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Vintage 8x30 7.5° Canon porro (1 Viewer)

Elmer Fudd

Well-known member
While browsing the *bay I found some of the old and obviously discontinued Canon 8x30 7.5° porros.

Is someone here who has any experiences with these binos?

They are obvioulsy not made for the use with eye-glasses. But how is the sharpness and what about a however tint which often can be observed with the older binos?

They seem to be quite durable because of the single piece construction.

And what about the Canon 6x30 vintage porro? Any ideas or suggestions?
 
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While browsing the *bay I found some of the old and obviously discontinued Canon 8x30 7.5° porros.

Is someone here who has any experiences with these binos?

They are obvioulsy not made for the use with eye-glasses. But how is the sharpness and what about a however tint which often can be observed with the older binos?

They seem to be quite durable because of the single piece construction.

And what about the Canon 6x30 vintage porro? Any ideas or suggestions?

I owned for a time a Canon 7 x 35 vintage porro, a binocular obviously inspired by the same vintage Bausch & Lomb model and which provided very similar performance characteristics. I would expect the same for the 8 x 30 and 6 x 30 models. None of these vintage porro binoculars come anywhere near current performance standards but are interesting nonetheless. Be en garde, however, for sticky or frozen focuser mechanisms and fungus on the prisms and elsewhere. The safest bet if you can find them are individual focus models from the same period.
 
I've got a pair. They are characterized by being very sharp in the central image but the performance falls off quickly towards the edge. Certainly sharper central image than the Nikon Monarch 7 8x30 (I tested 3 new ones.)

Has severe glare from out of frame bright light sources.

I don't think they are much good for bird watching though. Like many single coated binos from years gone by, they have a yellowish tinge because the purple colored coating is reducing the blue spectrum.

Construction is very good. The stiff focus on mine was easily sorted by spraying some lub at the focus spindle.

Collimation is also easy. You remove the front barrel which gives access to the ring holding the front element. You then turn the eccentric ring until night stars pin point focus.

I paid £25 for them on ebay. No dust or fungus. It has to be said though the current Nikon 7x35 Action EX I just got (£65 Amazon returns) are much better in all respects apart from central sharpness which is equal.

I would point somebody in the direction of the Nikon Action EX range for a cheap binocular, because they are a solid all metal construction with good rubber armor. Waterproof, nitrogen filled and use a combination of coatings that give a neutrally coloured view, just a tad on the warm side.
 
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