henry link
Well-known member
My first really good binocular was a 7x35 Nikon Action Porro purchased in 1985 for about $80. Unfortunately, my pair is long gone, but I recommended this binocular to many friends at the time. Recently I found that one of them still has hers and, very happily, it’s in nearly mint condition (even the rubber eyecups look new). She clearly hasn’t used it very much and has even managed to hang on to the objective and eyepiece caps. The exterior glass surfaces hardly even needed cleaning and the innards were pristine. Naturally I jumped at the opportunity to test such a rare artifact from my personal binocular history.
The Action series were Nikon’s cheapest full sized binoculars in 1985, but I quickly discovered that it was nearly impossible to find anything optically better. I tried to replace mine with a Zeiss 7x42 B/GAT and then a Leitz 8x40 Trinovid. Since neither was phase corrected they were obviously less sharp and lower contrast than the cheap Nikon. In the end I wound up with a collection of Porros, including Nikon E’s, CZJ 8x50 Nobilem Super and Octarems and various Swarovski Habichts and SLs. All of those were better than the roof prism binoculars of the time, but none was really optically superior to the Nikon Action overall.
The secret to the excellence of the original Action Series is simple. All of the cost-cutting was in the mechanicals. For instance, the objective barrels and eyepiece housings are plastic. Metal was used only when essential, like for the prism housings and the eyepiece bridge (which is not at all wobbly). In contrast, the optics were mostly uncompromised for the time and, in some ways, superior to the more expensive contemporary E series. Collimation is done the proper and expensive way, using double eccentric objective rings. Prisms are slotted and well secured using wide leaf springs (see first photo on the left). The only refinement missing from the prism arrangements is a light shield. Eyepieces appear to be high quality 4 element, 3 group Konigs.
In the middle photo you can see how much larger the 7x35 Action is compared to the 7x35 E. That’s mainly because its objective focal length is about 140mm vs 126mm for the E. That gives the Action a little theoretical advantage at controlling axial aberrations and helps lower the eyepiece off-axis aberrations. In a star test the axial aberrations of the action look quite well corrected for a binocular, in fact better than many current alphas. Off-axis aberrations are good enough; a similar mix of astigmatism and field curvature to the 8x30 E with a similar rate of deterioration.
Axial resolution is outstanding. Using the USAF 1951 chart at 56x I measured 3.5 arc seconds in the better right barrel and about 4 arc seconds in the left (which has a little coma). The right barrel works out to 122.5/D, about as good as binoculars get.
Longitudinal chromatic aberration is “normal” for an f/4 achromat, but lateral color (the color fringing you really see in binoculars) is better corrected than any current alpha roof prism binocular I’ve tried. This is typical of binoculars with simple cemented doublet objectives, which virtually never have as much lateral color as binoculars with complex air-spaced objectives and internal focusers.
The AR coatings appear to be ordinarily single layer MgF, identical to the pre multi-coated E series (see photo below of the reflections returning from an 8x30 E and 7x35 Action). Both show a slightly yellow color cast. Later E’s were much improved by full multi-coating, but unfortunately the original Action optics never got more than partial multi-coating in the otherwise identical Gold Sentinel Series.
Besides coatings, the one other significant compromise in the Action optics is the fairly short eye relief of the wide field models. For the 7x35 I measured 12mm from the rim of the folded eyecup, 15mm from the glass of the eye lens. I imagine most of the surviving Actions will have ruined or missing rubber eyecups. Unfortunately the eyecup size appears to be unique. E series eyecups can be stretched to fit, but they’re too long for the short eye relief of the Actions.
So, there you are. For once, something from the past I remembered as really excellent, actually was and is. The original Actions might have been a little too good for their place in Nikon’s pecking order. It seems that every later version has been a step down in optical quality. Even now, twenty five years after their time, the originals with modern coatings would be outstandingly good binoculars.
Henry Link
The Action series were Nikon’s cheapest full sized binoculars in 1985, but I quickly discovered that it was nearly impossible to find anything optically better. I tried to replace mine with a Zeiss 7x42 B/GAT and then a Leitz 8x40 Trinovid. Since neither was phase corrected they were obviously less sharp and lower contrast than the cheap Nikon. In the end I wound up with a collection of Porros, including Nikon E’s, CZJ 8x50 Nobilem Super and Octarems and various Swarovski Habichts and SLs. All of those were better than the roof prism binoculars of the time, but none was really optically superior to the Nikon Action overall.
The secret to the excellence of the original Action Series is simple. All of the cost-cutting was in the mechanicals. For instance, the objective barrels and eyepiece housings are plastic. Metal was used only when essential, like for the prism housings and the eyepiece bridge (which is not at all wobbly). In contrast, the optics were mostly uncompromised for the time and, in some ways, superior to the more expensive contemporary E series. Collimation is done the proper and expensive way, using double eccentric objective rings. Prisms are slotted and well secured using wide leaf springs (see first photo on the left). The only refinement missing from the prism arrangements is a light shield. Eyepieces appear to be high quality 4 element, 3 group Konigs.
In the middle photo you can see how much larger the 7x35 Action is compared to the 7x35 E. That’s mainly because its objective focal length is about 140mm vs 126mm for the E. That gives the Action a little theoretical advantage at controlling axial aberrations and helps lower the eyepiece off-axis aberrations. In a star test the axial aberrations of the action look quite well corrected for a binocular, in fact better than many current alphas. Off-axis aberrations are good enough; a similar mix of astigmatism and field curvature to the 8x30 E with a similar rate of deterioration.
Axial resolution is outstanding. Using the USAF 1951 chart at 56x I measured 3.5 arc seconds in the better right barrel and about 4 arc seconds in the left (which has a little coma). The right barrel works out to 122.5/D, about as good as binoculars get.
Longitudinal chromatic aberration is “normal” for an f/4 achromat, but lateral color (the color fringing you really see in binoculars) is better corrected than any current alpha roof prism binocular I’ve tried. This is typical of binoculars with simple cemented doublet objectives, which virtually never have as much lateral color as binoculars with complex air-spaced objectives and internal focusers.
The AR coatings appear to be ordinarily single layer MgF, identical to the pre multi-coated E series (see photo below of the reflections returning from an 8x30 E and 7x35 Action). Both show a slightly yellow color cast. Later E’s were much improved by full multi-coating, but unfortunately the original Action optics never got more than partial multi-coating in the otherwise identical Gold Sentinel Series.
Besides coatings, the one other significant compromise in the Action optics is the fairly short eye relief of the wide field models. For the 7x35 I measured 12mm from the rim of the folded eyecup, 15mm from the glass of the eye lens. I imagine most of the surviving Actions will have ruined or missing rubber eyecups. Unfortunately the eyecup size appears to be unique. E series eyecups can be stretched to fit, but they’re too long for the short eye relief of the Actions.
So, there you are. For once, something from the past I remembered as really excellent, actually was and is. The original Actions might have been a little too good for their place in Nikon’s pecking order. It seems that every later version has been a step down in optical quality. Even now, twenty five years after their time, the originals with modern coatings would be outstandingly good binoculars.
Henry Link
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