Opticron Minerva 8x30 (1 Viewer)

ceasar said:

Here are some pics of Nikon's 8 x 30 and some other 8 x 30's thanks to Holger Merlitz.

http://www.holgermerlitz.de/nikon8x30.html

The Nikon's appear to have larger prisms if the design of the housing means anything.
Bob

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Hi Bob,

they look pretty different don't they?

I compared the Minervas with a pair of Opticron SRGA 8x32s in a shop today. They are very similar. Apart from the extra 2mm objective and rubber armour on the SRGA they are identical.
There is a clear line of ancestry from Opticrons Elites to the Minervas to the SRGAs.
I expect the SRGAs have better coatings than the MInervas but in the brief time I had both of them together, I couldn't see any difference in the views throught them.

I like the SRGAs but I prefer the appearance of the Minervas, their lack of armour makes them appear a lot smaller and lighter and older.

Martin Fagg said:

What you're saying is- stop obsessing and be happy with what you've got...

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If you find out how to do that, let me know...I´ll pay good money for a cure!

Those binos look gorgeous, Martin. Judging from the window-frame beside them, they almost look like compacts....I bet they´d fit in a reasonably-sized jacket pocket. They certainly look smaller and less "wide and stubby" than the EII´s. I love the big wide focussing wheel too, looks very comfortable. Enjoy those bins and thanks for the photos!

Minerva update

Hi,

a quick update. Not much to report but I have weighed them on the kitchen scale. They are 570g as per the spec.

Been out again today and am still very impressed. It was a very dark overcast rainy day but the Minervas were bright right up until dusk. I didn't get them wet at all so no feedback on watertightness!

I have decided that the best thing about them is the focus. It is very fast and very precise. The fastness is counteracted by a stiff focus wheel so with very little practice the tendency to go past perfect focus point that I had at first, soon disappeared and focussing became rapid and precise.
This is also aided by a good depth of field and the fact that the wheel is centrally placed and very wide.

Colours are very well represented with no difference between wht I see by eye or through the bins. They make my Meoptas seem quite warm and yellow in comparison.

That's about it really.

Inspired by my new porros I tried out Swaro Habicht 10x40s in ashop. i shall post in the Swaro section. They didn't have the 8x30 mosel- drat!

Cheers,
Martin.

Sancho said:

If you find out how to do that, let me know...I´ll pay good money for a cure!

Those binos look gorgeous, Martin. Judging from the window-frame beside them, they almost look like compacts....I bet they´d fit in a reasonably-sized jacket pocket. They certainly look smaller and less "wide and stubby" than the EII´s. I love the big wide focussing wheel too, looks very comfortable. Enjoy those bins and thanks for the photos!

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They are indeed very weeny. They'll fit inthe pochet of a jacket no problem. They're only 4 inches high.
Your right about the focus wheel. It is comfortable and it's key to the focusabilty (real word or have I made a new one?) of them.

I love that 3D thing. I shall keep using them as my main bin when it's dry and find out if I'll still love them in a while from now.

Bit late chiming in here, but just read this thread and am excited to discover that someone else on the planet actually owned a pair of Opticron Elite 9x35's |8)|, which must surely be a rarer beast than even the Minerva models.

Martin, you may be interested to know that 25 years ago I also bought a pair of Elite's, which I am still using to this day. They have had a serious amount of use over the years so do look they're age as the leatherette is pretty worn in places. Hence I've not attached a photo of them but here's an image of the Elite's from an old "British Birds" mag which may bring back some fond memories for you. |=)|

Spec reads - weight 24oz, fov 375ft at 1000 yds 7.3 degrees, c/f 12ft, 1984 price £157.

Tony

dandare said:

Bit late chiming in here, but just read this thread and am excited to discover that someone else on the planet actually owned a pair of Opticron Elite 9x35's |8)|, which must surely be a rarer beast than even the Minerva models.

Martin, you may be interested to know that 25 years ago I also bought a pair of Elite's, which I am still using to this day. They have had a serious amount of use over the years so do look they're age as the leatherette is pretty worn in places. Hence I've not attached a photo of them but here's an image of the Elite's from an old "British Birds" mag which may bring back some fond memories for you. |=)|

Spec reads - weight 24oz, fov 375ft at 1000 yds 7.3 degrees, c/f 12ft, 1984 price £157.

Tony

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Hi Tony,

I wish I still had my Elites (don't know where they went, just got lost at some point). I've just recently started using contact lenses so I can use a lot more bins and get the full fov now. I only ever used the Elites with glasses on so I'd really like to try some now and get the full effect.

Thanks for the specs. Very interesting- 7.3 degree fov very wide for 9x. Gives 65.7 afov. Great to see the pic too.

Having been inspired by the Minerva, today I bought a pair of SRGA 8x32s (also inspired by the fact that Brinley best rates them very highly). Haven't been able to try them out as it was getting dark when I bought them. Probably wont use them til after Christmas now so I'll post on them in a week or more.

I'd love to get hold of another pair of Elites to make up a set of Opticron small porros. There's just something about them. Binocuholism has set in bigtime :eek!:

I recently tried Nikon SEs and EIIs but couldn't get on with their eyepieces and eye-relief. I like the small eye pieces of the Opticrons though, they fit my face really well.

Thanks,
Martin.

Oooo. Look what I found

Martin - we cleared another couple of geological layers from the service and repairs shelf here at Luton. And guess what I found for you?

Yup. A mint condition leather case for your Minervas There's also the original box and user guide/warranty card. It's certainly the last in existence as far as we're aware. PM me for a price if you're interested in it.

As you can see, it also has a rather sorry looking pair of Minervas in it too. We'll hang on to those in case we need spares. I included them in the picture for reference.

Cheers, Pete
Opticron Sales and Marketing