Prostaff P7 8x30 arrived, first impressions (1 Viewer)

[kimmik]

A little habicht has flown from one of my binos for the same reason - might get better workmanship if I glue it back myself. Is your’s diy fixable?

 

[Binocollector]

@kimmik
I might be able to just glue it back on.

 

[Tatanka88]

Had a new P7 10x42 in my hands for a few minutes.
I agree about the 70% sweetspot for sharpness, but experienced glare and lens flare, which did not disappear with slight change of angle.
Strong CA is only absent in the middle 15% of the image!
Body looks nice, it is an M7 copy (except the texture), but feels very "plasticky", hinge is stiff, focus wheel is normal, eyecups are not stable...
I was affraid when pulling up the diopter ring for the first time, it had crackling sound, I was wondering if I could put it back without damaging it!

 

[Stanley2]

How far past infinity can these Nikons focus for myopic people without glasses?
I am 7.5 diopters myopic and many binoculars can't focus that far past infinity.
(My Action Extreme 10x50 focus about 5-6 diopters past infinity, so I can't star-gaze without glasses.)
If anyone is myopic and has any of these Nikon (P7 P3 7s 3s) 10x42/8x42/10x30/10x50 binoculars and can report on infinity 'overdrive' I would appreciate it.

 

[Steve222]

Thanks for that review and I'm sorry the eye relief doesn't work for you and your trouble with the dioptre ring.
Is it ok now?
I'm interested in either this or the 10x30 model for birding/nature.
I mainly use binoculars for astronomy but lately feel I would like to spend more time actually using binoculars as opposed to waiting for clouds to disappear.
Hope you're still enjoying the 8x30 and thanks for the review.

Steve.

 

[Binocollector]

No, I never used it again after it broke. Nikon never answered and I will probably not get anything from that brand anymore. Certainly nothing of their cheap offerings anyway. I'd still like a newer "Mikron" 6x15 however but I already got a vintage one, so not sure I'll ever get a new one (in fact, I have all the binos I could ever need, so at the moment I just stopped even thinking about getting more).
I'd very much suggest getting something better. Even without the diopter problem, the focus wheel is not that great and the whole thing just feels cheap, which it is.
I later bought a slightly used Meopta Meopro HD 8x32 (no longer made however) which costs 500€ new but I paid only 270€. That is only 50 more than a new P7 but it is lightyears ahead in build quality, optical quality, eye relief -- basically all the important parameters are better.
The usual "bottom line" -- buy cheap, buy twice, does very much apply.
So, if it has to be a Nikon -- get an MHG at least.
And some of my favourite binos are still older porros bought used from ebay for most of the time not more than 60€ a piece, sometimes as low as 30 (my cheapest was actually an old USSR "Sotem" 10x50 for 17€). The only problem with those can be the color tint of some of them because of the older coatings. But there are some that are rather neutral in color. The problem with buying used online is, you never know what you're gonna get.

 

[Steve222]

No, I never used it again after it broke. Nikon never answered and I will probably not get anything from that brand anymore. Certainly nothing of their cheap offerings anyway. I'd still like a newer "Mikron" 6x15 however but I already got a vintage one, so not sure I'll ever get a new one (in fact, I have all the binos I could ever need, so at the moment I just stopped even thinking about getting more).
I'd very much suggest getting something better. Even without the diopter problem, the focus wheel is not that great and the whole thing just feels cheap, which it is.
I later bought a slightly used Meopta Meopro HD 8x32 (no longer made however) which costs 500€ new but I paid only 270€. That is only 50 more than a new P7 but it is lightyears ahead in build quality, optical quality, eye relief -- basically all the important parameters are better.
The usual "bottom line" -- buy cheap, buy twice, does very much apply.
So, if it has to be a Nikon -- get an MHG at least.
And some of my favourite binos are still older porros bought used from ebay for most of the time not more than 60€ a piece, sometimes as low as 30 (my cheapest was actually an old USSR "Sotem" 10x50 for 17€). The only problem with those can be the color tint of some of them because of the older coatings. But there are some that are rather neutral in color. The problem with buying used online is, you never know what you're gonna get.

I'll take note of your suggestions, in the meantime enjoy all that you have and thank you.

Steve.

