Featherweights to Customs: a missing link (1 Viewer)

Something peculiar showed up at the Goodwill auction:

http://www.shopgoodwill.com/viewItem.asp?ItemID=22471050

It's a 6x36 design,full Bushnell Custom hardware,complete with
front UVC filter, and yet it is called: "Featherlight II" (at the time).

The bidding left me behind a while ago.
Particularly fascinating is the eyecup and eyepiece open diameter.
It looks like a mid-step from the old precision-flat-field Featherlight
to the wide-eye-eye-relief/with a little curvature that took hold
in the Customs.

Just a cool historical note. I'm happy with Featherlights in one box
and Customs in the other (at the current bidding).
6x36 must give it a very approachable image plane.

I'll be watching the excitement as it approaches the auction's end.

O.N. - I find your post very interesting. The listing is peculiar. My earliest Bushnell archive materials goes back fifty years when the Custom body appears with the Featherlight II. (1965) The Featherlight 1 was the B&L type with a one piece body, and was produced in the 7x35 and 7x50 models. My first Bushnell piece was a 7x35 binocular purchased in 1953.


A Bushnell ad featuring the new Featherlight II binocular has the "exclusive mono-unit sculptured design" of the Custom line. It lists the following binoculars: 6x35, 7x35, 7x35 WA, 7x50, 8x35, 9x35, and 10x50. No 6x36 is listed. I have never seen one or read an ad indicating a 6x36 was available in the Bushnell.

Now to add to the confusion, the Custom line following the Featherweight II line lists the 7x35. 7x35 Rangemaster, 7x50, 8x36, 9x36, and 10x50. The 8 and 9 powers now increase one (1) mm from the Featherlight line. Also, the Customs have a larger ocular diameter. The 6x36 binocular under discussion has the smaller ocular.

I'm not disputing that the 6x36 is a counterfeit. My current collection of Custom 7x35s (3) which look identical in body length are not. Consistency in Japanese binoculars can vary a great deal. The only way to confirm the binocular in question is to examine it for objective lens diameter and a 6 mm exit pupil. Maybe someone on BF will win it and tells us what the facts show.

John

Awesome collection you have there!

Someone would have to employ multiple real factories for parts and pay all the same money
for that kind of chassis and that kind of UVC-coated objective, for sure...
Seems it would be far more expensive to fake that chassis alone than to use the real thing.

I suspect it's an unannounced variant. I have run into that a few times in other brands,
like a Nippon Kogaku / Nikon 9x35 I got. The fine details are exactly like the Nikon
9x35//7.3-Degree, and the construction is extremely rugged and precise,
but this one is 9x35//8-Degree, which isn't such a great idea....quite blurry
outside 65% fov, even in the 7-degree zone.

I have a Bushnell featherlight 6x30 ? it says squint proof and fully coated lens, I am assuming it is genuine not sure how old it is, but it's a very nice binocular to use. Why would anyone fake a fairly inexpensive Bushnell.

Your 6x30 is a gem. Presume it has BK-4 prisms. It most certainly is a genuine piece. What has O.N. and me puzzled is the 6x36 printed inside the beauty rings with the Custom body. It is possible that the maker made a limited run of these, and Bushnell bought some to sell. Yours is not the Custom body but as you already know, it has the B&L style body, which is as good as any.

I'll wager that the optics are excellent. With care your 6x30 will be long lasting. With eyecups removed, eye glass wearers will get the full view. What degree FOV does it list?

Nice...and double-rare!
I have the 7x35 Featherlights.
On my 6x30 Vega Minervas and Yodhids Thorobreds,. the drop
to 6x brings totally-sharp to the edge of 7.5 degrees. Very comfortable view.
6x30 precision-field is harder to identify than in 7x35, but not in the Featherlight case!

Ben - You have an heirloom. Bushnell's line included high quality models. I hold the opinion that the Japanese were perfecting the porros years ago, which caused Zeiss and other Europeans manufacturers to slowly abandon their porros in favor of roofs. Why? It was basically an economic situation of marketing costs. Higher versus lower labor costs. (many will disagree with my assessment, but that is OK) Today, Zeiss only markets one porro, the 7x50 marine. Zeiss porros were all superb. Swarovski hasn't abandoned the porros yet. Their porros are also superb.

John