Minolta Standard EZ 7x35 (1 Viewer)

Minolta Standard EZ 7x35 Wide Angle 9.5°

I wanted a cheap bino as a carry-and-throw-around for on tour with bicycle or scooter.

Having a look at ebay I found a Minolta Standard EZ 7x35 and got it for € 32,- delivered.

More compact than the Nikon Action 7x35 and with 650gr not too heavy. Three materials:
-metal, painted black with a bit chipped of here and there,
-grey plastic,
-green armour.

It looks used, but still in good shape. Clean lens surfaces, not fogging, no fungus, perfect collimation.

Dioptre adjustment is fine, albeit a bit too loosely turning, a rubber band will see to that. Excellent focusing, smooth turning, no scratching, no tolerances. At first a bit overdamped, but getting better after the initial use. The bridge is adjustable with good resistance, no problems there, too. I have seen way expensive new roof with worse mechanics.

Optically I havent checked it out intensively yet. At first sight maybe not as bright and contrasty as the Nikon 7x35. Very low CA. Sweet spot about 60% and not that extreme amount of field curvature. I will compare it to my other porros when there is time.

Ease of view is perfect for me, better than with any other porro. With deep-set eyes and large eye sockets I need lots of eye-relief and rather big eyepieces. The Minolta fits perfect, no adjustment needed, I put it to the eyes and it fits without any black-outs.

Right now I am quite happy with my purchase. For the intended purpose it will do fine. But has any one some more informations about these binos? I havent found anything on the web,

Looks like a fairly 'narrow shortie' from the eyepiece reflections.
That's spot-on for the sweet spot. 7.5 degree binoculars opened
to 9.3, you can't see sharp but you can detect motion easily.
Depends on personal preference, but I find that handy for popping
out of the car for a look. Easy to bring to the eyes quick.
Likely standard Kellner oculars. The center is probably very sharp.
The Nikon (esp the new Acculon)
is much flatter and sharper across, but that costs some size
and weight. If you wanted the whole width to be super,
and add more eye relief, without adding weight you could
downshift the objective, get an 8x30 or 8x25 with monster eyepieces.
You have to check fancy eyepieces for blackouts, though.
The Nikon 8x25s seem to all be no-squint, so they are OK.

In that price range, mechanical is key. If you tug up and down
a little on one ocular and the other or both don't move much
you've got reliable focusing generally.

Other than that....enjoy!

Yep, very sharp in the middle.
Usable sweet spot up to ca. 55%, re-focusable beyond that,
the outer 25% fuzzy and only good for detecting motion.
Slight see-saw of the eyepieces when alternating pressure.