sunlight to dim twilight. Curvature of field and barrel distortion are very modest, and astigmatism is quite low. The result is images that stay usably sharp across most of the field. The sharp images combine with good color rendition and low chromatic aberration for a view that is easy on the eyes during extended observing sessions. Overall, this is an optically and mechanically very good binocular at a very reasonable price. It’s easy on the eyes, easy in the hands, and easy on the budget. Features of this binocular . . . Roof prism optics. H-body roof prism design with internal center focus. Top-quality BaK-4 prisms for high light transmission. Large aperture fully multicoated optics. Large 42mm objective lenses gather substantial amounts of light for bright images in twilight or overcast conditions. The twilight factor is 18.33, well above the 17 recommended as a minimum for a low light binocular. Its multilayer antireflection coatings have very good light transmission for minimum light loss in dim conditions. Phase coated optics. Phase-correcting roof prism coatings provide very high contrast and resolution. This is particularly visible when looking sunwards, where more color and detail are clearly visible in the shadowed areas of backlit or silhouetted birds. Waterproof. O-ring sealed to be waterproof in all temperature and climate extremes. Designed to operate reliably in rainforests and deserts alike. Armor. Dual-density, dual-color grey rubber armor (dark grey dimpled gripping surfaces with softer-textured medium grey inserts at the front and rear of the barrels) absorbs noise and shock and provides a good grip when wet. Twist-up eyecups. The rubber-rimmed eyecups twist counterclockwise to extend and clockwise to retract. There are stops at four heights to let you match the amount of eye relief to your eyesight. Good eye relief. 14mm of usable eye relief allows virtually unvignetted views for those who must wear eyeglasses while observing due to severe astigmatism. Very close focusing. Little more than one and a half turns of the very smooth and comfortably-large ribbed focus knob moves from close focus out to the horizon. Swift specifies 6’ as the close focus, but we usually measure it at 4’ in our tests. Not everyone may be able to achieve this close a focus however, so we’ll stick to quoting Swift’s more conservative 6’ focus in our specifications. Rotary diopter correction. A variable diopter ring with clickstops on the right eyepiece allows you to match the binocular optics to your individual eyesight for a sharp image. Wide neck strap. The comfortable wide woven neck strap makes the lightweight binocular even less of a burden to carry during all-day birding sessions. Tripod adaptable. A standard 1/4"-20 thread socket for attaching an optional tripod adapter is located at the front end of the binocular’s center hinge. A thread-in plastic plate covers the tripod socket when not in use. Supplied accessories. A soft case with a belt loop and a removable shoulder strap is standard. Also included are snap-in objective lens covers and an eyepiece rainguard.
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