So I've ordered the 7x32 Pentax (here in Europe the price is around 350 - 400 €, so 385 - 440 USD)... but 2024 seems to be a cursed year for me when it comes to purchasing binoculars. After a
faulty Sky Rover 8x30 and a faulty
APM 6.5x32, now I've bought a subpar Pentax 7x32
The Pentax comes in a very slim box, quite surprising, as usually binocular boxes are more square, somehow trying to offer more protection, while this one looks like it could contain a Kindle or some sort of Tablet. Besides, Amazon sent it without any padding whatsoever, to my surprise. That's why when I first received the parcel I wasn't sure what it was. Not sure how good that could be for the binos...
... but anyway. Right out of the box, the Pentax feel really nice and solid, reassuring. If I remember correctly, Pentax has been using the same design language for many years, and I admit I really like it, it somehow reminds me of Volvos of the 80s: chunky but nice. Everything seems well put together, the focus wheel turns softly and with no play whatsoever. It offers less resistance than my Opticron Traveller, but feels ever so slightly less smooth (the focus wheel on my Traveller is simply perfect to my taste), and given that it is quite a slow focus wheel (more than 2 turns), there is quite a lot of turning to do.
But let's get into the problem. As soon as I started adjusting the binoculars (IPD, dioptre correction, eyecups), I could see there was something odd. Hard as I tried I couldn't get the image to be displayed properly, let me explain. On one hand, I found it really hard to get a good, consistent and snappy focus, I kept going back and forth, back and forth. Every time I tried to focus on a new subject, again, back and forth until I got a reasonable focus. So I concentrated on the IPD. I tried to fine tune it several times (as a matter of fact, I've done this several times at different moments of the day), but to no avail. It is hard to explain, but I get several distinct (bad) feelings:
- It feels like if the focus on one tube lagged behind the other, as if your dioptre setting was off and your eyes couldn't compensate. So I went back to the dioptre setting and started all over again... with no clear improvement.
- Then there is something really odd that I've not experienced with other binoculars. Probably related to what I've explained above, I get the feeling that both tubes don't "merge" into one clear circle of image surrounded by black. It is like if I could see two circles fighting with each other. It is really tiring. However, it is not (apparently) that the binos are out of alignment, as I suspected at first. I don't feel the usual discomfort between your eyes when you get misaligned binoculars, where you get an instant pain between the eyes and you get slightly dizzy when just taking the binos out of your eyes while looking at the same distant point without them. It's something different. Besides, I've tried this easy and simple way to check alignment by focusing on a star and completely defocusing the dioptre setting, so you get a pinpoint star inside a circle of blurry light, and the star appeared right in the center, spot on. So it must be another thing.
- And finally, probably related to the two previous points, I've discovered that the my unit suffers from something I've seen in cheaper binoculars, a ring of reflexion just outside the field stop. This is something I first saw on a 8x32 Vortex Diamondback HD (and then later discovered that many other users had also encountered this issue, here), and then I found it as well on my 8x42 SvBony sv202 8x42. In my Pentax is not that bad, but it's there, and it's really very annoying. In this image, I'm looking E-SE in the morning, so not facing the Sun or under any "difficult" light circumstance.
So these are going back. I'm really curious about this binocular, so I'll probably be ordering another unit from another seller.
Other than that, I've liked what I've seen (well, sort of seen!
).
As expected, size-wise the Pentax sit somehow in between the very compact 8x32 Opticron Traveller and the quite tall 8x32 Swarovski EL. However, the Pentax feels solid and substantial, the barrels are noticeably thicker than the Opticron.
And what really surprises are the really tall eyecups. On the subject of eyecups and eye position, not sure if it's due to the very tall eyecups, but I haven't found the eye comfort particularly good, despite being a 7x (with their slightly larger exit pupil), it feels a bit nervous, and it's not that difficult to get blackouts if you are not careful. Besides, the FOV feels a little more crammed than what 7,8º might indicate. Coming from the 8,3º 8x32 Traveller, the difference is huge. But then, comparing the Pentax to a classical 7x50 at 7,1º, somehow there seems to be very little difference in AFOV, if at all. Somehow the Pentax feels a little more claustrophobic than I expected. Not sure what this might be due to. One thing I've noticed is that when changing from 8x to the Pentax, I can see a noticeable difference in magnification, more than I seem to observe while using other 7x... so I wonder if this really are 7 or something more like 6,7 or 6,5x? That would also explained the perception of narrow AFOV. But I'm just speculating.
Well, the view itself is really nice. Very contrasty and sharp, surprisingly, it can keep up with the 7x50 Vixen Foresta Porro, which is a pretty sharp and contrasty binocular. The colour cast appears quite neutral, and it makes the view through the Traveller appear somehow yellowish/greenish in comparison, which is something I don't recall on normal use. The image displays a great depth of field, so viewing passerines on old almond trees with branches full of lichen is a pleasure, the branches and the birds seem to be cut out from the blurry background creating a impression that they "pop out" from the background, which makes for quite a wow factor.
As mentioned above, the focus wheel works flawlessly, no play, backlash or the like. However, although it turns very softly, with little effort, it is a slow wheel. As for the ergonomics, the wheel itself is quite large, substantially long, but I'm not sure I've found this (at least in this first contact) to be a great thing. Because the wheel is so long, I find myself not only using the index finger (what I usually do), but also my middle finger, which is way slower and more clumsy. This is probably one of the reasons the ergonomics of the Zeiss SFL 8x30 didn't convince me when I tried them, it felt awkward and not intuitive. At the end of the day, all my life when I want to pinch something, or when I want my best and finest level of delicate movement and control I use my index finger, not my middle finger. Yes, you could probably get used to it, the same way that if I got my index finger amputated I would learn how to use my middle finger as accurately... but luckily this hasn't happened. So, although it's a compact and solid little binocular that it's a pleasure to hold, the ergonomics are not the most brilliant part of the Pentax for me.
As for brightness, because they have a strong contrast (like the dark tones are very dark, the Opticron seems a little washed in comparison) the image doesn't impress with brightness (you would probably not think these are the brightest, but I think the perception of brightness has a lot to do with the way certain binoculars display colours and contrast). However, I reckon light transmission should be quite good, because at night, trying to make out the features of the garden with the very little light coming from the neighbour's house, the Pentax show a slight but clear advantage over the Opticron. It is easier to discern shapes among the shades and this is especially noticeable because of the fact that when the image is really very dark, it is nearly impossible to focus with the Opticron, while the great level of contrast and brighter image make it still possible to focus on an object with the Pentax. Anyway, you are not very likely to use this to observe things in a pitch black night.
So, as fist impressions go, these have many great things (contrast, depth of field, sharpness, pleasing image), but also some not so nice (FOV appeared smalled than expected, finicky eye position), although some of the latter could simply be due to the problems this unit in particular seems to have.
