Kenko Ultra View EX 10x42 DH
All the binoculars feature Schmidt-Pechan roof prisms made of BaK-4 glass. The producer ensures us that high quality antireflection coatings cover all air-to-glass surfaces. The glass used in this pair of binoculars is ecological so without any arsenic or lead compounds.
The buyer gets objective lenses caps, a joint eyepiece cap, a strap, a case and a cleaning cloth. The binoculars come with a 10-year guarantee of the producer.
| Magnification | Lens diameter | Angular field of view | Prisms | Eye relief | Weight | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 42 | 105/1000(6o) | BaK-4/roof | 14 mm | 650 g | 799 PLN |
| Real front lens diameter |
Left: 41.1+/-
0.05 mm Right: 41.3+/- 0.05 mm |
4 / 8.0 pkt | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Real magnification | 9.94+/- 0.05x | 3/3.0 | ||||
| Transmission | 78.9+/- 1% | 9/25.0 | ||||
| Chromatic aberration | Near medium value in the centre and on the edge. | 4.1/10.0 | ||||
| Astigmatism | Decent level but nothing more. | 6/10.0 | ||||
| Distortion | The distance of the first curved line from the field centre compared to the field of view radius: 84% +\- 3% | 10/10.0 | ||||
| Coma | Appears in the distance of 70-75% of the field of view radius. Medium on the very edge. | 7.5/10.0 | ||||
| Blurring at the edge of the FOV | The blur occurs in the distance of 77% +\- 3% from the field of view centre. | 5/10.0 | ||||
| Darkening at the edge the FOV | Slight. | 4/5.0 | ||||
| Whiteness of the image | Decent but too big difference between the transmission of blue and red (as much as 15%). | 3.3/5.0 | ||||
| Collimation | Perfect. | 5/5.0 | ||||
| Internal reflections |
|
2.2/5.0 | ||||
| Housing | Comfortable to hold and to look through. Eyecups made of hard rubber with four regulation stops. The rubber a bit too slippery and it sticks out near objective lenses. The binoculars were produced in the Philippines. | 6.5/8.0 | ||||
| Focusing | Big and comfortable central wheel with the turn range of 700 degrees. It moves smoothly. Individual focusing through a comfortable joystick on the central wheel. Nothing moves outside. | 5/5.0 | ||||
| Tripod | Moderately comfortable. | 2.5/3.0 | ||||
| Interpupilary distance | from 53.4 to 79mm | 5/6.0 | ||||
| Closest focusing distance | 2.05 m | 2/2.0 | ||||
| Eyepieces FOV | Apparent field of view of 59.5 deg (according to simple formula) and 55.0 deg (according to tangent formula). | 10.5/20.0 | ||||
| Field of view | Measured by us amounted to 5.99 +\- 0.03 degrees and was in perfect accordance with the specifications. | 5.5/8.0 | ||||
| Quality of the interior of the barrels | Inner tubes black but shiny. The bottom features a gray ring and the screws are not blackened in any way. Some fine dust inside. | 2.5/5.0 | ||||
| Vignetting |
|
7/8.0 | ||||
| Prisms quality | Good quality BaK-4. | 8/8.0 | ||||
| Antireflection coatings | Green on the objective lenses and prisms. One surface shines brightly as if the coating was very weak or as if there was no coating at all. | 4/5.0 | ||||
| Warranty [years] | 10 | 4.5/6.0 | ||||
| Final result | 66.4% | 126.1 / 190 pkt | ||||
| Econo result | 0pkt. |
Summary
Pros:
- good quality of barrel,
- splendid distortion correction,
- slight coma,
- low brightness loss on the edge of the field of view,
- good quality of BaK-4 prisms.
Cons:
- too bright area near exit pupils,
- one air-to-glass surface seems to lack any coating.
 |
The Kenko Ultra View EX 10x42 DH is an interesting option on the market. On the one hand there are no evident slip-ups; on the other hand, though, we don’t see enough splendid or outstanding results - in most of test categories the device reaches medium levels or just a tad higher.
In fact the biggest number of our reservations concerns the light transmission or any other categories more or less connected to it. The transmission graph is presented below.
 |
For contemporary standards the transmission is only average - undoubtedly the lack of coatings on one air-to-glass surface contributes to it. If the producer corrected that fault and also blackened better the binoculars inside their inner tubes the final score in our test would be higher by several points.
It should be emphasized here that the overall score of over 121 points is nothing to be ashamed of. On the other hand you must remember that the competition in the 10x42 class is fierce. If you look at our ranking you can notice that we list as many as over 40 pairs of binoculars which fare better than the Kenko, tested here. When it comes to the price, though, there’s one fact very positive for the Ultra View EX 10x42 DH – no set of roof binoculars, tested by us, with a better result than the Kenko, is cheaper. When you have a limited budget of about 200 Euro which you can’t exceed and you have to buy a roof prism 10x42 pair of binoculars, the Kenko Ultra View EX 10x42 DH seems to be a quite sensible choice - the device doesn’t weighs much, keeps the declared parameters (including the good size of its field of view) and comes with as many as 10 years of guarantee.
