Nikon’s EDG range have been around
for a few years and don’t seem to get much attention from the birding crowd,
yet on paper they look like a flat-field competitor to Swarovski’s ELs and
Zeiss’ SFs. In this review I find out if that also-ran status is justified.
Nikon EDG 8x42 Review
Nikon are a slightly strange player in the premium binocular
market. They must have some of the biggest resources – optical expertise, glass
fabrication, R&D funding - in the industry. And indeed from time to time
they produce the best binoculars in the world – the original HGs and SEs for
example. Then they seem to lose focus and let those market leaders languish
whilst everyone else overtakes them again. They don’t seem to do product
evolution. These EDGs are a case in point.
The HG was a real break-out product when it appeared fifteen
years ago. But instead of updating it and producing an HG HD or whatever, they
waited a decade and then brought out a completely new model, the EDG. For years
I ignored them because I didn’t understand where they fitted in Nikon’s range
and, frankly, because they looked ugly and mass-market. So was I right to
ignore the EDG? Let’s find out …
At A Glance
|
Magnification |
8x |
|
Objective Size |
42mm |
|
Eye Relief |
19.3mm |
|
Actual Field of View |
7.7 degrees (135m at 1000m) |
|
Apparent field of view |
56.6 degrees |
|
Close focus |
3m |
|
Transmissivity |
90%+ |
|
Length |
148mm |
|
Weight |
785g |
Data from Nikon Europe
What’s in the Box?
Design and Build
The first thing to understand is that, though they may not
look it, these are effectively that hypothetical ‘HG HD’ I talked about at the
start. As we will see, their characteristics closely mirror the HGs’.
There is no doubt the EDG range are a premium binocular.
Their list price is very similar to other high-end models from the top brands.
I may not like their looks, but Nikon have thrown every premium feature you can
think of into the EDGs, including a magnesium body, HD optics, field flatteners
and very long eye relief.
The model range comprises the usual birding sizes, i.e. 8x32,
10x32, 8x42 and 10x42 – just like the HG in fact. But oddly, just as Zeiss has
given up on 7x binoculars, Nikon has also included a 7x42.
Body and Ergonomics
Nikon has given the EDG the same type of highly contoured
body that the HG have. In part this has to do with accommodating the large
oculars, but it also allows them to create a very comfy hold.
The original EDG, only available briefly in North America,
had an open bridge format like the Swarovski EL. Then, for reasons
undiscoverable by me, they reverted to a more conventional bridge.
Nikon have gone for a magnesium alloy body in the EDG and
there is very little plastic anywhere. Ironically, that goldy-sparklin’
shiny finish in various places is actually coated metal. In the hand these feel
like a very rugged and solid binocular; pity they look a bit flashy in photos.
Despite that very rugged and heavy duty feel, the EDG are not
a heavy binocular. Their weight of 785g is pretty standard amongst premium
models of this size and is a bit lighter than Zeiss’ HTs.
If weight is typical, length isn’t: the EDGs are an unusually
compact 42mm binocular. At 148mm long, they are slightly more compact than
Zeiss’ old Victory FLs and much more so than the newer HTs.
As we will see, given their optical performance, this is remarkable. Why?
Because things like false colour correction and good eye relief get a lot
harder with short focal length objectives.
Focuser
I loved the HGs’ focuser; if anything these EDGs’ is even
better. Make no mistake, the EDGs’ focuser is superior (in my view) to anything
produced by Swarovski, Leica or Zeiss. And before you start accusing me of
bias, I own a pair of Swarovski ELs and Zeiss Victorys.
The word that comes to mind is ‘fluid’. This focuser is
light, fast (one turn from close-focus to infinity), super-smooth and
ultra-precise. There are none of the usual sticky spots, no resistance to
getting moving. There is no free play. Like the HGs’, this focuser is
addictively intuitive – you find yourself twirling to focus on different depths
in the view just for the hell of it.
The dioptre mechanism is just plain odd if you are used to
alpha brands. Like a Swarovski EL or Zeiss Victory, you pull the focuser knob
to reveal a dioptre scale. So far so normal. Then you try twirling the focuser
to adjust the dioptre. It spins much too easily; nothing happens and you think
it’s broken. But it turns out you have to
turn the scale itself, not the focuser knob, to adjust dioptre. It has the
same smooth action as the focuser, but I prefer Swarovski’s click stops.
