Just acquired 7X42 Celestron Ultima's? (1 Viewer)

I've been looking for a hand hold sky and low light bin. The local Kijiji classifieds had an older Celestron 7x42 Ultima, not the DX model. I got them cheap enough.

It is a small bin for 7X42 and amazingly light. The right prism cover notes Ultima, 7X42, Field 7*, 367ft @ 1000yds. The left cover notes fully multicoated and BAK4 Prisms. I'll confirm better but ER seems very generous. It has rubber eyecups.


Can anyone enlighten me on these binoculars, worts and all?

I found some info. These bins are the same direct heritage as the grey armored Swift Ultralites, Carton Adlerblik series, and Vixen Geoma. There is some association mentioned with Orion for the 7X42 but not verifiable. Current research indicates the 7x42 was catalogued by Adlerblik (german for eagle eye, I think). Bill Cook calls them light duty bins with good optics. No argument here.

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=320091

The maker for these and the Ultralites are noted as JB-56, a Hyoshi build. They get mentioned often in Swift searches. Some have noted they build at least some of the 8.5x Audubons.


I compared them to the EIIs physically. They are lighter, same wide objective format, the prism housing is very comparable for size, the prisms are smaller, the only height difference is the objective barrels. I took them out last night but no stars to test against but they sure gather light.

Hello Canuck Bob, and congratulations on the new binoculars. I believe those old Ultimas were related to the Vixen Geomas, but I'm not sure if they are related to the Adlerblicks, at least not the current versions.If they're in good shape I think they ought to serve you well. Here is what the current Adlerblicks look like....

http://www.enerdynet.com/cgi-bin/pr...duct&uid=default&ww=on&id=F591&view_records=1

This link is to a Japanese site that is a picture of my bins with Adlerblick name on them. It seems the 7x42 Adlerblick had a 6.5* FOV as compared to 7* for the Ultima. The Geoma connection was referenced but I stuck to the most common references. There is no way I can verify any relationships but the background of some writers are experienced and knowledgable. When viewing pictures visualize a 6x30 size with slim 42mm longer barrels. They are almost petite even compared to an EII.

http://blog.goo.ne.jp/tankosan_001/e/e3689d5ccd23d33d30f4e9598282daf4

I played with the bins in direct comparison, 8X30 Eii and the Ultimas. They are not EIIs. However they are fairly good. My vision is poor due to ongoing chemo and cataracts so evaluation are highly subjective. The close in test (25 yard viewing of pine tree and cones) showed a good view, responsive focus, but slightly less contrast. The green was also different, EII a rich tone, and the Ultima a lighter tone, both pleasant.

These were my goto astronomy binoculars for a number of years before I switched to IS. They were light weight and handled very well. They were not as good optically at my Fujinon 7x50s, but they were more compact and very much lighter around my neck. I moved the Fujis to a parallelogram mount. Of course all of that changed with the Canon IS.

My major concern with these in use was that they always felt a bit fragile mechanically. In fact, I did have collimation problems early on. I don't recall whether they were replaced or repaired.

Alan

Bob, if you check for Opticron Classic 7x42 on "your well known auction site"; Opticron might be another to add to your list of importers (in UK at least). Interestingly it is marked as "made in Japan" but the prism housing has German text...