Yes. I have. The Pentax 7x32 ED are much better. They have less CA and the biggest difference is the Pentax has very little fall off in sharpness at the edge, whereas, the fall off is considerable on the Kowa. The Kowas never did it for me because of the soft edges, but the Pentax do. I think the Kowas would be a better binocular with a slightly smaller FOV and sharper edges.
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Pentax Ad 7x32 ED Binocular (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter Sky2goflying
- Start date
Blue72
Well-known member
the sample I have, the Kowa is extremely sharp in the center.
does the Pentax have that same “extreme sharpness“?
also the Kowa are bright and neutral..where does the Pentax land up on the color spectrum?
thanks in advance
The Pentax ED 7x32 are very color neutral with no CA, and they are extremely sharp on-axis. Have you ever looked through a Pentax Papilio 6.5x21? The Papilio is extremely sharp on-axis and on the edges and the Pentax ED 7x32 are the same way except with a bigger FOV, and of course they are brighter with the bigger aperture.
Blue72
Well-known member
thanks for your feedback
How’s the eye relief, which is more comfortable to use with glasses ?
The eye relief on the Pentax ED 7x32 and ED 7x42 is 18.2 mm. So they should be fine with glasses. The Pentax ED 10x42 is a little less at 16.2 mm.
I ordered a pair and exchanged them after the first one had something stuck on the inside of the lens. The second one was fine. I haven't seen any reviews on this binocular, so I guess this is a first light post.
The accessories were minimal. A lightly padded pouch with no belt loop or strap. You will need something else to carry it in. There was a normal neck strap included. It does have lens covers for both lenses. That was it.
The fit and finish were good. It is made of some kind of resin, so it isn't very heavy. My Vortex Viper was superior in build quality, but cost 50% more. No collimation issues.
Eye relief was actually pretty good. I can use it with glasses, which I can't with the Vortex Viper 8x42. Close focus is 3 meters, so this is not the best for that feature. Focus wheel was well placed for me and is smooth. The ergonomics were also good for me.
The view is clear and bright. Sharp out to around 85% and the sweet spot is generous. The FOV is 7.5 degrees. However, you can see most of it as the fall off doesn't happen till the edge. Daytime use showed a nice bright image, good color, and I didn't see much if any CA. I did get some nighttime views, although at times the seeing was not the best. The moon is very clear and you could easily make out features that would be visible at 7x. The stars were pinpoint without spiking. For me a 7x is easier to hold still, so the shaking was minimal.
I like it. It is a solid performer. I can see it as becoming my go to bin in the 7x range. I compared it to the Vortex Viper 8x42 and it is not quite as sharp with a bit less FOV, but holds its own. My Maven B 7x45 is definitely superior, but I expected that. There are not many 7x42's out there. Opticron has one, but it isn't ED. So, if you are looking for one this is probably it.
Specifications:
Magnification
7x
Effective Aperture of
Objective Lens
42mm
Angle of View
7.5°
Field of View (at 1,000m)
131m
Exit Pupil
6.1mm
Eye Relief
18.2mm
Relative Brightness
37.2
Closest focusing range
3.0m - ∞
Height
147.6mm
Width
136mm
Thickness
54mm
Weight
715g
The accessories were minimal. A lightly padded pouch with no belt loop or strap. You will need something else to carry it in. There was a normal neck strap included. It does have lens covers for both lenses. That was it.
The fit and finish were good. It is made of some kind of resin, so it isn't very heavy. My Vortex Viper was superior in build quality, but cost 50% more. No collimation issues.
Eye relief was actually pretty good. I can use it with glasses, which I can't with the Vortex Viper 8x42. Close focus is 3 meters, so this is not the best for that feature. Focus wheel was well placed for me and is smooth. The ergonomics were also good for me.
The view is clear and bright. Sharp out to around 85% and the sweet spot is generous. The FOV is 7.5 degrees. However, you can see most of it as the fall off doesn't happen till the edge. Daytime use showed a nice bright image, good color, and I didn't see much if any CA. I did get some nighttime views, although at times the seeing was not the best. The moon is very clear and you could easily make out features that would be visible at 7x. The stars were pinpoint without spiking. For me a 7x is easier to hold still, so the shaking was minimal.
I like it. It is a solid performer. I can see it as becoming my go to bin in the 7x range. I compared it to the Vortex Viper 8x42 and it is not quite as sharp with a bit less FOV, but holds its own. My Maven B 7x45 is definitely superior, but I expected that. There are not many 7x42's out there. Opticron has one, but it isn't ED. So, if you are looking for one this is probably it.