To adjust
dioptre, pull out the focuser wheel, then turn the dioptre scale itself.
Optics - Prisms
The EDG range have Schmidt-Pechan
prisms, not the high-transmission Abbe-König prisms
found in Zeiss Victory FLs and HTs. This means the
prisms need mirror coatings and the EDGs have the now-standard multi-layer
dielectric coatings for a maximum transmission of over 90%, which is top-drawer
for this type of prism.
Optics - Objectives
As we will see, the EDG has top-line optical performance;
it’s also very short. Given that some recent binoculars (e.g. Zeiss’ HTs) have
six elements in their objectives alone, you’d think these Nikons were similarly
packed with slivers of glass to achieve that combination. Not so. In fact the
EDGs are a bit sparse on glass generally: whereas the HTs have no less than 14
optical elements per side, the EDG have just 9.
You might ask how is this possible? Well part of the answer
seems to be that although the main objective in the EDG is a doublet (with a
further focusing element), it is an unusual design with a very thick rear
element. This reminds me of a design of apochromatic telescope much discussed
on the astro’ forums a few years ago and called,
rather unglamorously, ‘The Brick’. I am completely guessing here, but I wonder
if Nikon’s ability to make its own glasses allows a design not feasible with
off-the-shelf blanks from the likes of Ohara that the
other makers have to use.
Independent tests prove that the EDG has some of the finest
broadband coatings out there, with a very flat transmission across a wide range
of wavelengths (i.e. colours). The coatings are almost colourless – tobacco tinted
olive.
The body interiors behind the objectives are flat black
everywhere. This is unusual. Most premium binoculars I’ve seen don’t bother
with painting the interior flat black, trusting to baffles to cut stray light
instead.
Coatings are
broadband and have a very neutral colour.
Barrel
interiors are so well blackened it’s impossible to photograph them.
Optics - Eyepieces
Almost all modern binoculars use complex, multi-element
eyepieces with five to as many as nine (Zeiss SF) elements. From the cutaway
I’ve seen, these EDGs make do with just four. Again, we’re left scratching our
heads. Somehow Nikon have persuaded those four chunks of glass to deliver a
wide, flat field and loads of eye relief. This is almost certainly down to
using aspheric surfaces on the lenses.
Eye relief was a strong point of the HG range and it is with
the EDGs too. Nikon claim 19.3mm and for once that’s about what it measures
from the eye cup (to the ~1mm precision I can manage with my ruler).
Consequently, these are hugely comfortable for use with spectacles and I can
see the whole field easily.
Swarovski’s brochure might suggest
that their EL models have more eye relief than these Nikon EDGs; they don’t. In
fact, the Nikons have a significant few millimetres more than the ELs.
Long eye relief sometimes comes with spherical aberration of
the exit pupil that causes ‘kidney bean’ blackouts as you move your eye around.
Thankfully, unlike Nikon’s SEs, these are completely free of blackouts, with
glasses or without.
The Nikon EDGs have some of the finest quality, most positive
twist-and-click eye cups you’ll find. They have three twist-out positions, but
unlike some they are all clustered around the most likely extended setting for
most people, so it’s easy to get a really perfect position.
As they do with the Prostars, Nikon
provide alternative horn-shaped eye cups to cut stray light. Most birders laugh
at these oddities, but they can be very useful for astronomy where there are
lots of street and security lights around (i.e. most peoples’ back gardens at
night).
Big eye lenses, lots of eye relief and a flat field,
but just four elements in the eyepieces.
EDGs’ click-stop eye cups are the very best.
Accessories
In the introduction, I moaned about Nikon’s unwillingness to
evolve their product. The EDGs’ case is an example. The HGs have a lovely thick
case all made of real leather. It’s a pretty thing, but mine has proved very
durable too. The EDGs’ case is (to my eyes) a hideously tawdry confection of
leatherette and cordura, neither attractive nor
likely to wear well.
The caps are similarly poor. The band-on objective covers
fall right back out when you push them in, then flop uselessly. It’s a
strangely shoddy bit of design, because meanwhile Nikon have taken the trouble
to add little ‘horns’ on the armour to keep the cap bands in place.
The strap is Nikon’s version of the Swarovski ‘Lift’ premium
strap – you can quickly and easily adjust the length via buckles on the strap
ends. It’s a good system and the strap is well padded and the webbing extra
wide too.
Cordura and
leatherette case is not the EDGs’ best asset.