 

[Swedpat]

Hi guys and gals,
my Prostaff P7 came with UPS today. (Package seemed to have taken some abuse but luckily they used enough bubble wrap so the cardboard Nikon box was undamaged.)
First impressions -- it is very light, very plasticky (not a single metal part in sight anywhere -- compared to it my Canon 8x32WP feels like a tank -- but weighs as much, too and the Nikon P7 has a much bigger FoV -- the good old Canon has only 7.5° compared to the 8.7° of the Nikon). Guess you cannot have everything. After all it is an entry level model.
Image seems very nice, good sweetspot (but my eyes adjust pretty well so I can never tell how anyone else might feel about it and taking pics with my cheap phone is pretty useless -- I did it anyway).
It seems to me like it has a very slight compression at the edge of the field -- like a barrel distortion, definitely not a pincushion distortion which would have been optically better. This seems very similar to the Kowa BDII which to me is the direct competitor for the P7 with its 8.8° FoV.
Eyecups have 3 positions. And it DOES NOT work with glasses for me -- the eyepiece lenses are recessed too much and eye relief is too short for me -- image is cut off so much that the wide FoV makes no sense at all. Compared to my Kowa 6.5x32 the eye relief is horrible on the Prostaff. On the Kowa I get maybe at least 90% of the FoV compared to wearing no glasses.
Sounds like I am trashing it but I otherwise it is very nice, feels good in the hand, focuser works nicely, optics seem to be really good -- even though the FoV is still no match for any of my vintage wide angle 8x30s.
CA is controlled very well in the center but it has some off-axis CA. No tripod-adapter screw. Locking diopter ring. The rainguards and objective covers are, like on all Nikons I own, a bad joke. I might get some Opticron lense covers for them later on.
It is too early of course to really come up with a fair judgement. But for 219€ (way cheaper in the US) I'd have expected a bit more. You get what you pay for. The Kowa 8x32 would still be way better quality and has better eye relief, too but also costs almost twice as much (at least in Germany -- Kowa BDII 8x32 is 419€).
The optics seem to be the flavor of the day for China made binos -- not much pincushion distortion (to me that is a good thing but I suspect others might have problems with the globe effect -- similar to the Kowa BDII) a slight "compression" or less magnification at the edge which looks still very different to my eyes from a "normal" field curvature like on vintage porros.
Some more details: it takes 1.5 turns to get from closest focusing distance to infinity and about one turn to get from closest focus point (roughly 2m) to about 300m out.
Overall quality is not bad, no major flaws that I can see -- just a little plasticky compared to a Kowa or my Canon (I compared it to the Canon because that is the only relatively modern 8x bino I have and it's a roof prism -- all my other 8x binos are either vintage or porros - edit: completely forgot about my Kite Cervus 8x56).
I'll update the thread after I have used it for some time.
And I took a lot of pictures -- but keep in mind that I didn't use a tripod.

Vintage wide angle 8x30 to compare:

Here you can see the recessed lenses of the eyepieces - which further reduces eye relief. A real bummer for all who need glasses to observe. I also took a pic of me with glasses -- so you get an impression of how close my glasses fit.

Next pic was to "force out" some CA. But I guess it is too blurry. I cannot see CA in the center -- and the sweetspot seems smaller on the cellphone pics which is either the crappy lense or maybe my eyes are so good at adjusting that the sweetspot looks just much larger to my eyes. I think that is something everybody has to find out for himself. Best to test in a store first.

Close view of the garden -- around 6 m.

Sometimes, like in the situation you describe, using contact lenses would be good.
No problem with short eye relief like when wearing eye glasses.
But if I had been used contact lenses, I would need reading eyeglasses, or a magnification glass for close distance and for reading.
I think eyeglasses is better.

 

[Binocollector]

Sometimes, like in the situation you describe, using contact lenses would be good.

I have often thought about it but I think I couldn't stand fiddling something into my eye. And for some time I often had "pink eye" (probably from working at a laptop too long each day). One year it was so bad that doctors feared for my eyesight after I had it for 3 months (I think it had something to do with Covid as I heard about other cases during that time) and doctors claimed it was a bacterial and viral infection at the same time (in the end some newly developed not yet approved eye drops against allergies did help after everything else had failed including antibiotics). So no contacts for me. Besides, I just look better with glasses. Raises my IQ by at least 10 points .

 

[Steve222]

I bought the 8x30 model too Philipp, as it was being sold at a reduced price at the camera shop.
I'll see how it goes but I do tend to take very good care of my equipment.

One of the advantages I have is that I won't be sharing this binocular with anyone so the dioptre ring will not be getting moved from its current position.
I think for the current price of £169 it was too good of a bargain to pass up.

I'm enjoying using it very much, the plasticky feel doesn't bother me as my 7x42FL is also very plasticky in parts.

Like I say, time will tell but so far I have nothing but good experiences with both 8 and 10X.
Optically for the price its way exceeded expectations.

Steve.

 

[Swedpat]

By the way: when I think about it I understand the problem is that all manufacturers sacrifice eye relief in order to get wider field if view.
In several cases 8x25 models have long ER and ~50deg AFOV. But as soon it comes to 8x30/32 the AFOV is 65deg but shorter ER.
8x25: good with eyeglasses. 8x30/32: bad with eyeglasses.

One could think that the wide angle eyepiece still provide as large FOV with eyeglasses as a "normal" eyepiece. That may be true. But the image quality is still not the same because there is a kind of shadowing in the field as long you don't come close enough to unrestricted see the entire FOV.
Therefore I wish there were 8x30/32 options with narrower FOV and longer ER.