Hi,
some time ago I found an ad in the local classifieds which sparked my interest despite the fact that I own enough bins... an old pair of Nikon reverse porros in 8x23 for 20€ or so.
Some research showed that these were a pair of Venturer II 8x23 of Steve Ingraham and Consumer Report fame. Unfortunately I didn't manage to collect them in person as I try to do when buying used and the seller dropped them in the mail - when I got them, I was kinda disillusioned to see a very grimy and badly vertically decollimated pair of bins stinking intolerably of cold cigarette smoke :-(
I put them on the balcony for a few weeks to loose the smell and gave them a little cleaning today.
I then tried to fiddle around with the collimation (nothing to be lost, it was so off that my eyes couldn't fix it) and while I couldn't turn the (probably excentric) objectives in their barrels without a proper tool, loosening and carefully re-tightening a screw beside the objectives on the front seems to have fixed the collimation at least for my IPD so far that I can use them without headaches - yo-hum!
I then gave them a little test drive in the last light - I can see why these were well regarded as pocket bins back then - sharpness on axis is good, the field of view is not too shabby for a pocket bin at 110/1000m even nowadays and while the sweet spot is not too large at 65% or so, it is still kinda usable at the edge and can easily be focused - in this regard is quite similar to my E2s. My Zeiss Conquest 10x25 shows a lot stronger field curvature to the edge.
Also the eye placement is less finicky than all the other pockets I tried (the 8x20 alphas from two years ago - no Swaro 8x25 yet) - every bit of exit pupil obviously helps.
Another plus is the smooth focuser that's where it's supposed to be and of a reasonable size. Close focus is nothing to call home about 3m or so.
The diopter seems off a bit on my example (maybe +0.5 instead of the usual -0.5 in the right eye) but that's probably age as is the slightly sloppy hinge.
On the down side it has to be said that despite what looks to be multicoatings, the image in the rather suboptimal lighting conditions was darker than any modern pair of bins I own - among them a Zeiss Conquest Compact 10x25 which should have been darker in bad light - but obviously current T* has its advantages too... I'll have to revisit these in good light. Colour rendition was Nikon style slightly on the warm side of neutral.
Eye relief probably would be a problem too if I had to wear glasses - I measured 9mm from the end of the fold-down eyecups to the eyepiece lens (slightly recessed by 1 mm or so). I'd say it's below 12mm - I didn't do my usual test with the glasses from the 3D movies since it seemed futile and I didn't want to ruin the old rubber eyecups.
So it seems I have added third pair to my collection of legendary Nikon bins besides the E2 and the SE. The question remains if they will replace the Conquest 10x25 as my backpack bins - the view is nice but they're a bit heavier (260g vs. 210g), quite a bit bulkier and the looks are, erm special - Wall-E after a brown paintjob...
Joachim
some time ago I found an ad in the local classifieds which sparked my interest despite the fact that I own enough bins... an old pair of Nikon reverse porros in 8x23 for 20€ or so.
Some research showed that these were a pair of Venturer II 8x23 of Steve Ingraham and Consumer Report fame. Unfortunately I didn't manage to collect them in person as I try to do when buying used and the seller dropped them in the mail - when I got them, I was kinda disillusioned to see a very grimy and badly vertically decollimated pair of bins stinking intolerably of cold cigarette smoke :-(
I put them on the balcony for a few weeks to loose the smell and gave them a little cleaning today.
I then tried to fiddle around with the collimation (nothing to be lost, it was so off that my eyes couldn't fix it) and while I couldn't turn the (probably excentric) objectives in their barrels without a proper tool, loosening and carefully re-tightening a screw beside the objectives on the front seems to have fixed the collimation at least for my IPD so far that I can use them without headaches - yo-hum!
I then gave them a little test drive in the last light - I can see why these were well regarded as pocket bins back then - sharpness on axis is good, the field of view is not too shabby for a pocket bin at 110/1000m even nowadays and while the sweet spot is not too large at 65% or so, it is still kinda usable at the edge and can easily be focused - in this regard is quite similar to my E2s. My Zeiss Conquest 10x25 shows a lot stronger field curvature to the edge.
Also the eye placement is less finicky than all the other pockets I tried (the 8x20 alphas from two years ago - no Swaro 8x25 yet) - every bit of exit pupil obviously helps.
Another plus is the smooth focuser that's where it's supposed to be and of a reasonable size. Close focus is nothing to call home about 3m or so.
The diopter seems off a bit on my example (maybe +0.5 instead of the usual -0.5 in the right eye) but that's probably age as is the slightly sloppy hinge.
On the down side it has to be said that despite what looks to be multicoatings, the image in the rather suboptimal lighting conditions was darker than any modern pair of bins I own - among them a Zeiss Conquest Compact 10x25 which should have been darker in bad light - but obviously current T* has its advantages too... I'll have to revisit these in good light. Colour rendition was Nikon style slightly on the warm side of neutral.
Eye relief probably would be a problem too if I had to wear glasses - I measured 9mm from the end of the fold-down eyecups to the eyepiece lens (slightly recessed by 1 mm or so). I'd say it's below 12mm - I didn't do my usual test with the glasses from the 3D movies since it seemed futile and I didn't want to ruin the old rubber eyecups.
So it seems I have added third pair to my collection of legendary Nikon bins besides the E2 and the SE. The question remains if they will replace the Conquest 10x25 as my backpack bins - the view is nice but they're a bit heavier (260g vs. 210g), quite a bit bulkier and the looks are, erm special - Wall-E after a brown paintjob...
Joachim
