henry link
Well-known member
I had all of them at one point. The problem with the 8x35 was very short eye relief, 9.2mm. Otherwise just as good as the 7x35.
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Nikon E2 8x30 and Nikon E 7x35 (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter dorubird
- Start date
henry link
Well-known member
The first set of specs on the left in post # 22 of this link is for the Action I models. For some reason the 7x35 was not included, but it used the same eyepiece as the 10x50 so it should have the same eye relief of 10.7mm.
www.birdforum.net
How good was the N Gold Ring Sentinel 8x35?
Henry, Thank you for the info. I will pull out the scale and check when time allows. I am looking forward to reading your post about the history of the Action series. I have several of the models now but see several more than have me curious. Any and all info would be appreciated.
www.birdforum.net
Mikbul
Mikbul
I knew you were familiar with the "E" series, I just admire the workmanship and ease of view through the 7X35 "E". I don't care for all the plastic in the Action bins but they do serve a purpose!$$
Mikbul
Mikbul
Your photos above are beautiful! I just bought a new Canon G7X Mark II as I miss my digital SLR. (The peregrine falcon in my signature was taken with my older canon EOS and a canon 400mm f/4 lens) The G7X is all metal and the zoom is f/1.8-f/2.8 (8.8-36.8mm). I can't wait for warm weather!!
Mikbul
Mikbul
John A Roberts
Well-known member
To complement Henry’s link in post #23, which includes the specifications for various ‘lesser’ Nikon Porro prism lines . . .
A) Nikon’s premier hand held Porro prism lines, following WWII were as follows:
1948 - Mikron (the Mikron designation was once used on most of the binocular lines)
- - - -
1959 - A model (A = aluminium?, not marked on unit; new eyepiece)
1969 - A model continues (only a change to markings, from Nikon Kogaku to Nikon; and from now on, no markings on RH prism plate)
- - - -
1978 - E model (E = Execulite, not marked on unit; new eyepiece with longer eye relief, and folding rubber eyecup)
1988 - E model updated (C = Criterion, marked on LH prism plate; same design now multicoated)
- - - -
1999 - EII model (EII not marked on unit; all new body with sloped prism plates, along with new prisms and eyepiece; longer eye relief and widest FOV;
and still in production)
- - - -
And
1998 - SE model (SE = Superior E; rubber coated; new design with field flattener lenses and longest eye relief; discontinued in 2008)
- - - -
From 1948 the binoculars had single coated lenses, and from 1988 with the update to the E version they've been multicoated.
And as can be seen, during the period there was at least a cosmetic upgrading on a roughly 10 year basis.
B) And specifications for the various lines, in reverse chronological order:
Those for the SE, EII and E are all from the manuals provided with the binoculars
Those for the A series are from a 1977 flyer at the Pacific Rim Camera site: Pacific Rim Camera Reference Library
And the Mikron data is from a 1951 brochure at the Miniature Binoculars site: https://www.miniaturebinoculars.com/part2/Page21529.htm
For more links and images about older Nikon Porros also see: Resources About Discontinued Nikon Binoculars & Nikon History
John
A) Nikon’s premier hand held Porro prism lines, following WWII were as follows:
1948 - Mikron (the Mikron designation was once used on most of the binocular lines)
- - - -
1959 - A model (A = aluminium?, not marked on unit; new eyepiece)
1969 - A model continues (only a change to markings, from Nikon Kogaku to Nikon; and from now on, no markings on RH prism plate)
- - - -
1978 - E model (E = Execulite, not marked on unit; new eyepiece with longer eye relief, and folding rubber eyecup)
1988 - E model updated (C = Criterion, marked on LH prism plate; same design now multicoated)
- - - -
1999 - EII model (EII not marked on unit; all new body with sloped prism plates, along with new prisms and eyepiece; longer eye relief and widest FOV;
and still in production)
- - - -
And
1998 - SE model (SE = Superior E; rubber coated; new design with field flattener lenses and longest eye relief; discontinued in 2008)
- - - -
From 1948 the binoculars had single coated lenses, and from 1988 with the update to the E version they've been multicoated.