Those
objective caps just won’t stay pushed in, not even long enough to take a photo!
In Use – Daytime
Ergonomics and Handling
Most Nikon binoculars have a more moulded shape than other
brands and these EDGs are no exception. For me it makes them extremely
comfortable and secure to hold, noticeably more so than the type of simple
flared barrel favoured by Leica and Zeiss.
The armour has a leather-like texture and it is warm and grippy to hold without being sticky and fluff-attracting
like Zeiss’.
That big focusing wheel falls very naturally under the
forefinger. I’ve discussed the focuser already, but suffice to repeat that it’s
the very best for me: wonderfully fluid and intuitive, really enhancing comfort
and ease of use.
The two barrels merge better than in almost any other
binocular, suggesting very precise collimation and aiding that supreme comfort.
I didn’t get much rolling ball effect when panning, unlike some flat-field
designs.
All that eye relief, for once at no expense to those without
glasses because it doesn’t cause blackouts, again adds to peerless comfort and
relaxation in use. The dioptre adjustment seems strange but works precisely and
can’t get knocked out by accident.
I don’t much like the styling – too much piano black and
glittery powder coat for my personal taste – but they look unobtrusive enough
when wearing them.
Did I mention how I love that super-smooth focuser?
The Nikon EDG 8x42s are amongst the
most comfortable binoculars I have ever used, they encourage you to just keep viewing.
EDGs’ sculpted body is compact and comfortable.
The EDGs’ styling isn’t to my taste, but they look
discreet enough hanging around the neck.
The View
On first sight the view is very similar to a pair of
Swarovski ELs’. That means bright, wide, flat, detailed and free from false
colour with lots of on-axis resolution. I have been reviewing a mid-market 8x
binocular and immediately noticed the greater clarity and resolution on offer
here. Make no mistake, centre field these are the equal of any, bringing out
every detail of pinkish-grey feather on a pair of Doves loafing lazily on my
lawn in the afternoon sun.
Focus snap is extremely sharp, confirming a very high quality
of optical fabrication.
Colour rendition is pleasingly neutral too, just a bit warmer
than typical Zeiss and Swarovski, but no worse for it.
Like the HG before it, the depth of field isn’t the very
best, but with that superb focuser it hardly matters. Think and they’re already
refocused.
Overall, though, extended use makes you suspect there is
something slightly inferior about the
view compared to the ELs. The reason is covered in the next section.
Flat field?
The EDGs have a very flat field that again looks at first
much like a Swarovski EL’s. Closer inspection reveals otherwise. Indeed the
focal surface is flat. But from perhaps 70% field width a slight softness
creeps into the field that you can’t focus away. This softness peaks at about
80% and the edge is then sharper again. It’s quite a subtle effect, but it’s
there. What’s going on? The answer is that these have other off-axis
aberrations that the ELs don’t – mainly a bit of astigmatism, as star-testing
shows.
To put this in context, the field is
perfectly usable across the whole width, but detail blurs a little off-axis in
a way it doesn’t with the ELs until closer to the edge.
Chromatic Aberration
Correction for false colour fringing is unusually good,
amongst the best two or three binoculars I’ve tested. In most normal use you
just won’t see any nasty purple or green fringes at all. Given their apparently
simple optical configuration and short stature, that’s remarkable.
In Use – Dusk
8x42 is a useful size for low light and these Nikon EDGs
don’t disappoint. They cut deep into twilight shadow, where the high light
throughput and high-contrast optics help them pull out detail. These are
amongst the brightest binoculars with Schmidt-Pechan
prisms that I have seen and perhaps that’s not surprising: they have six
optical surfaces per barrel fewer to scatter light than a pair of ELs.
In Use – The Night Sky
Nikon’s EDG 8x42 are quite well suited to astronomy, despite
their low power and modest aperture. Brightness and contrast are excellent and
stars are very sharp on-axis. Veiling flare around streetlights is well
controlled and the Moon produces no spikes or flares or ghosts. Even a bright
artificial light in-field generates just the faintest trace of a ghost.
The field flatness is good, but stars do start to distort and
spike mildly after about 70% field width. This is not simple field curvature,
you can’t focus it away. Focusing through causes a star in the outer field to
turn into a line in one plane and then a line at right angles on the other side
of focus – all a sure sign of astigmatism. A trace of astigmatism is common in
binoculars, but it’s worth noting that the Swarovski ELs models I have tested
have almost none by comparison.
