New Kowa BD XD PROMINAR! (1 Viewer)

binomania

Well-known member

• Aug 12, 2013

• #1

Hi from Italy!
I think that this news will please many fans of the brand Kowa. In October, will begin marketing the new BD XD Prominar. More information on

http://www.binomania.it/wordpress/?p=4112

 

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brocknroller

porromaniac

• Aug 12, 2013

• #2

binomania said:

Hi from Italy!
I think that this news will please many fans of the brand Kowa. In October, will begin marketing the new BD XD Prominar. More information on

http://www.binomania.it/wordpress/?p=4112

Click to expand...

Thanks for posting that info., Pier. You always get the "scoop" on new bins.

The focusing knob on the new version looks much better than the smaller, plastic knob on the previous BD. In fact, it reminds me of the Minox HGs.

Good to hear the FOV has improved, the BDs carried a mid-tier price ($600) but they had a entry level FOV (6.3* on the 8x42 model).

I liked the eyecups on the previous version since they had a tapered conical shape rather than flat, straight edge like the new version.

But the most important factor will be how they stack up optically to the old version.

A midsized series will probably follow these.

Brock

 

FrankD

Well-known member

• Aug 12, 2013

• #3

Brock,

The word "Prominar" led me to initially believe these would be the replacements for the Genesis. I could be wrong of course.

 

brocknroller

porromaniac

• Aug 12, 2013

• #4

FrankD said:

Brock,

The word "Prominar" led me to initially believe these would be the replacements for the Genesis. I could be wrong of course.

Click to expand...

Frank,

It is confusing. Kowa took the "BD" from the second tier series and added 'Prominar XD' from the Genesis series. The knob looks like that of the Genesis series except it's not anodized black. All this gives the impression of some sort of hybrid upscale version of the BD series. Which means they will cost more $$$$.

The clue for me was that Peir said they had about 20% more FOV than the previous version. 20% of 7 is 1.4*, which would make the new Genesis 8.4*, which it isn't. 20% of the BD's 6.5* FOV would be 1.3*, which would be 7.8*, closer to the 7.5* posted. But would Kowa jump that far with its second tier when its top tier 8.5x Genesis has less FOV (7*)?

The Genesis distinguished itself by having 8.5x and 10.5x magnifications and 44mm objectives in the full sized series, and these are 8x and 10x42s and in the chart Pier wrote (BD42 (previous series).

They also look too "Plain Jane" to be replacements for the Genesis, but on the other hand, the cost of adding XD flourite lenses to the BD series would make them at least $400-$600 more, around $1,000-$1,200, IOW, in the price range of the Genesis.

So if these aren't the new model Genesis but BDs, how are they are going to sell the Genesis at the same price point. Doesn't make sense unless they also have new models planned for the Genesis series and bring the price of those more in alignment with alphas. The full sized Genesis needs to lose some weight and gain FOV. I've also read a couple reviewers that remarked the Genesis had some astigmatism, and not just at the edges.

Perhaps Pier can clear things up for us. Are these replacements for the BD series or the Genesis?

<B>

 

Last edited: Aug 13, 2013

J

jgraider

Well-known member

• Aug 12, 2013

• #5

I would guess, and it's strictly a guess, that the Genesis line will fade away. They didn't sell enough of them for it to matter anyway, which is a real shame because they are great glass, but I did see the dreaded RB in the pair I had. I'm a Kowa fan, and hope these are an upgrade to the Genesis personally, at around $1000.

 

binomania

Well-known member

• Aug 13, 2013

• #6

Hi to all, i've just received the price for Italy
UVP: Euro 529 /549

It's sound great.

I hope I will receive a pair in September,
Best Regards from Italy
Piergiovanni

 

D

dipped

Well-known member

• Aug 13, 2013

• #7

Look out for them at the Kowa stand at British Birdfair?

 

binomania

Well-known member

• Aug 13, 2013

• #8

dipped said:

Look out for them at the Kowa stand at British Birdfair?

Click to expand...

Hi, i think that these binoculars will arrive in Europe at the end of September..but you could try to look for them there.
I hope to have more information later
Piergiovanni

 

K

Kammerdiner

Well-known member

• Aug 13, 2013

• #9

I rather assumed these would be aimed at the Conquest HD and not replace the Genesis. The price ($700/730 US) seems to confirm that.

Incidentally, alhough the ER is generous (19/18mm), those eyepieces look positively buried in the eyecups. Maybe not the final design? Will they work for eyeglass wearers?? We'll see.

I sometimes wonder if some manufacturers "paint themselves into a corner" when it comes to ER. Ideally eyecups should have plenty of travel to accomodate everyone. Those Kowa eyecups don't look like they will. So someone has to pay the price--and in this case it might be eyeglass wearers.

