james holdsworth
Consulting Biologist
The recent Maven discussions got me thinking - just how many bonafide binocular makers are left in the world these days? We have a huge increase in selection compared to 20 years ago, but has anything really changed? Most of these new bins tend to be rebadged Kamakuras, with multiple ''companies'' licensing the same binoc. and then rebadging.
So, if we consider a bonafide binocular manufacturer as one that designs their own optics and designs and assembles the chassis / optics - at least for some models in their range as some have gone to outsourcing cheaper models - I come up with the following...and let's stick with current only, not former....
Swarovski, Zeiss, Leica, Nikon, Kamakura, Canon, Kowa, Meopta, Pentax.
I'm not even sure about the last three. What about Steiner, Optolyth, Docter, etc. Any more to add or subtract from that list?
So, if we consider a bonafide binocular manufacturer as one that designs their own optics and designs and assembles the chassis / optics - at least for some models in their range as some have gone to outsourcing cheaper models - I come up with the following...and let's stick with current only, not former....
Swarovski, Zeiss, Leica, Nikon, Kamakura, Canon, Kowa, Meopta, Pentax.
I'm not even sure about the last three. What about Steiner, Optolyth, Docter, etc. Any more to add or subtract from that list?
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