John,
Just out of curiosity...What's better Japanese glass or German glass?...Or just a personal preference?
They are all good and don't forget about Austrian glass. At this point in technology, the glass and coatings are very good across the board. It can be argued that some glass has better color separation and some glass has better light transmission but they are all so good now. I would say for the money, the Japanese built optics are the best for the buck.
The folks on the bird watching forums are the people to get the best information from regarding optics purity. I frequent a few just to keep up with the optic technology curve.
In the hunting world certain glass and coatings have less influence on what we need as hunters than others. Example would be color separation. In most cases, brighter glass and object line separation might be more important than true color. Etc. etc. So at this point, folks are able to get their hands on some pretty good optics at less than European prices.
The LOW factory in Japan is the most well known sporting optic manufacturer in the world. It is quite amazing to see the list of top end optic companies who use their technology, expertise and manufacturing capability to make their product.
The Japanese have dominated the optic market for decades. Take a look through a set of Prominar Fluorite Kowa's and you will see how good it gets...
These are the King of Western deer hunting Binos.
https://www.optics4birding.com/kowa-high-lander-32x82fluorite-1998.html
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