And as can be seen, during the period there was at least a cosmetic upgrading on a roughly 10 year basis.
B) And specifications for the various lines, in reverse chronological order:
Those for the SE, EII and E are all from the manuals provided with the binoculars
Those for the A series are from a 1977 flyer at the Pacific Rim Camera site: Pacific Rim Camera Reference Library
And the Mikron data is from a 1951 brochure at the Miniature Binoculars site: https://www.miniaturebinoculars.com/part2/Page21529.htm
For more links and images about older Nikon Porros also see: Resources About Discontinued Nikon Binoculars & Nikon History
John
Attachments
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John A Roberts
Well-known member
dorubird
The unskilled mechanic blames his tools!
Thank you all for appreciation!
Thank you Mikbul, success in photography!
John, you have very useful structured information about the Nikon series. I knew and I've been using your information for a long time ... thank you John again!
My E 7x35 model presented above in first post, is in perfect condition and is manufactured according to SN between 1979 and 1981. It has a very good eyerelief for me who wears glasses (16mm from specification but I think it's even bigger). It is not multicoating but it is bright and has no traces of chromatic aberrations. The lack of chromatic aberrations in this binoculars shows that a good optical formula compensates for the lack of multicoatings and special glass ED, FL etc. The brightness surprised me too, but it is explained that my specimen has no trace of dust inside, it is perfectly clean (I saw new binoculars with more traces inside than in this 40-year-old binoculars). The light transmission is measured by our forum colleague Gijs van Ginkel (Thank you for your effort). The result is 86.9% (550nm), a very good for a single coated binoculars. The binoculars he tested are a little older than my SN 780xxx vs SN 783379 (my)
The only compromise in my old E 7x35 is the 7.3 degree field of view, but this is well balanced with:
1 clarity very close to the edges,
2 practicaly 0 chromatic aberrations
3 long eyerelief, aspects that make it very easy to use and align binos in front of the eyes.
Thank you Mikbul, success in photography!
John, you have very useful structured information about the Nikon series. I knew and I've been using your information for a long time ... thank you John again!
My E 7x35 model presented above in first post, is in perfect condition and is manufactured according to SN between 1979 and 1981. It has a very good eyerelief for me who wears glasses (16mm from specification but I think it's even bigger). It is not multicoating but it is bright and has no traces of chromatic aberrations. The lack of chromatic aberrations in this binoculars shows that a good optical formula compensates for the lack of multicoatings and special glass ED, FL etc. The brightness surprised me too, but it is explained that my specimen has no trace of dust inside, it is perfectly clean (I saw new binoculars with more traces inside than in this 40-year-old binoculars). The light transmission is measured by our forum colleague Gijs van Ginkel (Thank you for your effort). The result is 86.9% (550nm), a very good for a single coated binoculars. The binoculars he tested are a little older than my SN 780xxx vs SN 783379 (my)
The only compromise in my old E 7x35 is the 7.3 degree field of view, but this is well balanced with:
1 clarity very close to the edges,
2 practicaly 0 chromatic aberrations
3 long eyerelief, aspects that make it very easy to use and align binos in front of the eyes.
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dorubird
The unskilled mechanic blames his tools!
Nikon E 7x35 binoculars showed me very beautiful three-dimensional images with birds in general of small size ( Parus major, Sitta europaea, Troglodytes troglodytes, Dendrocopos major, Pyrrhula pyrrhula). It is a well-known that a 7x bino has a very deep field of view so it is very easy to focus.
I put a picture in the field with Nikon E 7x35 (swirly bokeh)
I put a picture in the field with Nikon E 7x35 (swirly bokeh)
Paultricounty
Well-known member
John , that’s a great write up! Thank you.
what can you say about the qualitative differences between the 7x35E and the 7x35EC , criterion Model?