As I recall, Zen had the opposite problem when they modified the eyecups on the ED3 to incease usable ER for eyeglass wearers. Suddenly non-eyeglass wearers had trouble with blackouts and had to resort to the MOLCET technique (something which I'm afraid I wouldn't be willing to put up with. Maybe the Conquest HD has run into the same problem, for some at least.

Seems like that should be an easy one to get right. An extra 5mm travel would fix most anything.

 

J

jgraider

Well-known member

• Aug 13, 2013

• #10

Just a guess right now. We'll see.

 

brocknroller

porromaniac

• Aug 13, 2013

• #11

binomania said:

Hi to all, i've just received the price for Italy
UVP: Euro 529 /549

It's sound great.

I hope I will receive a pair in September,
Best Regards from Italy
Piergiovanni

Click to expand...

549 Euros converts to 728 USD. So these must be an upgrade to the BD second tier series rather than replacements for the Geneis whose full sized models sell for between 1,300-1,500 USD.

The BD Prominar XD will compete with the Conquest HD, Swaro CL, Meopta HD, and the out-of-date and overpriced Nikon Premier.

Brock

 

FrankD

Well-known member

• Aug 13, 2013

• #12

Hmm, and I wonder how it will compare with the $400-$600 Chinese ED bins.

 

mayoayo

Well-known member

• Aug 13, 2013

• #13

"Prominar" is not an exclusive designation of the Genesis series,in fact each of the ED models of the different Kowa lineages(scopes and bins) are designated "prominar"

They Look great!

 

binomania

Well-known member

• Aug 14, 2013

• #14

mayoayo said:

"Prominar" is not an exclusive designation of the Genesis series,in fact each of the ED models of the different Kowa lineages(scopes and bins) are designated "prominar"

They Look great!

Click to expand...

Yes you are right
Kowa use "Prominar" for their products that using XD lenses
You can find this on the official web site
"....glass with special dispersion properties to reduce chromatic aberration to a further degree. This advanced technology creates a bright image with high contrast and remarkable color reproduction that can not be duplicated by a normal achromatic lens."


In the last year I was amazed by some Chinese binoculars with ED lens. They provide excellent performance at the center of the field. For this reason, I hope that these new Kowa are very good.

 

P

Paul Hackett

Well-known member

• Aug 15, 2013

• #15

dipped said:

Look out for them at the Kowa stand at British Birdfair?

Click to expand...

I can confirm that there will be models to look through at the Birdfair, both 8 x 42 and 10 x 42, what I do not know at this stage is if they are samples or production models, but nevertheless, they can be looked through and observations/conclusions drawn by some of you on here

I do not have the UK prices yet

Regards

Paul

 

J

John Russell

Well-known member

• Aug 17, 2013

• #16

brocknroller said:

I've also read a couple reviewers that remarked the Genesis had some astigmatism, and not just at the edges.

Click to expand...

Brock,

Do you have any links? All Kowa Genesis models I have looked through had excellent centre sharpness and all reviews I have seen were very positive.

Astigmatism is an aberration which occurs only towards the field edges unless of course the lens elements are seriously misaligned. However, I think Kowa's QC is pretty good. Jan Meijerink's tests of their scopes showed better consistency than Zeiss.

John

 

brocknroller

porromaniac

• Aug 20, 2013

• #17

John Russell said:

Brock,

Do you have any links? All Kowa Genesis models I have looked through had excellent centre sharpness and all reviews I have seen were very positive.

Astigmatism is an aberration which occurs only towards the field edges unless of course the lens elements are seriously misaligned. However, I think Kowa's QC is pretty good. Jan Meijerink's tests of their scopes showed better consistency than Zeiss.

John

Click to expand...

John,

I don't think the reviewer was talking about too far off axis, because he measured the resolution of the 8.5x model with a resolution chart and found that one axis on the hatch marks (vertical or horizontal) was blurry and the other one was sharp down to the lowest pair he could resolve. I'll have to dig that review out of my bin bookmarks.

The other mention of astigmatism in the 8.5x Genesis was on allbinos:

http://www.allbinos.com/156-binoculars_review-Kowa_Genesis_8.5x44.html

"Astigmatism: A bit better than average. In this equipment class could have been lower."

OTOH, Arek rated the astigmatism in the midsized model as "LOW" so it seems limited to the 8.5x model.

<B>

 

T

typo

Well-known member

• Aug 20, 2013

• #18

I still hold the centre performance of a Genesis 8.5x44 as the sharpest I've ever tried. Usually I mean resolution, which undoubtedly was excellent, but in this case much of the credit most likely goes to stray light control. It made the ELSV and FLs look anaemic.

I did get to try the new Kowa BD at BirdFair and I'm sorry to say I found it a big disappointment. Very critical on the eye positioning to avoid CA, even in the centre. Not particularly sharp and strong astigmatism in the outer 25%. At a likely £500ish price from brand like Kowa I was expected better.

There was a strong hint from a Japanese guy on the stand that there is something in the pipeline for the future which will address the weight and other criticisms of the Genesis.

David