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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Nikon 10x42 monarch HG (1 Viewer)

arran

arran

Well-known member
As an owner of the zeiss SF 10x42 for the last 15 months ,I am extremely happy with the bin , especially sharpness , field of view and general handling.Grey version , no issues whatsoever.
As I was attracted to the specs of the monarch , I had an appointment with a local optics shop to test the monarch hg, in cloudy almost evening conditions.
General impression : high quality finishing , made in Japan , light weight bin.
What surprised me , how sharp the image was , combined with huge FOV gave me a wow feeling.
My wife who is wearing glasses and uses a Swarovski SV 10x42, had a very positive impression as well.
The image had a rather warm cast , CA was only visible in the edge of the image.
Short distance viewing was very relaxed and precise.Great depth of field
The focus drive was smoooth and pleasant, diopter tuning on the right ocular is precise!
I could quickly compare with the zeiss SF, and the zeiss was brighter and a bit more crispy
Reflections against sun ,could not be cheques
For the money 759€ cheapest price found in Belgium, this is a great product for sure
 
arran said:
As an owner of the zeiss SF 10x42 for the last 15 months ,I am extremely happy with the bin , especially sharpness , field of view and general handling.Grey version , no issues whatsoever.
As I was attracted to the specs of the monarch , I had an appointment with a local optics shop to test the monarch hg, in cloudy almost evening conditions.
General impression : high quality finishing , made in Japan , light weight bin.
What surprised me , how sharp the image was , combined with huge FOV gave me a wow feeling.
My wife who is wearing glasses and uses a Swarovski SV 10x42, had a very positive impression as well.
The image had a rather warm cast , CA was only visible in the edge of the image.
Short distance viewing was very relaxed and precise.Great depth of field
The focus drive was smoooth and pleasant, diopter tuning on the right ocular is precise!
I could quickly compare with the zeiss SF, and the zeiss was brighter and a bit more crispy
Reflections against sun ,could not be cheques
For the money 759€ cheapest price found in Belgium, this is a great product for sure
Click to expand...

Thank you for this brief assessment - I concur 100%.
 
arran said:
As an owner of the zeiss SF 10x42 for the last 15 months ,I am extremely happy with the bin , especially sharpness , field of view and general handling.Grey version , no issues whatsoever.
As I was attracted to the specs of the monarch , I had an appointment with a local optics shop to test the monarch hg, in cloudy almost evening conditions.
General impression : high quality finishing , made in Japan , light weight bin.
What surprised me , how sharp the image was , combined with huge FOV gave me a wow feeling.
My wife who is wearing glasses and uses a Swarovski SV 10x42, had a very positive impression as well.
The image had a rather warm cast , CA was only visible in the edge of the image.
Short distance viewing was very relaxed and precise.Great depth of field
The focus drive was smoooth and pleasant, diopter tuning on the right ocular is precise!
I could quickly compare with the zeiss SF, and the zeiss was brighter and a bit more crispy
Reflections against sun ,could not be cheques
For the money 759€ cheapest price found in Belgium, this is a great product for sure
Click to expand...

Nikon got it right!
 

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ZZZZZZ ...... Are you located in Canada? If so, has the new Monarch HG made it to this side of the pond or did you get it from a European dealer? Nikon USA and B & H Photo are not showing them. I believe a vendor posted that they will be introduced to the US at the Shot Show (I think in January).

The model has received some mixed reviews so far so I look forward to reading what you think about it.
 
BruceH said:
ZZZZZZ ...... Are you located in Canada? If so, has the new Monarch HG made it to this side of the pond or did you get it from a European dealer? Nikon USA and B & H Photo are not showing them. I believe a vendor posted that they will be introduced to the US at the Shot Show (I think in January).

The model has received some mixed reviews so far so I look forward to reading what you think about it.
Click to expand...

UK

It's a very nice binocular ... Nikon's version of the SLC!
 
Thanks Z6. If the Nikon HG is compares to the Swaro SLC, then that is saying a lot. In my book, the SLC and the Zeiss HT are about as good as you can get in a classic design.
 
BruceH said:
Thanks Z6. If the Nikon HG is compares to the Swaro SLC, then that is saying a lot. In my book, the SLC and the Zeiss HT are about as good as you can get in a classic design.
Click to expand...

The HG is a flat field design upper 2nd tier binocular.

It's currently the only flat field binocular available in that tier.
 
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Even though the new HG is a flat field design, some of the posts indicated the edges were not any sharper than some of the good classic models. Have you had a chance to check that out yet?
 
zzzzzz said:
The HG is a flat field design upper 2nd tier binocular.

