How did the battle of the binoculars on BBC’s Springwatch go this year? I didn’t see all the episodes but it looks as if appearances of Leica, Swarowski and Nikon were pretty well evenly matched. Zeiss had no presence as far as I could see. The marketing men of the various companies must be analysing the appearances of their brand down to the second.
My whole family think Leica still have the edge in the part of the range we favour (8-10 x 32-42). That’s a good job since we could not bear to buy Swarovski and be seen to be associated with those awful glass trinkets they made their name with.
By the way, ever wondered why Swarovskis favour the necks of so many wildlife guides. Wonder no more - special deals are done. Good marketing, which may help explain why that company came from nowhere to take such a dominant role.
Zeiss seemed to lose the plot for a while. They had such a dominant position for decades - all good binoculars were Zeiss. I suppose like many German companies they rested on their laurels for too long. They can’t have been helped by the cheap East German Zeiss Jena range which muddied the brand until German reunification.
