Nikon 8x35 WF Action (1 Viewer)

Santa came early this year. I was fortunate to be the winning, and only, bidder on a Nikon 8x35 WF generation 1 Action binocular. I have been waiting for close to two years for this configuration of this model to show up. I became interested in it after reading a thread here about it around the same time. Brock and Henry's comments in particular piqued my interest and I do already own the 7x35 version of this model.

I have only had a few hours with it at this point so I will reserve comments for later. Still I will say that in many ways it is as good as the 7x35. Since I only paid $24.99 plus shipping I think I may have retained my title as King of Cheap!

FrankD said:

Santa came early this year. I was fortunate to be the winning, and only, bidder on a Nikon 8x35 WF generation 1 Action binocular. I have been waiting for close to two years for this configuration of this model to show up. I became interested in it after reading a thread here about it around the same time. Brock and Henry's comments in particular piqued my interest and I do already own the 7x35 version of this model.

I have only had a few hours with it at this point so I will reserve comments for later. Still I will say that in many ways it is as good as the 7x35. Since I only paid $24.99 plus shipping I think I may have retained my title as King of Cheap!

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That's a really artsy, almost original Batman series-esque photo, Frank.

Yeah well, it looked straight when I took it.

....and I haven't even tapped into the eggnog yet. Not a good sign.

FrankD said:

Santa came early this year. I was fortunate to be the winning, and only, bidder on a Nikon 8x35 WF generation 1 Action binocular. I have been waiting for close to two years for this configuration of this model to show up. I became interested in it after reading a thread here about it around the same time. Brock and Henry's comments in particular piqued my interest and I do already own the 7x35 version of this model.

I have only had a few hours with it at this point so I will reserve comments for later. Still I will say that in many ways it is as good as the 7x35. Since I only paid $24.99 plus shipping I think I may have retained my title as King of Cheap!

Click to expand...

Nice price, mine cost more, but it was old new stock.

Not sure how long they made these, but to my eyes the 8x35 WF had a better image than the 7x35 due to more advanced coatings. The 7x has better DOF but the 8x had better contrast and was more neutral color. The 7x35 has a greenish cast, particularly noticeable in low light.

My only beef with the 8x35 model was the focuser, which was too fast - 1/2 turn from cf to ∞. Overshooting my target wasn't much of a problem as it was with the 1/2 turn 8x32 LX, due to the better depth perception of a porro, but it did create the impression of lesser depth perception than the 8x32 SE, particularly when compared side by side with the 7x35.

The other issue was some flares in the direction of the sun. Not the veiling glare kind, but glints of light.

Steve (mooreorless) and I compared the 8x35 WF to a 505 8x32 SE, and we found the 8x35 to be surprisingly close in resolution. (we didn't use a chart, we looked at details on signs at Harner Farm and compared the color using the vegetables on display outside the market). The colors through the SE were more true to life, particularly on the blue side of the spectrum. Reds were similar. But overall, quite good for a bin of that vintage.

And, of course, the ER on the WFs is non-existant so seeing the entire 8.2* FOV was a bit of a challenge, but not too bad for me.

<B>

P.S. Steve took these photos.

Nice going, Frank. I'd certainly jump on a pair at $25, even though the 8x35 was my least favorite of the series. I found the 9.2 mm eye relief too short for comfort, even without eyeglasses. It's a shame the 8x35 wasn't made by using a longer focal length objective combined with the 7x35 eyepiece instead of a shorter focal length eyepiece combined with the 7x35 objective lens.

Brock, the coatings on the 8x35 were identical to the other models. If you saw differences in two Action I specimens they would be from sample variation or more likely differences in aging. It doesn't take much hazing or cement deterioration to reduce contrast or affect color bias.

Henry

henry link said:

Nice going, Frank. I'd certainly jump on a pair at $25, even though the 8x35 was my least favorite of the series. I found the 9.2 mm eye relief too short for comfort, even without eyeglasses. It's a shame the 8x35 wasn't made by using a longer focal length objective combined with the 7x35 eyepiece instead of a shorter focal length eyepiece combined with the 7x35 objective lens.

Brock, the coatings on the 8x35 were identical to the other models. If you saw differences in two Action I specimens they would be from sample variation or more likely differences in aging. It doesn't take much hazing or cement deterioration to reduce contrast or affect color bias.

Henry

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Henry,

Could be cement deterioration since the 7x35 was well used by the time I bought it, with brassing marks on the edges of the prism housing, whereas the 8x35 was NIB.

Or it could be as with the SEs and EIIs, Nikon added updated coatings to subsequent production runs, and the 7x35 was made earlier than the 8x35. I don't know how many years the WFs were produced.

The color bias and contrast were quite different between my two samples. Frank has both now, so he can weigh in on this.

Merry Christmas!

Brock

Will do so tomorrow Brock. I had some other optics presents to play with.

brocknroller said:

Henry,

Could be cement deterioration since the 7x35 was well used by the time I bought it, with brassing marks on the edges of the prism housing, whereas the 8x35 was NIB.

Or it could be as with the SEs and EIIs, Nikon added updated coatings to subsequent production runs, and the 7x35 was made earlier than the 8x35. I don't know how many years the WFs were produced.

The color bias and contrast were quite different between my two samples. Frank has both now, so he can weigh in on this.

Merry Christmas!

Brock

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Brock,

The Action I were made for about 4 years, but I seriously doubt that there were any updated coatings. After all these were Nikon's cheapest binoculars. They got the plain vanilla single layer coating until minimal multi-coating was added in the upgraded Gold Sentinel variant.

Frankly I don't see any systematic difference in my old Nikon binoculars with single layer coatings of any vintage. There are bigger random differences in reflection colors between the right and left sides of the same binocular than there are between 1960 coatings and 1988 coatings.

Henry

FrankD said:

Santa came early this year. I was fortunate to be the winning, and only, bidder on a Nikon 8x35 WF generation 1 Action binocular. I have been waiting for close to two years for this configuration of this model to show up. I became interested in it after reading a thread here about it around the same time. Brock and Henry's comments in particular piqued my interest and I do already own the 7x35 version of this model.

I have only had a few hours with it at this point so I will reserve comments for later. Still I will say that in many ways it is as good as the 7x35. Since I only paid $24.99 plus shipping I think I may have retained my title as King of Cheap!

Click to expand...

the Nikon Action were my second pair of binos,
once upon a time, somewhere in the 80's maybe,
I still have them somewhere,
any bids?

What configuration and are they collimated?