The Moon
Given the low power of 8x, the Moon looks fabulous through
these Nikon EDGs: sharp and full of detail, but with no false colour fringing
on the limb, even focusing through. There is no trace of flare or spiking
either, to leave the Moon just as it looks at low power through a fine
astronomical telescope.
Jupiter
As you would expect of a premium design, the EDGs passed the
Jupiter test as well as the very best. Jupiter appears as a well-defined disk
with no spikes or flares. The Galilean moons are easily picked out as perfect
stars around the planet, even in murky, light-polluted skies.
Deep Sky
Deep sky performance from an 8x42 is always modest. This
isn’t the binocular you would choose to pluck small, faint fuzzies
from a bright sky. Nevertheless, you can certainly enjoy the highlights:
Orion’s nebula, the star clusters from M35 up through Auriga, the Double
Cluster, the O-B association in Perseus, the bright core and extended
nebulosity of M31. In all cases, the flat field delivers a good view, if not
quite as nice as the best corrected fields because the trace of astigmatism
smears faint stars a little towards (ironically) the edge.
Nikon EDG 8x42 vs Swarovski EL 8.5x42
I haven’t reviewed the EL 8.5x42, but I have used a pair on
several occasions and I’ve reviewed various other models in the range, so I
know their general characteristics. They are perhaps the closest competition to
these Nikons and so a point-by-point comparison is in order.
·
The
Nikons are shorter and no heavier.
·
The
Nikons are just as well, if not better, made.
·
The
Nikons have a better focuser – smoother, less inclined to occasional
stickiness, more intuitive.
·
The
click-stop, numbered dioptre adjustment on the Swarovskis
is more useful.
·
The
Nikons have more real-world eye relief (though not in the brochure) and so
greater comfort for those who observe with glasses.
·
Correction
for false colour is too close to call. Both are outstanding.
·
The
apparent field of the Nikons is a little narrower.
·
Overall,
the view is similarly superb through both.
·
The
Nikons’ field shows slightly more off-axis aberrations, i.e. the view isn’t
quite as sharp away from the centre. This makes the Swarovskis
a little better for astronomy because they don’t blur stars off-axis and give
the best view of extended objects.
·
The
Nikons have much better blacking of the barrel interiors, but don’t seem any
better for it.
·
Neither
has quite the best stray light performance, but both work fine in most
challengingly lit conditions.
·
The
Swarovskis have the better case and more functional
caps.
·
Prices
are similar, but the Nikons can often be had for a bit less with discounts.
·
I
suspect that long-term service and repair prospects will be superior with the Swarovskis (a recent warranty experience with Swarovski was
very positive; with Nikon it wasn’t).
Summary
A well-known binocular reviewer has stated that all high-end
binoculars are so perfect that reviews like this one aren’t necessary. I think
these Nikon EDGs demonstrate just how wrong that is. They are a truly excellent
binocular and I really like them. But they’re not perfect and are distinctly
different in measurable ways from their competition.
They do appear similar to their most obvious competitor,
Swarovski’s ELs, but closer inspection reveals that’s not so. These Nikons are
more compact than the ELs and perhaps even better made. They have more
real-world eye relief and a much smoother, more intuitive focuser. Both
binoculars have a similarly bright and flat field, but in fact the Swarovskis have less off-axis aberrations that give a
sharper overall view and a definite advantage for astronomy. The ELs have a few
degrees extra apparent field width too.
That reviewer was right about one thing, though – in the end
the choice may come down to personal preference. Does that wonderful EDG
focuser swing it over the Swarovskis’ better
corrected field for you? Is the greater eye relief of the Nikons worth more to
you than a bit of extra field width? The Nikons can be bought for less, but
will you have to replace them if you wear them out when you could have just got
the Swarovskis serviced?
Whatever your answers to those questions, Nikon have
unquestionably created a contender for ‘World’s Best Binocular’ with the EDG.
Perhaps Nikon’s real weakness isn’t their products, but their unwillingness to
improve and evolve them. You see, with some gradual developmental tweaking –a
bit more field width, less astigmatism and better accessories - these EDGs
really could become the very best binoculars in the world and then stay that
way.
Nikon’s EDG 8x42s are highly recommended. They’re not really
inferior to Swarovski’s ELs overall and are more comfortable for use with
glasses, but for the optical purist, the Swarovskis
do have a slightly better view.