[william j clive]

Has anyone on the forum ever tried, or owned the flat, compact binoculars made by Pentax, Minolta and Canon. They are available in various sizes. The Pentax FB in 8x and 10x18. The Minolta UC is available in 6x16 and 8x18. The Canon FC is 7x17 and is the only one with adequate eye relief for specs. All of them are different from conventional bins in having an oblong, instead of a round image, with an aspect ratio of 16:9. These bino's are supremely compact and are roughly the same size as a packet of 20 cigarettes. I would be interested to hear the opinions of anyone who has experience of these instruments.

Clive

[chartwell99]

I owned (and subsequently sold) the Minolta UC 6 x 18 binos. The glass is just as you have described, but the image is dim, and thanks to extemely small and non-phase coated roof prisms, not very sharp. Probably better than nothing, but the Zeiss 8 x 20 or comparable Leica model are almost as portable with dramatically better images IMHO.

Tom

[pburgers]

William-
I have never tried any of the bins you mentioned, but I do have a Leica 8x20 that folds very compactly and has excellent optical quality. If you are looking for a compact bin I would not make a purchase before checking them out. I compared the Leica's to compact Swaro and Zeiss models before making my choice and have never regretted my decision. They are a sweet little glass!
Paul Burgers
Sioux Falls SD

[normjackson]

I expect you've probably seen this :
http://fantao.home.att.net/minuc.htm
Nothing great, but a sensible choice for a rucksack seems to be the conclusion.