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Olympus 8x42 Pro (1 Viewer)

Binastro

Well-known member
There seems to be Olympus Pro binoculars in 8x42 and 10x42.
I don't know if these have been discussed here.

They look like others with different names on them.
 
Look like Magellan/EXWPI replacements and have not yet hit the shops. I assume that the last of the stocks of the extremely long lived EXWPIs are now depleted and Olympus needed a replacement.

https://www.olympus-global.com/news/2018/nr00956.html

Their external styling is very similar to their predecessors (shorter hinge), but what lies under the skin is anyones guess.

About £450 pre-order
 
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According to the Olympus U.K. website, the new, for Olympus, Pro has higher specs including ED glass etc.
It seems to be more upmarket than the EXWP-1.

I presume that it is similar to other binoculars from different companies under a different name.
 
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EXPS-I appear to be continuing, just the EXWPIs seem to be replaced.

8x42 : Real Field of view now 7.5deg compared to predecessors 6.3, eye relief the same, but close focus halved to 1.5 m.

Weighs 20g more, more lens elements. 9 elements in 7 groups as opposed to 7 elements in 5 groups.

My EXWP Is were made in Japan - little hope of that with these I assume.

The old EXWP I s had been around so long that I had assumed that Olympus wasn't going to bother replacing them. Still quite pleasant to use considering their age.
 
I enjoy my Olympus Magellan 10x42’s. I got them after reading Allbinos’s excessive praise. Very typical of the past era of nice, upper-middlebrow Japanese binoculars in doing everything carefully and just so, except for width of field of view, and mechanically they’ve proven well made and elegant to use. They’ve currently the only full-sized 10x binoculars I have, and I always feel happy taking them out. I’ll be interested to see what the new Olympuses are like. I also generally like the simplicity of Olympus’s industrial designs, which Nikon could certainly stand to study.
 
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I would call the look pedestrian, it looks almost like the GPO ED 8 and 10X42.
Which Nikon fell short in the industrial design phase?

Andy W.
 
The 10x Magellan has an extra element in the eyepiece compared to the 8x which seems to make it the nicer of the two, a bit like the relationship between the very different (to the Magellan) Nikon EII 8x and 10x, at least to my eyes. I seem to remember it was the 10x that Albino raved over, it feels a very long time ago.
 
In such cases one person’s pedestrian may be another’s elegantly understated—and vice versa, naturally. I also like Shaker interiors, the St. Louis arch, the iPhone 4, Oreo cookies, and Indigo Buntings—anything that seems stripped down to its irreducible innermost essentials, as if it couldn’t look any other way. I have tended to think of the EDG and the non-HG Monarchs as too capriciously swollen, curved, and decorated—on the surface and from the outside in, not from the inside out—to be beautiful in the same way that, say, a Superior E is.
 
I know the EDGs could have been toned down a bit, esp the emblems in gold lettering was a bit much, but optically I agree they were a great glass. The Olympus almost looks like the GPO Ed 8X42s, I am curious about these from an optical standpoint, at a bit over $400, they could be a sleeper. I agree with you on the Superior Es.

Andy W.
 
I just want someone other than B&H to review (in B&H’s case, ‘review’) them! Though I guess people have hardly had a chance yet, since they’re so new. I’m curious.
 
Often higher magnification binoculars have more complex eyepieces because the shorter focal length of the eyepieces allows a wider AFOV.
 
I assumed in this case that as the 8x was a bit marginal for ca and that the sample variation in an early batch was such that Olympus offered a no questions swap for a hand picked ca free example, the extra element 10x was one of the reasons it didn't have the same potential problem. Pure assumption, but whatever the case I still have good examples of both and enjoy using them from time to time.
Anyway it will be interesting to see what the replacements are like, probably technically better, but whether they are as pleasant to use - hopefully?
 
I had a chance to review a sample of the Olympus 8x42 Pro today, including a brief step outside into a rainy landscape.

As has been mentioned, the Pro looks a bit „pedestrian“ - everything about it looks a bit boring, you could also say Olympus has been going for understatement with their new top model (if you review the specs, the Pro features about everything that you can expect for this price category).

The Pro is made in China, and it does at first glance appear as a clone of any of those many Chinese binos hitting the markets today.
The extendable eyecups have one intermediate click-stop. The finish is good, the mechanics - hinge, dpt adjustment, eyecups - all work well.

Picking the Pro up, it rests very comfortably in my hand. Everything feels right - weight, dimensions, balance. The „ease of view“ („Einblickverhalten“) is good, I observe without glasses, and using the intermediate stop on the eyecups, I can easily see the entire field of view.

Observing with the Pro lets me forget the dull exterior and boring design. The field is much wider than in the EXWP (I compared these two side by side). Central sharpness is about the same, but the wider image of the Pro is sharp almost to the edge - a very pleasant surprise, much better than in the EXWP, and better than most similarly priced 8x42s I know. The image is completely flat, rectilinear distortion is low; no significant rolling ball effect. CA correction is perhaps not perfect, but quite good.

Overall, I am positively impressed with the new Olympus. Many more things need to be reviewed (stray-light suppression, sharpness / contrast compared side by side with leading upper middle class models), but so far, the Pro seems a very nice addition to the market. And I had already almost given up on Olympus ...

fwiw
Canip
 
Canip,

Thanks for the observations on these (I was curious about these especially in 8X42), much appreciated and Merry Christmas to you and yours.

Andy W.
 
Yes, thanks so much. The overall experience of using the EXWP-I's is good enough that I have been eager to see Olympus get back in the market with something new and credible, and curious about what they'd be like. I'll look out for a pair to try in person after the holidays!
 
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