I was wondering the same thing. This post suggests there may be different coatings, although unclear if just a manufacturing difference or an update Kowa Prominar 8x33 - different lens coatings.
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Kowa Genesis 8x33: Troubador's Review (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Troubador
- Start date
I was wondering the same thing. This post suggests there may be different coatings, although unclear if just a manufacturing difference or an update Kowa Prominar 8x33 - different lens coatings.
I can confirm that the coatings have been changing over time. I got my first Kowa Genesis 8x33 in January 2022. The reflections on the objectives were strong golden and pink, just as shown in the Roger Vine's review: Kowa Genesis 8x33 XD Review. I liked the binoculars a lot, but my eyes were somehow getting tired very quickly, regardless of the diopter adjustments. I concluded that the collimation was less than perfect. The seller was very helpful and I got the replacement within a week. The second pair had the serial number lower than the first one by about 500. This one was perfect, easy on the eyes.
The objective reflections on the second binocular are much less intensive, though. I can see through the lenses much easier than for the first binocular and it is much more difficult to induce intense reflections. The colour of the reflections is different, too, more like deep purple and green (I am attaching an image). This made me scratch my head, why would the newer version have substantially more intense reflections? Fashion, perhaps?
Another difference was the feel of the focuser. The first binocular had very precise focuser, but it was rather stiff. Its replacement has very, very light focuser that is nevertheless very precise, too. No freeplay at all and diopter adjustment remains unaffected by the change of the focusing direction. Because of this light tension of the focuser, I can detect that it is a bit easier to turn it to infinity than to close-focus distances, especially in the close focus range (this is much less obvious in the mid- to large- focusing distances). Apparently, the focuser is spring loaded, to keep the focusing points of the left and right tubes the same when changing the focusing direction. This effect I could not feel with the first binocular, it was either masked by the rather stiff feel of the focuser, or the focusers for the new version are not spring loaded any more. I like this light focuser a lot! It is so easy to re-focus quickly, going from ~2m to infinity. Going back to my pre-HD Trinovid 8x42 now feels somewhat frustrating.
There is also a slight difference in the minimum focus. I could focus the first specimen to 1.5 m, as specified. The second one (with very nice focuser) I can focus down to about 1.6 m. I am not sure if this is due to sample variation or change in the focusing mechanism (probably the former).
Other than this, there did not seem to be any difference between the two binoculars (as compared to my Trinovid 8x42, as I did not have the Kowa's with me at the same time). They are very sharp in the centre, very little CA, wide field of view that give a feeling that it is spilling out of the tubes so to speak, relatively neutral colours (with slight yellow cast for both specimens), easy eye placement and very nice to use (even after 10 months of use, well past the honeymoon period
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stevenberk
Active member
I bought a Kowa Genesis 10x33 and an 8x33 during the past year. Both have stiff and precise focus. When I shine a light into the objectives, the colors of the reflections are not the same, but I find it hard to describe the differences. I like them both.
