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improvement for olympus pc i 8x25 (1 Viewer)

O

oracleman

Well-known member
Hello all,
I have a olympus pc i for one year and I've been very satisfied with them. I know that is not the widest nor the brightest. But small size is very important to me. I have an nikon action ex and I like the views, but is too big and heavy to make long walks so I prefer olympus pc i.

Yesterday was birding with them and I realized that I can't focus properly. Maybe it was due the short height of sun on the horizon causing poor light (or maybe are my eyes that were tired ...)
So my question is ... is the sapphire ed 8x25 an improvement? what about bushnell elite 7x26? Or maybe to get a measurable improvement must to change to 8x32?

Thanks all, and sorry for my english!!
 
I have the Olympus PC I 7x21 and am quite happy with it despite its limitations. I think any of the three bins will offer an improvement in some areas but not necessarily all. For example, you will have a difficult time improving on the centerfield apparent sharpness performance. In my experience the little inexpensive reverse porros excel in this area. They can often lack in such performance areas as field of view or size of sweet spot in some cases though. Both the Elite and Sapphire should offer improvements in areas such as color saturation and apparent brightness. They both sport newer coatings than the Olympus. I believe the Sapphire is also waterproof.

If you really want a step up then something like the Nikon Monarch 7 8x30 or the Opticron Discovery 8x32 would give you that option without sacrificing much in terms of size or weight. The Monarch 7 is right aroun 15 ounces and is very compact for an 8x32 model. The Discovery is between 13 and 14 ounces and is the same basic dimensions as many 8x25 roof prism models.

Hope this helps somewhat.
 
A few years ago I directly compared the Olympus PCI 8x25 to several other compact pairs including the Bushnell Elite 7x26. I bought the Elite. The sharpness, colour, contrast, build quality and eye relief (I wear glasses) were much better in my opinion and worth the extra money. I have since tried the Hawke Sapphire ED 8x25 on a few occasions. The view quality is very good in my opinion. The view is flatter than the Bushnell so the sweet spot appears wider even thought the field of view is a little narrower. I'm not particularly keen on the double hinge design and the tiny dioptre and focus, but if small size is important then I think it's excellent for the money. Another small binocular I particularly like in the Nikon Monarch 7 8x30. Yes it is a bit bigger and more expensive than the other two but you get a lot more view for your money.

Good luck,

David
 
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I have owned a Bushnell Classic Custom Elite 7x26 for 9 years and it is very, very good; rumored to be the best of the small reverse Porro Prism binoculars; but it is expensive and getting hard to find. See more information here:

http://www.cameralandny.com/optics/bushnell.pl?page=bushnell620726

Nikon makes a very good Pro Staff ATB 8x25 reverse Porro prism binocular which might be easier for you to find. It is less than 1/2 the cost of the Bushnell and is water proof. You should be able to order it directly from Nikon.

http://www.nikonsportoptics.com/Nikon-Products/Binoculars/ProStaff-8x25-ATB.html

Bob
 
Hello oracleman. I've got a pc i and a Bushnell. The Bushnell is an improvement in several respects (a bit brighter with more accurate colors, wider field, lighter focuser), but it's not necessarily any sharper than the pc i and you're apt to see a bit less detail because of the lower magnification. There are smaller 8x32's nowadays, and I think you ought to consider those if you want a clear upgrade. But before you make an final decisions, it might be helpful to take a bit longer to explore what sort of conditions seem to cause problems for the pc i, so that you can have a better idea about what qualities you're looking for in your next binoculars.
 
Hello,
first of all: thanks, very helpfull all suggestions.

Nikon Monarch 7 8x30 seems really great! But unfortunatelly it's a bit expensive for me (maybe if I found 2nd hand or a good discount).
Opticron Discovery 8x32 seems more affordable but, how good is this binocular? How is its shapness compared to olympus pc i...?

Bushnell legend seems a good bet and in my $$$ range xD.

About the conditions when I was unable to focus:
It was dawn, and I was unable to get a satisfactory focus neither to high distances (lets say 30meters) neither on low distances (about 4 meters). I never used this binos too soon with so poor light so may could be:
- conditions are bad to this binos
- my eyes were still sleep (not a joke, may this be posible?).

Anyway this weekend will test again...
 
Hi, I had an Olympus PC I 7x21 which I liked, very comfortable viewing, but I gave it to a good friend after I obtained my Pentax papilio 6.5x21, which basically blew the Olympus away performance wise for me. I think the Papilio 6.5x21 is a great choice and well worth you considering, it is light and fairly compact, not quite as small as the Olympus but almost, and the optical quality is superb for the price, very sharp and bright. They go for around £70 to £90 in the UK at present.
Best wishes.
 
oracleman said:
Opticron Discovery 8x32 seems more affordable but, how good is this binocular? How is its shapness compared to olympus pc i...?


About the conditions when I was unable to focus:
It was dawn, and I was unable to get a satisfactory focus neither to high distances (lets say 30meters) neither on low distances (about 4 meters). I never used this binos too soon with so poor light so may could be:
- conditions are bad to this binos
- my eyes were still sleep (not a joke, may this be posible?).

Anyway this weekend will test again...
Click to expand...

I think you will certainly find the sharpness of the Discovery at least as good as the Olympus. The Discovery has the larger objectives so, theoretically, more light should reach your eye in low light conditions. More light means your eye is more stimulated. More stimulation means a brighter, sharper image.

I think this also relates to your further comments. In low light conditions our own pupils dilate to anywhere from 4-7 mm. The exit pupil of your Olympus is only a hair over 3 mm. Therefore the view will seem not as bright or as sharp as under regular daytime conditions. This would be somewhat rectified with the Discovery since it offers a 4 mm exit pupil.
 
Ok, I'll bit on opticron discovery Frank, anyway I live on basque country and waterproof is a must :D
Thanks all for your suggestions. I'll post impressions on a couple of weeks!!!!
 
I tested discovery 8x32 bino for three times and I found this (please be careful with my comments as I'm quite noob to binoculars):

They are a delight to use. These binos are light & compact, but they feel solid on hands. The focus wheel is precise and smooth. They can be entered safely on my pocket, this is great as these are 8x32 binos!. As other people in this forum said this are fun to use!!!
The views are good, but not great. The view is bright (more than with my olympus pc I 8x25). I feel that sweet spot is no more than the half of the view (which I think is ok as these are not alphas xD). This is the only thing worst compared to my olympus, but hey, discovery is wider than olympus so it's not clear at all...

The only thing I really dislike are internal reflections, there are very noticeable on dawn, not unacceptable but they were there.

So, I'm happy with them. I suppose that always there are limitations(even on more $$$ binos) and I must to live with them :) .

Thank you!
 
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