The front element of the Kowa TSN-55A, in accordance with the official declaration of the producer, is 55 mm in diameter, slightly convex, positioned less than 1 cm inside a black, well ribbed and blackened cell that is surrounded by a filter thread, 58 mm in diameter. You can hide it with a help of the pull-out hood and then it is situated over 3 cm deep from the rim of the aforementioned hood. Here the producers can only be praised, not all companies decide to employ such a solution in their smallest instruments.
The hood is equipped with a crosshairs that consists of a front sight and a rear sight; the problem is that its usefulness in an angled model is close to zero.
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It's worth mentioning the fact that the front element is covered by hydrophobic KR coatings that are supposed to protect it from dust, dirt, and humidity and make it easier to clean at the same time.
The proper body of this scope is made of magnesium composites, completely weather-sealed, and nitrogen-purged. It starts with a narrow, red stripe that turns into a green, narrowing tube that includes the front optical system with a focusing lens.
Then you see a rounded part of the casing with roof prisms. From below you get a tripod foot with the serial number and information that the scope was produced in Japan. On the other side you find a dual-focusing screw with two possible working speeds, a fast-focus wheel and fine-focusing adjustment. It is an excellent solution, allowing you very precise settings and once again Kowa should be praised for including it into its smaller model. Many producers give up such a mechanism.
At this place you can also find the logotype of the producer, the name of the model and information about fluorite glass used in the optical construction.
Behind the focusing screw you see a black, rubberized part with an inscription stating the name of the series, PROMINAR. This part turns smoothly into a permanently fixed TE-11WZ II eyepiece, offering you a magnification range from 17 to 40 x and a comfortable eye relief distance, amounting to 17 mm.
The eyepiece starts with a metal ring with magnification marks at 17, 25, and 40 times and additional dots in between. Then you see a big, rubberized, magnification control ring that moves evenly, with a proper resistance.
The eyepiece ends with a huge eyecup, 55 mm in diameter, that twists out but not to an extend that would be enough for me. The difference between two opposite positions of the eyecup amounts to just 6 mm and I find this working range short of my expectations. When I tried to align my eye socket with the eyecup I was too close and fell into the field of view. In order to see the whole field without any blackouts I had to position my eye several millimeters above the eyecup. My son, for a change, with eyes more deeply set inside the eye sockets, didn't experience such problems.
Fortunately the eyecup can be removed and it allows to attach dedicated adapters for smartphones and/or cameras. If you twist it off so it hangs on the last edge of the thread you are able to get additional 3-4 mm of height for a better access, exactly what I needed to make my observations fully comfortable.