I understand one is single coded and one is multicoated, but observationally what can be observed differently? Is the say substantial difference or only noticeable on the certain circumstances?
Could anybody else with direct knowledge of the two ad some to the conversation please.
Thank you
Paul
henry link
Well-known member
Hi Paul,
I find the coating used on my multicoated E series models (7x35 and 8x30) bought around 1990-91 to be indistinguishable from the multicoating used on my E IIs (8x30 and 10x35) bought around 2005-6. The image is obviously brighter under all conditions compared to my earlier single coated Es (2 8x30s). Also the contrast is higher and the color bias is much more neutral than my older Es, which besides being somewhat dim also have a decidedly yellow bias like many other single coated binoculars. Compared to the most color neutral current binoculars the image in my multicoated Es and EIIs looks a little reddish.
Henry
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Paultricounty
Well-known member
I might be miss understandin,
The E’ (with rubber eyecups) single coated. I was under the impression the E series until EC were not multi coated.
Then the E criterion ( EC model) are multi coated
Then the EII are multi coated. ??
Its a little confusing because of this post, see attached.
Thank you
Attachments
Hi John,
My old Nikon 9x35 was labelled Nippon Kogaku, did not know that there was a Nikon Kogaku interval.
Paultricounty
Well-known member
Still a little confused 🤔. If you bought in the 1990’s they would be EII not E’s. Unless you bought them used. What I believe, if you have an EII they are multi coated , with the newest update of the EII coatings were started 2017. Anything before EII is the E, which started with single coatings. Then came the E criterion model marked with a C on the prism plate.
The three are Nikon A series, then E C (criterion Multi coated) then the EII (2020 from last run). Between the A and EC would be an E without multi-coatings.
Attachments
Paultricounty
Well-known member
Henry would post the serial numbers of the two 8x30’s and the 7x35 you have? or private conversation me. I just bought another E for my collection from eBay. It looked good with box and all papers but it’s an E. I don’t think it’s multicoated.
Thank you
paul
dorubird
The unskilled mechanic blames his tools!
John A Roberts
Well-known member
Hi Paul,
If you go go to the thread that's attached to the post that Dorubird has linked to, there's information about the questions that you've raised
(including transmission graphs from Gijs' tests of Nikon Porros that are consistent with Henry's observations).
John
If you go go to the thread that's attached to the post that Dorubird has linked to, there's information about the questions that you've raised
(including transmission graphs from Gijs' tests of Nikon Porros that are consistent with Henry's observations).
John
henry link
Well-known member
Paul,
Sorry for the confusion. I don't call the multi-coated Es "Criterions" because AFAIK they were never called that back when they were available in the US from about 1990 to about 1998 and back then I never saw the E series multicoatings referred to as Criterion coatings. Nikon used the word Criterion very inconsistently then as an umbrella term for whatever binoculars they wanted to represent as their best in a particular brochure or catalogue. In three old brochures I have from the early 90s it applies to 9-10 different models, only 3 of which were E series, and 4 of which were not multicoated. The term is absent from the binocular bodies, boxes and printed materials of both my multicoated E series binoculars. I've never seen the "C" on the bodies of any of the other binoculars designated as Criterion models in those brochures.
My take on the history of the E Series is this: introduced in 1978 as single coated binoculars. Discontinued in the US about 1986 or 7 (I don't know about Japan or other countries). Re-introduced in the US about 1990 with green multi coatings and new lettering on the left prism cover including the black "C" inside a white circle. Discontinued just before or about the same time as the introduction of the 8x30 and 10x35 EIIs around 1998 or 99.
Here are the serial numbers for my E series binoculars, including exact dates of purchase in the two cases where I still have sales receipts.
7x35 multicoated - 209461, bought around 1990-91
8x30 multicoated - 425739, bought 10/10/94
8x30 single coated - 920197, bought 4/28/86
8x30 single coated - 921800, gift
If your recently acquired 8x30 is single coated it will show purple reflections coming from the lenses. Multicoated Es show green reflections.
Henry
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