Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Zen_Ray 8x43 ED Just Arrived - 1st review Observations

Birdforum is currently down so I'll post this here ...

In this stray light test I look at an old barn Owl perch up in a Douglas Fir on the edge of Volunteer Park. The perch is well shaded but through the branches of the tree and framed by surrounding trees is overcast sky

The overcast sky is a "bright overcast" i.e. an "anticyclonic gloom" overcast with a high pressure area generating an inversion at around 600 feet with a cloud thickness of just a thousand feet or so then sun and blue sky above that. It's not the sort of dark overcast associated with rain (nimbostratus) which would also have other clouds above it.

I found this test by accident (observing a Barn Owl in a daytime roost) and found quite a few of my bins "feel apart" in this situation when the best ones could deal with it.

Amount of stray light in the field (least to most)

1. Zeiss FL 7x42
2. Zeiss FL 8x32
3. Bushnell Legend 8x42 (yeah, WTF!)
4. Bushnell Elite 8x43
5. Promaster Infinity ELX ED 8x42
6. Hawke Frontier ED 8x32
7. Zen Ray ED 8x43
8. Zeiss Victory 8x40

Here to top four bins make it easy to see where the bird would be without stray light being at all annoying.

Of course the real surprise here is that bin in fourth place: the $200 Bushnell Legend 8x42. It does an very good job dealing with stray light even better than the Elite. And I put this down to it's 6.3 degree FOV. I'm pretty sure keeping the FOV narrow really helps to cut down on stray light.

But the brightness of the stray light in the FOV is not the only parameter here. How bright the image is will affect how much you can see.

So ranking the bins in order of Image brightness (i.e. transmission) by eye

1. Zeiss FL 7x42
2. Zeiss Victory 8x40
3. Zeiss FL 8x32
4. Bushnell Elite 8x43
5. Zen Ray ED 8x43
6. Promaster Infinity ELX ED 8x42
7. Hawke Frontier ED 8x32
8. Bushnell Legend 8x42

So the AK prisms with TIR followed by SP with dielectric mirrors then silver mirrors with quality of AR affecting the ordering too. The Legend doesn't do as well in this ranking. The Elite and ZR are very close I think: dielectric mirror and older AR coatings against silver mirror and newer AR coatings. This is also the order of absolute contrast and color saturation.

So now considering the observer image contrast quality with stray light (i.e something like image brightness / stray light brightness) the ordering from best to worst is:

1. Zeiss FL 7x42
2. Zeiss FL 8x32
3. Bushnell Legend 8x42
4. Bushnell Elite 8x43
5. Zeiss Victory 8x40
6. Zen Ray ED 8x43
7. Promaster Infinity ELX ED 8x42
8. Hawke Frontier ED 8x32

The ones that do better supressing stray light do best in this ordering even when they're not as bright (i.e. the Legend). Then the Victory that doesn't do as well with stray light but has a bright image does better. Then ZR where it's brightness helps a bit more than controlling stray light against the other Chinese EDs so it comes out at the top of the pack.

Even with this ordering the positions are not precise depending upon how much light they see there are some variations e.g. there were some points where the ZR 8x was differently better than the Zeiss Victory.

So this is a rather subjective test especially as the stray light varies across the field: some of the light is concentrated into bright crescents (the ZR does this) whereas others have a more of a veiling glare problem (the Promaster and Hawke suffer from this).

This is quite an extreme but realistic sort of test especially for birding in the woods (or looking for owls just before twilight) with a dark target and bright surroundings.

Of course keep in mind this isn't the only ranking of these bins. For example with sharpness all the ED or FL bins beat the non-ED/FL bins. Perhaps something like this:

1. Zeiss FL 7x42
1. Zeiss FL 8x32
2. Zen Ray ED 8x43
2. Promaster Infinity ELX ED 8x42
2. Hawke Frontier ED 8x32
3. Zeiss Victory 8x40
4. Bushnell Elite 8x43
5. Bushnell Legend 8x42

and price or weight would be another ranking.

Binoculars are always a compromise so determine the trade-offs is part of deciding which bin fits you. And that often takes experience.

It is surprising to see a 32mm Zeiss FL is brighter than a few 42mm binoculars. Is that the result under low light condition when exit pupil size matters? But it is probably expected given the price difference.

Better AR coating and perhaps a dielectric mirror coating make the difference (the latter should be worth a few percent).

These measurements are in daylight. I don't look for stray light at dusk (though actually using a full moon at night is a very good technique for investigating stray light).

Remember in daylight the transmission of the bin counts for everything as the entrance pupil of the eye is smaller than the exit pupil of all the bins. This is an easy effect to observe.

The other thing to note (I posted at BF just before it keeled over) is the Zen Ray 8x43 doesn't have the "halo" outside the field stop that the Hawke ED 8x43 (which otherwise has the same spec) does. They fixed that!

The interesting thing after playing with the three Chinese ED is even in the small time they've been around you can see evolution in their design. These are not "clones" of each other but (I suspect) the same basic design with various tweaks. ZR seems to be taking advantage of better coatings (perhaps both mirror coating and AR).

I suspect, as I have said before, 2009 is the Year of the Chinese ED.

I wonder if they know about Viagra?...

