Dorian Gray
Well-known member
I ask because it's been years since they did anything significant in binoculars.
The hallowed SE is optically excellent but you're out of luck unless you want 8, 10 or 12x power with an exit pupil around 4 mm. None of them are waterproof, they're of less than bombproof toughness, and the eyecups are those distasteful fold-down rubber jobs. All things considered, the SE is the kind of binocular one feels duty-bound to recommend to others, but that one doesn't personally own.
The E2 series may or may not be discontinued depending on which of Nikon's various and sundry websites one consults, and is anyway very limited in choice of power and objective diameter. The E2s also lack modern refinements such as water resistance and adjustable eyecups, although the price compensates a little for these hardships (though most roof-prism binoculars at the same price do have these features). But the severe eye relief must seriously dampen their appeal.
We might then surmise that Nikon have abandoned their Porro attack, were it not for the lamentable state of their roof-prism line. The 32 and 42 mm HG L DCF binoculars are well-rounded products, but not brilliant enough to compete on an equal footing with the Ultravids and ELs and Victory FLs of this world. They are optically good, but Nikon are capable of better, in my opinion. They are lighter than the HG DCF models they replaced but not light enough to get noticed as "lightweight" binoculars, and they look a little homely. Critically, they still don't have dielectric mirror coatings on the reflecting surfaces of the roof prisms, using instead the traditional silver coatings. Silver coatings have lower reflectivity (by several percent) than dielectrics in the visible spectrum, and they also reflect red light more efficiently than blue, leading to a slight colour imbalance. Even though this doesn't greatly reduce the overall brightness of the binocular, the knowledge of it must affect Nikon's popularity.
The Sporter I was pretty decent at its close-out price, but that low price was there to shift an overly heavy binocular that lacked water resistance and phase-corrected prisms. The Sporter I suffered from neglect, which is what seems to be happening to the whole binocular range.
I suppose a bright point might be the Monarch line, which seems to be a pretty good value for money. But at the high end I think Nikon need to act fairly soon if they want to preserve their binocular market in the face of increasing competition from everyone, including relative newcomers like Kowa.
The hallowed SE is optically excellent but you're out of luck unless you want 8, 10 or 12x power with an exit pupil around 4 mm. None of them are waterproof, they're of less than bombproof toughness, and the eyecups are those distasteful fold-down rubber jobs. All things considered, the SE is the kind of binocular one feels duty-bound to recommend to others, but that one doesn't personally own.
The E2 series may or may not be discontinued depending on which of Nikon's various and sundry websites one consults, and is anyway very limited in choice of power and objective diameter. The E2s also lack modern refinements such as water resistance and adjustable eyecups, although the price compensates a little for these hardships (though most roof-prism binoculars at the same price do have these features). But the severe eye relief must seriously dampen their appeal.
We might then surmise that Nikon have abandoned their Porro attack, were it not for the lamentable state of their roof-prism line. The 32 and 42 mm HG L DCF binoculars are well-rounded products, but not brilliant enough to compete on an equal footing with the Ultravids and ELs and Victory FLs of this world. They are optically good, but Nikon are capable of better, in my opinion. They are lighter than the HG DCF models they replaced but not light enough to get noticed as "lightweight" binoculars, and they look a little homely. Critically, they still don't have dielectric mirror coatings on the reflecting surfaces of the roof prisms, using instead the traditional silver coatings. Silver coatings have lower reflectivity (by several percent) than dielectrics in the visible spectrum, and they also reflect red light more efficiently than blue, leading to a slight colour imbalance. Even though this doesn't greatly reduce the overall brightness of the binocular, the knowledge of it must affect Nikon's popularity.
The Sporter I was pretty decent at its close-out price, but that low price was there to shift an overly heavy binocular that lacked water resistance and phase-corrected prisms. The Sporter I suffered from neglect, which is what seems to be happening to the whole binocular range.
I suppose a bright point might be the Monarch line, which seems to be a pretty good value for money. But at the high end I think Nikon need to act fairly soon if they want to preserve their binocular market in the face of increasing competition from everyone, including relative newcomers like Kowa.