Steve C
Well-known member
Montgomery Wards Ultra Wide Angle 11.8* 7x35 porro
This is the latest of my vintage porro binoculars. I had been looking to explore the differences in view as the angle of the view increased. In 7x, I had 525’, 551’, 578’, and 604’ fov binoculars. I saw this one pop up, at a just wider 620', and I figured the price was right, so I used the buy it now option.
This is a somewhat interesting binocular, different in many ways, and sort of disappointing in others. The first thing is the focus. This has to be the fastest focusing binocular I have ever handled. There is not quite one turn of total travel and just under half of that goes to focus past infinity. It also seems to have about the same focus rate throughout its usable focus travel, which like all my other porros, is clockwise to infinity. Just a bump of the wheel is all it takes. It is something that will take some getting used to. It is much faster than any of my other vintage porros. It does have a sweet focus spot where the focus can be set to give the same sort of “no focus needed” depth associated with the 3-D dof of a 7x porro. It takes some getting used to. I think I’ll mark that spot with a dab of model paint to use as a visual reference, a center of focus spot.
It is a little disappointing in that it has what appears a solid magnesium alloy body with massive, solidly mounted prisms you would expect to see in a well built binocular. But, the prism plates are plastic as is most of the hardware on the ocular end of the binocular. There seems no play or wobble in the ocular bridge. Additionally, the objective lens assembly is housed in a plastic affair that screws into the body. It seems kind of a hybrid between the typical large B&L style housing, with the removable objective assembly of the German style housing, but no rear prism plate. There is the remnants of a JTII inspection sticker, but there are no J-B or J-E numbers.
Edit to add, the ocular tubes and the focus bridge do seem to metal as do the bottom of the ocular housings. Posted a bit quick on the plactic thing.
While it feels solid and substantial enough, it is not the rugged, solid feel of a Tasco. I use this with eye cups removed. I cover the eye cup attachments with inner tube bands to protect the recesses and the diopter screws.
The view is very nice and is certainly the best part of this binocular. It is hard for me to determine any real difference in the width of the view compared to a 604’ sample. The edges do not seem much softer and the contrast and sharpness are pretty good. I would hesitate to use this real hard, but whoever had it before me used it quite a bit and the binocular is none the worse for wear. Its view is certainly good enough I would have no problem using it as a primary glass. The drawback there would be getting used to the somewhat unique focus.
Photos included which should finish the description.
This is the latest of my vintage porro binoculars. I had been looking to explore the differences in view as the angle of the view increased. In 7x, I had 525’, 551’, 578’, and 604’ fov binoculars. I saw this one pop up, at a just wider 620', and I figured the price was right, so I used the buy it now option.
This is a somewhat interesting binocular, different in many ways, and sort of disappointing in others. The first thing is the focus. This has to be the fastest focusing binocular I have ever handled. There is not quite one turn of total travel and just under half of that goes to focus past infinity. It also seems to have about the same focus rate throughout its usable focus travel, which like all my other porros, is clockwise to infinity. Just a bump of the wheel is all it takes. It is something that will take some getting used to. It is much faster than any of my other vintage porros. It does have a sweet focus spot where the focus can be set to give the same sort of “no focus needed” depth associated with the 3-D dof of a 7x porro. It takes some getting used to. I think I’ll mark that spot with a dab of model paint to use as a visual reference, a center of focus spot.
It is a little disappointing in that it has what appears a solid magnesium alloy body with massive, solidly mounted prisms you would expect to see in a well built binocular. But, the prism plates are plastic as is most of the hardware on the ocular end of the binocular. There seems no play or wobble in the ocular bridge. Additionally, the objective lens assembly is housed in a plastic affair that screws into the body. It seems kind of a hybrid between the typical large B&L style housing, with the removable objective assembly of the German style housing, but no rear prism plate. There is the remnants of a JTII inspection sticker, but there are no J-B or J-E numbers.
Edit to add, the ocular tubes and the focus bridge do seem to metal as do the bottom of the ocular housings. Posted a bit quick on the plactic thing.
While it feels solid and substantial enough, it is not the rugged, solid feel of a Tasco. I use this with eye cups removed. I cover the eye cup attachments with inner tube bands to protect the recesses and the diopter screws.
The view is very nice and is certainly the best part of this binocular. It is hard for me to determine any real difference in the width of the view compared to a 604’ sample. The edges do not seem much softer and the contrast and sharpness are pretty good. I would hesitate to use this real hard, but whoever had it before me used it quite a bit and the binocular is none the worse for wear. Its view is certainly good enough I would have no problem using it as a primary glass. The drawback there would be getting used to the somewhat unique focus.
Photos included which should finish the description.
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