Bynolyt Albatross SHR ED 8x32 (1 Viewer)

Hi to all..

I'm willing to share some impressions on my new purchase;
The Bynolyt Albatross SHR ED 8x32.

Well, to start, I'm just an enthousiastic birder who has always had a certain interest in optics, so that means I'm not a specialist.
What I see and what I write can be open to interpretation, because we all have different views, opinions and needs..
I'm gonna keep it simple and maybe I'll do some side by side comparisons later with 2 other 8x32's wich I have here with me too.

In the last years, I regularly bought optics. Some were serieus purchases,
Others were considered as backup or just out of interest.
I think it's nice to have the options of using a certain model for certain circumstances. It's not comfortable to make a 15-20km walk with a 10x56 weighing 1.2kg around my neck. But when searching for Nighjar's, that's the one I want to take with me..
Last time I sold a few, my car bin inclusive wich was an Opticron Natura BGA 8x42. They actually were very nice, very sharp with good contrast but they have a very narrow field of view (110m at 1000m) so I sold them to somebody who needed a nice pair for a good price (and they definitely are).

So it was time to buy something new and I was in for a decent (both in quality as price) 8x32.
I had in mind: Zeiss's Terra ED, Kowa XD, Meopta Meopro HD, Opticron Countryman, Natura ED and Traveller ED and 2 others wich are at a very low price at the moment: Minox HG and Bynolyt Albatross ED.
At the local optics store I had the chance to test 3 of them: Meopro HD, Albatross ED and Traveller ED.
The Opticron was very nice! with vivid colours and a wide field of view,
but had a little astigmatism in the outer edge on the left side.
I couldn't get a sharp focus with the Meopta so they were out..
Strange, cause I expected them to be very good.

The Bynolyt was the most heavy of the 3, but felt very well balanced when holding them to the eye. They felt more firm than the Opticron and seemed to have the better buildquality, they're build like a tank. Fit and finish were also of a very good quality so to me, that was the decisive factor to go with
the Albatross ED.

Bynolyt.. It seems that there isn't much info on this forum about this Dutch brand, Although it's a very well known brand back were I live. I believe (but I'm not sure) that their lower end binoculars are Chinese made? And their higher models Japanese. The Albatross serie is made in Japan. They told me that their after sales service is very good and reparations are done by the same company (Technolyt) as Meopta..
The Albatross is the top of Bynolyt's line and is designed to compete with optics like Conquest HD and Meostar in the upper mid class.
They are discontinued and no longer available so I guess I must have got one of the last examples, mine being a demo unit in a mint condition for a very good price.

The Albatross.. Are indeed very nice, both in optics as in build quality.
As I mentioned before they are quiet big and heavy for a 32mm but have a nice balance when viewing. When I hold them, I hold them automatically close to the objectives wich is in a different way as how I hold my Leicas. This seems to be the best way to hold them because the neckstrap is attached reasonably low down both barrels, this is no problem because of the excellent balance when holding them like that, I think they're designed to do so.
They have (for a 32mm) very big/wide oculars and eyecups. When looking down while carrying around the neck it's like looking at 42mm optics wich is in my opinion comfortable. The twist-up eyecups have 3 stops : fully down - 1 in between stop - fully up. I don't wear glasses and can use them, while resting them to the eyebrows, both in the middle stop and fully down.
The focus works very smooth and nice. I can focus with just one finger without any problem, there is no slop in the focus but it is fast! Maybe a little to fast.. It takes 0.8-0.9 turns from close to infinity counter clockwise! Combine this with a very close focus (I can focus on my feet easily), and you probably understand. Because of this, you easily overshoot when focussing,
but I think this is something to get used to.
Diopter adjustment is under the right eyecup and while turning it, it feels like it should have got a little more resistant, but as long it doesn't moves, I'm ok with it.
The hinge is better in this respect. Force is needed to make it move, but once it moves, it moves smooth and easily and when the adjustment is done, it stiffens up again. I doubt this hinge will ever move out of its own.

So, the optics.. They have ED lenses, are fully multi coated with Bynolyt's 60-layer of SHR coating and the prisms are Phase and Plasma coated.
That 'sounds' great. And they are.
They are sharp, bright and easy on the eyes.
I don't know how wide the field of view is but it's wide enough, If I would make an estimation, I would say that it is comparable with my Leica Trinovid non-HD 8x42. But havn't compared yet.
And like with my Trinovid, The Albatross has (with the eyecups fully down)
an nice immersive view, it's like using a magnifier in front of your eyes.
The sweetspot is big enough and the fall off towards the edges is gradual and refocusable, even into the most outer edges of the field of view.
CA is very well corrected and as good as invisible in the sweetspot, out of the sweetspot.. I didn't checked for it yet.
The colour rendition when looking through them leans to yellow-green and this seems to have an effect on the contrast. It makes the overall view look a little monotone and a little less 'sparkling', especially when comparing to my Trinovid HD 8x32.. Shouldn't be a dealbreaker...

Conclusion so far.. For the price I paid, these are Really nice and definitely an overall performer, build very sturdy.
Looking forward to test them some more and maybe I'll do a little side by side comparison with the Trini HD and Viper HD.
I wonder about the differences...

