Hi all,
Newbie to this forum and birding. Have an old pair of Nikon Action 7x35's from mid-80's. My question is if the new binoculars selling used/new in the $100 price range will offer me better image quality....sharpness, color rendition, contrast, etc.? From what I've looked at in this forum the Celestron Noble/Brunton Echo Roof 8x32 or the Celestron Nature Porro 8x30 might well be worth a look since they can be found under $100 and punch above their weight class for their price. Of these two, are there any recommendations?
Or are there other vintage binoculars available under $100 in the 30-35 objective range which I should start to watch out for on auction/classified sites?
Thanks in advance for your help?
I would be willing to bet that centerfield apparent sharpness will be very similar to the porro prism models offered today. Some differences though may include overall color bias, contrast and brightness. This may largely be the result of the improved coatings placed on the glass.
I do have the Nikon Action 7x35 and the Celestron Nature "8"x30 in my possession. I will take them both out this afternoon and give you my opinion of the differences between the two. Before I do that I can say that the little Celestron does have the newer style eyecups and better eye relief. That was one drawback to the 7x35 Action. Because of the wider field of view the eye relief was fairly short. The Celestrons are also notably more compact and lighter.
...and for what it is worth I put the 8 in quotations simply because one of our trusted members verified that the magnification is actually closer to 7x. That should make the comparison very interesting.
The original Nikon Action 7x35 from the mid 80's was and is quite a good binocular, well made with excellent optics. Later versions are inferior to it except for the Gold Sentinel series, which was identical except for the addition of some multi-coating . The original was optically better than the Zeiss and Leitz roof prism binoculars of its day, something I discovered when I decided to "upgrade". Nothing you can buy today at any price will be sharper in the field center. The ways in which your binocular falls short of a similar modern binocular like the Nikon 7x35 Action EX are short eye relief, lower light transmission and a lack of waterproofing. I think the Celestron Nature is a big step down in quality. I haven't seen the roofs you're considering, but I doubt that any cheap roof prism binocular will equal yours.