Kowa TE-11WZ Eyepiece - Review

When Kowa announced the new wide zoom eyepiece Kowa TE-11WZ 25-60x zoom in 2013 I was really excited. It was exactly what I was looking for for years now. A zoom eyepiece with a larger field of view than any other zoom eyepieces I've tested before. But there's something other special with this eyepieces. Kowa has built in two low dispersion XD lenses into it. So the quality of the image should be even better than with any other kowa eyepiece. It should be a real advantage when digiscoping with it. So I just bought a Kowa TE-11WZ to test it against the older Kowa TE-10Z 20-60x Zoom.
A soon as the Kowa Eyepiece arrived, I fixed it to my Kowa Scope and went out in nature watching birds. Already the first view through the eyepiece excitetd me. The image quality was impressive. A brighjt, clear and high-contrast image. And indeed I was able to notice the larger field of view in practice. It was much easier for me to find birds in the trees, when looking through the TE-11WZ instead of the TE-10Z.
If you compare the sharpness, both eyepieces are quite similar with the zoom at 25-30x. But when I zoomed in to 35x and more watching through the wide angle zoom TE-11WZ was much more pleasant. So when I go out birding, the older 20-60zoom will stay at home from now on, and I' take the 25-60x Wide Zoom with me.. I will never more miss benefits of the larger field of view when birdwatching.


Chromatic Aberration

Kowa did - again - a great job with the TE-11WZ eyepiece. I wasn't able to see any chromatic aberrations or color fringing in the image - even in extrem situations. Only in the outer border (at about 3% of the image circle) you can see slight color edges in the violet range. It's about the same as with the TE-10Z. So both eyepieces are quite perfect in terms of compensating chromatic aberrations or color fringing.


The TE-11WZ in Terms Of Digiscoping

As an avid digiscoper I was of course very interested how the new Kowa TE-11WZ compete in terms of digiscoping. I fixed it to my Kowa TSN-884 spotting scope by using the Kowa TSN-DA10 Digiscoping Adaptor.

I photographed this female hawfinch by using the Kowa TE-11WZ, Kowa TSN-DA10 and the Kowa Prominar TSN-884 spotting scope. Reproduction of colour and the image sharpness are great. No chromatic aberrations are visible in the image.

The Kowa TE-11WZ in combination with the Kowa TSN-884 spotting scope delivers very brillant, sharp images wih great contrast. In almost every situation you can't see any chromatic aberrations in the picture thanks to the two XD lenses used in the TE-11WZ and of course thanks to the flourite glass used in the Kowa TSN-884 (equal as in the Kowa TSN-883).
If you directly compare the Kowa TE-11WZ with the Kowa TE-10Z you will notice - if you combine them to a digital compact camera - that can digiscope at a greater zoom range using the new Kowa TE-11W. At least with my old Niikon Coolpix 8400 but I think this will happen with most digital cameras with similar zoom ranges. So vignetting appears much less frequently. By the way, even better in terms of vignetting works the 25LER eyepiece from Kowa. Some cameras that won't work without vognetting when combined to the Kowa, will work perfectly when using the 25LER eyepiece. So if you have problems with (little) vignetting try this.

This Greenfinch has been digiscoped with a Nikon Coolpix 8400 combined to a Kowa Prominar TSN-884 spotting scope by using the Kowa TE-11WZ eyepiece and the Kowa DA-10 digiscoping adaptor. As you can see, the image shows great sharpness and detail in the feathers.

All photos I've taken with Kowa TE-11WZ so far, have great contrast and a wonderful clarity. If I'm honestely, I didn't expect anything other. In terms of digiscoping the Kowa TE-11WZ is a great choice, and if you've no zoom eyepiece for you Kowa yet, I recommend buying this one. If you already have the 20-60x TE-10Z you can stay with it. Picture quality is almost equal in terms of digiscoping. But if you have problems with early vignetting when using the TE-10Z you should give the TE-11WZ a try.


Conclusion

Kowa again did a great job with the Kowa TE-11WZ wide zoom eyepiece. Even though to develop a wide zoom is much more difficult than a normal zoom, Kowa has managed to create a masterpiece that outerperforms the normal zoom eyepiece TE-10Z in almost all disciplines.
If you already own the predecessor (TE-10Z) and you only digiscope with it, then stay with it. The new TE-11WZ is about the same in terms of digiscoping. But if you have problems with vignetting, then try the new one.
If you are birdwatching most of the time then I would strongly recommend upgrading to the Kowa TE-11WZ. It's larger field of view makes it easier to spot birds.