Hopefully my English was ok..

Grtz

Pictures

Hi Nivado,

Nice review.

This binocular looks to be manufactured by Kamakura.

The same design is on their site and looks to be one of their top binoculars.

Take a look at the 8x32 MR3 in the second to last row:

http://kamakura.se/produkter.php

That is indeed the exactly same model.
I knew Kamakura produces binoculairs for several different brands but didn’t know they had their own line.
They must be good since I only read positive things about them.
I assume that although being the same model, the optics propably differ from each other.

Grtz

The Kamakura’s MR3 next to them, both in 10x25 and 8x21 seem to be the same as the Albatros 10x25 and 8x21 too, even as the Bresser Montana’s 25mm, wich also look very similar..

Gilmore Girl said:

Hi Nivado,

Nice review.

This binocular looks to be manufactured by Kamakura.

The same design is on their site and looks to be one of their top binoculars.

Take a look at the 8x32 MR3 in the second to last row:

http://kamakura.se/produkter.php

Click to expand...

On that page, we can probably see about a dozen ''manufacturers'' binos, rebranded of course.

Considering Kamakura's obvious expertise, and the out-right quality of their top models, maybe we should be considering them ''alpha''? I just wonder why they don't market / sell their own stuff in NA.

Nivado said:

That is indeed the exactly same model.
I knew Kamakura produces binoculairs for several different brands but didn’t know they had their own line.
They must be good since I only read positive things about them.
I assume that although being the same model, the optics propably differ from each other.

Grtz

Click to expand...

yes, the optics in your Bynolyt may be a little tweaked. Maybe the direct Kamakura offering doesn't have ED glass (?)

james holdsworth said:

On that page, we can probably see about a dozen ''manufacturers'' binos, rebranded of course.

Considering Kamakura's obvious expertise, and the out-right quality of their top models, maybe we should be considering them ''alpha''? I just wonder why they don't market / sell their own stuff in NA.

Click to expand...

They might do well especially if they mention in their marketing something like 'we made all those other binoculars you like'

Gilmore Girl said:

They might do well especially if they mention in their marketing something like 'we made all those other binoculars you like'

Click to expand...

:t:

james holdsworth said:

I just wonder why they don't market / sell their own stuff in NA.

Click to expand...

Gilmore Girl said:

They might do well especially if they mention in their marketing something like 'we made all those other binoculars you like'

Click to expand...

Those are exactly the same thoughts I've had whenever I've looked at the Kamakura web (or United Optics, although on another level, for that matter).

Given that they produce the binoculars sold under sooooo many brands (and most people «in the know» are aware of it), why not simply market their products with that idea in mind, somehow like "The binoculars of those who know", they could even create a cult brand, the quality no-nonsense binocular (I mean, the marketing mantra of Maven, GPO, etc. seems to be "we are very clever, and we buy directly/no-intermediaries so you get top quality at half the price"). Why Kamakura doesn't simply follow suit? I guess if someone is entitled to do so... it's actually them! Maybe it's part of the arrangement with these companies? I don't know. Maybe some of the regulars of BF who work in the business can shed some light

An example from the bicycle world: in the 80's in Germany, the independent bike-shops created a network, VSF, and in a few years they started creating their own bicycles: VSF Fahrradmanufaktur. The idea is simple: no-nonsense bicycles with only quality components (but no flashy or unnecessarily "overtechnified" stuff, no suspension forks, steel butted tubes, etc.). The resulting machines are objects to behold, oozing quality and reliability. Just a thought.

I do wish Kamakura would simply sell their own optics with their own warranties. I would be much more likely to buy something like the Maven B1/B2 or Alpen Rainier EDHD directly from Kamakura as you would know the company would persist... Unlike Alpen, Brunton, etc...

More on topic, thank you for your review Nivado. Bynolyt models have always appeared to be high quality when they have been reviewed on this website, which would make sense given their association with Kamakura. It is too bad many of these models are not marketed in the US, as I'd imagine them being a strong contender in the mid-range bracket, competing with the likes of the Zeiss Conquest HD and Meopta Meostar.

Justin

If Kamakura was to really push their own brand of binos all around the world they would for sure apply improved coatings and other tech to their own binos first. Their clients would then say, why get our binos made by KK with last year's coatings when KK's own brand is going to out-compete us in the market place, and dealers would say why stock all these other brands with last year's coatings when we can fill the shelves with more advanced binos carrying the increasingly better-known Kamakura brand. It would also make Kamakura's future dependent on the success of their own brand whereas at the moment many other companies are taking that risk for them and hence sharing the risk around several brands.

Lee

In Japan there are more companies making binoculars for dealers all over the world and all these companies do not bring in the open to whom they sell their products and the dealers who buy the binoculars or order them it is not something they want to bring in the open. The same is true for binoculars made in other countries like Korea, The Philippines, Vietnam or China. Very recently I received a binocular to be tested, which was made in HongKong, so there are a lot of secrets to unravel, but we have at least Birdforum to speculate....