Specifications:
Magnification
7x
Effective Aperture of
Objective Lens
42mm
Angle of View
7.5°
Field of View (at 1,000m)
131m
Exit Pupil
6.1mm
Eye Relief
18.2mm
Relative Brightness
37.2
Closest focusing range
3.0m - ∞
Height
147.6mm
Width
136mm
Thickness
54mm
Weight
715g
Dennis...have you compared these Pentax to the Verano Opticron? .... I would image that is in the same company or perhaps better, the Traveler as I feel the Verano is better than the Traveler?
The current Opticron 7x42 is mentioned in this discussion, we owned a pair. The new Pentax’s 32mm/42mm 7x binos are about $100 more. I have yet to get a chance to handle the New Pentax but I can say the Opticron Discovery 7x42 are vey bright and very sharp, as sharp as one would expect for a 7x binocular. I remember thinking after a few minutes of handling the Opticron’s, no special ED glass needed with the pair we received.
I had thought once of getting the Opticron's, but decided to try the Pentax. It would be interesting to compare them.
The Maven had better be given what I paid! If I didn't have the Hawke 7x32 ED I might have gone with the Pentax one.
I had the chance to compare the Kowa 6.5x32 to the Hawke marine 7x32, which was mentioned above. Both deserves to be mentioned on above list, since they are comparable by spec and price, and probably in the same class of quality, even though I do not have the Pentax. I compared at the same time with a Zeiss Terra 8x42 ED, which I also mention for comparison, since it is a well known binocular.
I had all 3 in my hands, at the same time (and in addition my Leica Ultravid 8x20). They are very similar in most respects, and the difference between 6.5x to 7x is hard to see. The Hawke 7x is sold for marine, which is what I'm using binoculars for, but the only thing which qualifies the Hawke better for marine then the Kowa is the color: blue instead of dark green. Both are advertised as waterproof and have good shock protection and can be recommended for harsh environments as marine. Both have almost the same size and weight.
The optical quality of all these 3 glasses is in the sum, about the same, where each of them has its special weaknesses or strength:
- The Kowa has by far the widest view, and the best view with my sunglasses, which I almost always wear when sailing, which is the reason I like it most. It is less sharp at the borders, but one needs to consider that the area which is not sharp is not visible at all with the Hawke and and the Zeiss (which is a 8x), so in that respect, it as sharp as the other ones, but you get some additional degrees which are less sharp. I looked at two different pieces of them: the first one had a mechanical defect: the armor was not attached everywhere, and I returned it. The replacement had an optical issue, which the first one did not have: When looking by night at lights or the moon, there are stripes over the full view. I assume there are some large tolerances in the prisma. Since the first one did not have this, I returned this one as well.
- The Hawke might be the sharpest at the edges, and has the lowest CA, but has a smaller field of view, which would be acceptable for me, but the insight is very difficult with my sunglasses. Coatings are good, but not as good as for the Kowa or the Zeiss; in difficult light conditions, light a bird against the bright sky, or lights at night, there is quite a difference. It is the best one when using polarizing filters in your sunglasses (very recommended in environments with snow or water!) . The other two binoculars change somehow the angle, which results in different pictures in the right and left eye, which can be very confusing, while not with this one. I assume, this has to do with different kinds of mirrors inside (metals remove all polarization). I had a problem to get hold of one, since this is currently not sold anymore within EU.
- The Zeiss has apparently the best coatings; it provides the best view, but has the worst CA of these 3 binoculars and is not sharp at the edges. It is very similar to the Kowa when comparing the optical quality. Considering the currently much higher price (even for the smaller Zeiss Terra ED 8x32), I conclude that one pays for the name 'Zeiss'. I bought it 5 years ago, when prices were much lower, and would like to replace it with a 7x (or even 6x) , since 8x is too much on a small sailing boat.
Without doubt, all these 3 are good binoculars. I just need to mention, that compared to my Leica Trinovid 8x32, which I bought for about the same price (since it is a already used, list price is twice as much) , all of them are crap. In case you don't care about the price, you might choose a Trinovid 7x35.
Yes : DCC + PCC + FMC +WRC
When talking about silver coating, mind that it has advantages when using sunglasses with polarization filter, which are very advantageous for marine purposes (they takes away reflections from the water). Since the Hawke is sold for marine purposes, this seems to be a good design choice to me. See my later post about this where I wrote a few words about this.
If you scroll up I have a review.
jafritten
Well-known member
Thank you, Cest. I was aware of your review and I read it with great interest.
I am particularly interested in the 7x32 configuration.
