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Zen Ray Prime HD (1 Viewer)

FrankD

Well-known member
I am out at the Midwest Birding Symposium for the weekend. While here I decided to check out all of the optics on hand. It appears that Zen Ray is planning on introducing a new model as per the 2012-2013 Zen Ray catalog that I now have in my hand. To quote the catalog:

Zen Ray Prime HD:

Edge to Edge crisp, brilliant image thanks to one of the most sophisticated eyepiece designs on the market. Rugged magnesium chassis with a sleek, conventional hinge body design.

5 group/6 element eyepiece featuring a doublet field flattener lens system
Extra Low Dispersion Glass to minimize color aberration
2nd Generation VividBrite Dielectric Coating
CrystalView Lens Coating to repel oil and water
Magnesium Allow Chassis
65 degree Field of View
Phase corrected Bak4 prism
4 stage Metal Allow Twist up Eyecup
Argon Gas Charged/O-ring Sealed
99.7% Light Transmission Rate at every glass surface/air interface with Fully Broadband Multicoating
Transferrable Lifetime Warranty

8x42

28.5 ounce weight
6.1x5.0 inch dimenstions
6 foot close focus
425 foot field of view
20 mm of eye relief
56-74 mm IPD

10x42

same specs but with a 340 foot field of view

I will try to see if I can take a pic of it in the catalog with my phone and upload it to this post.
 

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They sound great, assuming that the optics are as good as the ED3s. They're using a different enclosure than their ED/ED2/ED3 bins. Do you know if they are made by the same factory as the ED3s? I'm hoping the new enclosure will eliminate their build quality issues for things like play in the focusing.

Edge to edge sharpness in a FOV this wide is enticing. I've never looked through a pair of the Swarovisions, but I bought a salesman's sample Minox 10x58 ED from CameralandNY that has virtually edge to edge sharpness and they provide a gorgeous view. Being sharp all the way to the edges makes the AFOV seem more expansive than it really is.

I'm thinking seriously about ordering a pair of the 8x42. Do you have any info on when they'll be available?

Mark
 
Correction on the price quote....$600-$650 though not sure if that is before or after a coupon code.

David,

Yes but only briefly. Will play with the 7x43 more tomorrow. Two things that stood out to me about the unit I handled though.....zero play in the focusing mechanism with a butter smooth feel. Extremely precise. There was no problem finding perfect focus with this model/configuration.

That was the first issue that stood out. The second is the transparency of the image in the center of the field. It is truly free of color fringing, exceptionally bright and exceptionally sharp. I was also not able to detect any loss in the apparent field of view (compared to the 8x43) in casual use. It should be narrower (59 degrees vs 65) but I just didn't pick up on it. Like I said though it was only a brief time frame that I had to handle them. I will play with them more tomorrow and Saturday when I have the chance. Plus there are plenty of optics manufacturers and retailers here as well. I even met Michael and Diane Porter and had Cameron Cox (Leica) act as one of our guides on a cruise we took this evening.

Mark,

Charles said possibly December but most likely early January.
 
I'll quote myself from another thread on the ED3:

As for the ED3, I'll wait for the ED4, in which the SV eyepiece is ripped off, reverse engineered and sold for $500. Call it what you want, but I'm a little less impressed than I was with some of these "marketing decisions."

Enjoy the counterfeit. I guess we'll see if the Chinese can put Swaro out of business. They put everyone else out of business.

Mark
 
Zing! Pow! A little harsh on folks that are less fortunate, aren't we?!

Plenty of room under the tent Mark for all price points. Folks don't buy a Swarovsky or any other luxury brand item because they are a great value. There are other intangibles far more important to the Swaro customer. Besides I am confident Swaro could drop the MSRP of all their bins below US$1000 tomorrow and they would still make a tidy profit. And FWIW, foreign luxury brands can't open stores fast enough in China.
 
I said several months back that I would expect an alternative to the alphas to be introduced possibly in the fall and certainly before the end of the year. Looks like Zen is finally bringing the "alpha slayer" to market, so since its in the catalog, I guess the cats outta the bag.

It will be interesting to see how it stacks up when it is released. Price point is right where expected. It's a shame Zen put the 8x32's and small bino projects on hold in favor of the ED3 and "alpha slayer" projects. Maybe now we can look forward to some great small bino introductions in the next 6 months.

Tom
 
Zing! Pow! A little harsh on folks that are less fortunate, aren't we?!

Plenty of room under the tent Mark for all price points. Folks don't buy a Swarovsky or any other luxury brand item because they are a great value. There are other intangibles far more important to the Swaro customer. Besides I am confident Swaro could drop the MSRP of all their bins below US$1000 tomorrow and they would still make a tidy profit. And FWIW, foreign luxury brands can't open stores fast enough in China.