Thanks for explanation. At low light condition, the exit pupil of binoculars is smaller than fully dilated eye pupils. I presume the exit pupil of binoculars might become a limiter? A astonomy buddy of mine likes his 7x50 binoculars for its 7mm exit pupil and always laughed at my 4.2mm "little roofy".

Even at night there is no point in making the exit pupil larger than your entrance pupil (except for "relaxed alignment" ... an oversize exit pupil helps) if you are looking for maximum contrast.

In a black room you may have a 7mm exit pupil. Some youngsters will have an 8mm exit pupil some 6mm. And some (older folks) will struggle to get to 5mm.

Remember all the average eye pupil sizes are at least plus or minus one mm. Some more.

The only way to know is to measure it yourself: with a digital camera with flash (no red eye ... that's what you are trying to see!) and a ruler above the eye. Works for any light conditions.

And if you use your bin in daylight even in twilight most folks eye pupils aren't going to get bigger than 4mm.

The Zen ED 8x43s arrived in the mail. Had a chance to compare them to the Nikon Monarch ATB 8x and 10x, and the Vortex Razor 10x at a local gun shop. The Zens noticeably surpassed the Monarchs in terms of brightness, contrast and resolution (used the Swaro resolution chart across the store). The comparison with the Vortex Razor 10x42 is close. I still liked the brightness/contrast of the 8x Zen ED. Resolution was equal. I would have liked to have spent more time comparing and discerning for any little difference in image quality like sharpness towards the edges and field curvature. The Zens did feel comfortable in the hands and well balanced. The eye cups were comfortably rounded on the edges, have 3 positions, but seemed a little loose with freeplay. The hinge front is threaded for a tripod adapter.

Doug~RR

As a person who has limited experience I need assistance. My only "decent" binocular purchase has been Nikon Monarch ATB 8*42. I like these but I realise they have their limitations. How much better would the ZR 8*43 be to me? One thing with the Nikons is the constant refocussing which is annoying. Second thing is they appear bright in low light but colors wash out when the light is bright. Just my feelings on them, I find them very useable but....

I have a Nikon Monarch 8x42. I have a Promaster 8x42 ELX ED and both ZEN ED 8x42 and 10x43. They are much better than the Monarch in any optical paramater, or combination of optical parameters you care to name. The focus fiddling issue with the Monarch is what finally pushed me onwards away from them.

received mine too yesterday. Haven't got much time to play with it yet. So far I like what I see. Good image contrast, probably the brightest one among all the binos I have. I didn't check the resolution chart. But it seems very sharp, even better than those more expensive glasses. The construction is solid and well put together. I like the deep thumb indent. The whole thing feels lighter than its actual weight (27oz). It is more like holding a 24oz size binoculars. I will comment more once I have more time playing with it. Thanks for the recommendation. For around $350, it is well worthy it.

I also just received my 10x43's in the mail in Monday. No expert when it comes to optics but like everyone else had said, for the price the ZEN ED sure seems to be a great deal. I've only played around with them a little, but did compare them side by side with my only other decent binocs I have, which are a Pentax DCF SP 10x43. I've really liked the DCF's but thought it would be nice to have the back-up Zens. Like Hawker said, they seem to be feel lighter than they are, I weighed them and came up with 27oz - compared to 25oz for the DCF's but they felt lighter in the hand. I live in Oregon about 20 minutes from Zen, anyway we had a typical rainy and dark day yesterday when I tested them, looking out my back door at various things in the dark light, the ZENS were really crisp and clear. The one thing for me anyway that I really like is that when you focus them there is a little more wiggle room, not sure how to best explain it. With the DCF's you are focused or you are not, with the ZEN's you have a little more play I guess, and for me that helps. I had LASIK done about a year ago and since then I can see much better but I tend to be more sensitive to focus at long range, so the ZENS are more forgiving to my tired eyes I guess. Overall I am happy with them, especially for the price, hard to beat that.

OregonMuley,

Which are the backups now... the Zens or the Pentax?

Chris

Well, not sure yet - my DCF's have been used and abused so I may use those for when I do my backpack hunting but will have to see. Well be interested to hear from folks how reliable they will be after field use.

I have noticed that the neck strap that came with the Zen binos are made for a person whose height is around 12'

Red Rabbit,

Look a little closer and you will see there is two sections of strap. There is a quick detach coupler in the middle (at least there is on both of mine) for those of more normal stature. The long strap is intended to accommodate the over the shoulder "bandoleer style" of carry which is fairly popular. So what yo can do is adjust all of the strap length through the buckle and just leave a inch or so of strap that will quick disconnect from the normal strap. You should be able to get matching clip styles at OP Tech.

I too sort of wonded how long it will be before the Pentax Oregonmuley has will be the backup. My 8x Vortex Vipers didn't survive the Promaster, and neither will the 10x Viper survive the 10x ZEN. The Viper always suited me better than the SP.

Well, will have to see, the first real field test for them will be in about a month or so when I hit Eastern Oregon in search of sheds - scanning the canyons and hills for sheds will be a great field test. Then - maybe the DCF's will have to get retired:)

Great reviews and discussion. Only problem is that this will probably cost me...

....a lot less than another binocular with comparable optics.

Steve,
Even shortened all the way, the bino's objective hangs below the belt. I am 5'8" The padded strap section between the quick-clips is 42" - too long for me to hang the binos in front.

Probably better to use the Crooked Horn Bino Harness anyway.

Doug~RR