It's currently the only flat field binocular available in that tier.
Click to expand...

Reviews by trusted individuals here indicate the field is not flat. Not that I would care much either way - something like my Conquest HD seems to be sharp close enough to the edge that it would qualify as ''nearly'' sharp-to-the-edge, with the outermost portion more novelty that useful in fields that are truly ''flat.''. True super sweetspot size is much more important for me.
 
Last edited:
BruceH said:
Even though the new HG is a flat field design, some of the posts indicated the edges were not any sharper than some of the good classic models. Have you had a chance to check that out yet?
Click to expand...

It is a flat field design.

Light transmission appears equal to the SV 32 90% Not as bright as my SV 50 92%

Flare control better than SV 32.

Chromatic aberration is good. Not as good as the SV.

Color is neutral and well saturated.

No rolling ball while panning, globing or blackouts detected.

Back to your question I'd say sharpness is comparable to the SF. See excerpt from greatestbinocular.com review below.

Zeiss Victory SF 8x42:

The SF´s main character trait is the widest field of view in its class. Sharpness is good over about 75% of the field which is right inbetween classic designs (HT, SLC, Ultravid) which look reasonably sharp at about 50% of the field and the Swarovision which yields a 100% sharp field.

This was apparent while observing a flock of geese on the water and switching back and forth with the SV 32.
 
I have not had the opportunity to use an HG yet but I have lots of experience with Nikons 8x32 and 10x32 LX/Ls, and the Nikon 10x32EDGII along with all three of the Nikon SE Porro Prism binoculars. They all are sharp almost to the edge of the view and have huge "sweet spots." I still own all of them.

Nikon has been making "flat field" binoculars that are sharp almost to the edge of the view while giving them huge sweet spots for many years. None of the binoculars that I listed above have any problems with "Rolling Ball" like Nikon's 8x42 and 10x42 LX/Ls did.

I expect that the new HGs will be very similar to the 32mm LX/Ls and EDGs and SEs in their view.

Bob


PS: Nikon's Field Flattener Lens System as explained in their website: "Field Flattener Lens System: This expert lens design minimizes field curvature, producing images that are as sharp in the peripheral areas as they are in the center."

Note that it "minimizes" field curvature; it does not get rid of it. And it discusses sharpness out to the "peripheral" areas and not to the "very edge" of the view.
 
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james holdsworth said:
Reviews by trusted individuals here indicate the field is not flat. Not that I would care much either way - something like my Conquest HD seems to be sharp close enough to the edge that it would qualify as ''nearly'' sharp-to-the-edge, with the outermost portion more novelty that useful in fields that are truly ''flat.''. True super sweetspot size is much more important for me.
Click to expand...

Excellent reason to test them for yourself ... this is what I do!

The Noctivid reviews are all over the place.
 
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Yesterday I had the occasion to review the monarch HG again against swaro El and zeiss sf at a local Optics dealer
Cloudy conditions , one hour your before sunset
I was again surprised by this bin.Now , it seemed that the subjective lighttransmission is at least at same level as the other alphas.Contrast and sharpness impression was top
CA at enge was les than with zeiss sf
Not as warm cast as sf and more neutral in tone
To compare with swaro slc?
Well the HG is lighter , brighter , better short focus, better FOV , superior build quality and overall better sharpness impression
 
Thanks for the review. I'll put the HG on my short list (ongoing quest for 10x).
I guess it won't be available until the new year.
 
arran said:
Yesterday I had the occasion to review the monarch HG again against swaro El and zeiss sf at a local Optics dealer
Cloudy conditions , one hour your before sunset
I was again surprised by this bin.Now , it seemed that the subjective lighttransmission is at least at same level as the other alphas.Contrast and sharpness impression was top
CA at enge was les than with zeiss sf
Not as warm cast as sf and more neutral in tone
To compare with swaro slc?
Well the HG is lighter , brighter , better short focus, better FOV , superior build quality and overall better sharpness impression
Click to expand...

seems impressive, though it's not a cheap bin,
what about eye relief and blackouts?
And the most important thing, glare and flare?
(Zzzz wrote: "Flare handling better than SV32", but most bins probably are)
 
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Piazzi Smyth field flattener lens 1873.
Abbe negative element for microscope eyepieces 1878.
Konig, Kohler 120 deg eyepieces Smyth lens 1944. Periscopes.
Tronnier , Schneider 105mm binoculars 110 deg Smyth lens. 1943 request.

These seem to be accurate dates.
 
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