Yes, perhaps that was uncalled for. But after Henry discovered the Zen spotting scope eyepieces were knockoffs of Nikon SE (30x) and Swaro (zoom) I got a bit miffed. I'm not interested in knockoffs. Do your own R&D.

Charles PM'd me and said it's based on the ZRS HD. Sounds good. My apologies if I got this all wrong, but I guess we'll see what the new eyepieces are based on.

Mark
 
Mark,

I had posted something in response to your original post but your clarification just now makes my post a bit redundant. Thanks for clarifying your position on this. I, too, am curious as to how this new binocular was designed and look forward to trying it out.

Tom,

I would agree to an extent. In terms of popularity I am sure the full-sized models still outsell the mid-sized ones by a quite a bit. Going with the "sure thing" first and then working through the rest of the configuration seems to make sense. Maybe we will see an 8x32-10x32 combo in either the ED3 or Prime HD lineup in the next year. It would follow the same marketing strategy that the Alphas utilized with their lineups in the past.
 
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It's about 7x43 ed3 or future 7x43 primeHD ?

Yes but only briefly. Will play with the 7x43 more tomorrow. Two things that stood out to me about the unit I handled though.....zero play in the focusing mechanism with a butter smooth feel. Extremely precise. There was no problem finding perfect focus with this model/configuration.
That was the first issue that stood out. The second is the transparency of the image in the center of the field. It is truly free of color fringing, exceptionally bright and exceptionally sharp. I was also not able to detect any loss in the apparent field of view (compared to the 8x43) in casual use. It should be narrower (59 degrees vs 65)
Charles said possibly December but most likely early January.
 
All but the last sentence you posted was in reference to the 7x43 ED3. The last sentence was in reference to the Prime HD.

I do believe that Charles has been asked about the future of a 7x43 Prime HD and that there was an issue with that specific eyepiece design not allowing for a magnification less than 8x. He would probably have to chime in to clarify that issue though as I was too excited about having the 7x43 ED3 in hand to play with. The easiest way I can relate its performance is to imagine having the optical performance of the 7x42 Zeiss FL at 1/4 the price. From what Charles mentioned the selling price of the 7x43 ED3 should be around $400 when all is said and done. How is that for affordable? :)

It is late and I would like to post more about my experiences with optics at the MBS in general. Maybe I will start a new thread on it in the binocular mainforum tomorrow. I met so many folks that I only have experience with here on the internet. I even had the chance to meet the honorable Stephen Ingraham. What a pleasure that was. :)
 
>"I was too excited about having the 7x43 ED3 in hand to play with. The easiest way I can relate its performance is to imagine having the optical performance of the 7x42 Zeiss FL at 1/4 the price"

Hmm. Wait for price and review - 7x36ed2 vs. 7x43 ed3.
 
Price for the 7x43 ED3 will be around $400.

Will post the comparative review when I have time over the next couple of days.
 
It's OK for you lot across the pond to chunter on about how brilliant ZenRay is in both customer services and product design/realisation, but spare a thought for we Brits reading this ....... ZenRay products don't seem to have an outlet over here. Yes, I know I could get them shipped over but that's not the same thing at all! Yes, there may here under a different brand, but with so many identical looking instruments around how do whe know which is which? Besides, we still wouldn't have that nice friendly chap Charles at hand to guide us and listen to us!
 
Sorry John. I had no intentions of offending.

You could always take a nice little holiday to the states for one of our birding festivals. Cape May is a beautiful place and a perfect opportunity to visit. I had been fortunate enough to meet Pete Gamby and Chris Galvin of Opticron over the last few days. If they are any measure of the humor of you Brits then we should all get along rather famously.

;)
 
No offence taken, Frank, we Brits just like to whine now and again! In truth I' not in the market for bins at the moment as I'm happy with my Zeiss 8x42 and have a telephoto lens to buy ...

We had a holiday in Canada last year and intend go again, but I think Mrs C. might draw the line at having to endure a birding festival when on holiday,

John


Sorry John. I had no intentions of offending.

You could always take a nice little holiday to the states for one of our birding festivals. Cape May is a beautiful place and a perfect opportunity to visit. I had been fortunate enough to meet Pete Gamby and Chris Galvin of Opticron over the last few days. If they are any measure of the humor of you Brits then we should all get along rather famously.

;)
 
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Charles PM'd me and said it's based on the ZRS HD. Sounds good.

Mark

Well, this is a big surprise. I was assuming ED3 optics with an edge to edge flat, sharp field. I don't know much about the ZRS HD (Summit), but it is a less expensive binocular. I've read posts in the past saying that elaborate eyepiece designs are expensive, but $600 is a big step up in price for the ZRS HD. I guess I'll have to wait for reviews before deciding whether to order. It's a shame that the vendor building the open bridge ED bins can't produce mechanicals to match the quality of their optics.

Mark
 
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