Nikon 8x30 8.3 Wf

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• Nikon 8x30 8.3 Wff
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By Holger MerlitzSince almost six years, the Nikon 8x30 EII has beenmy favorite traveling binocular. Among its outstanding featuresare its huge field of view, its compact size and overall highlevel of optical performance and mechanical construction.A couple of years ago, this glass was crushing its two competitors, leaving onlythe mechanical ruggedness of those military binoculars as a singlefeature to score against the Nikon. Not being waterproof and sealedagainst the elements is in fact a true disadvantage of the Nikon.But for its optical performance, which reaches up fairly close tothe premium class, the Nikon is incredibly cheap, available thesedays for roughly 500 Euro. I consider this a veryhonest offer: This binocular is of no-compromise design, optically,but I don't pay for additional features like water- or shockresistance, keeping this binocular both cheap and also light.Meopta, as a binocular maker, is still rather unknown to theworld-wide community of binoculars users, but it does deservemuch more attention. Its Meostar line is of very decent performance,and in a the 8x42Meostar performed well against a stiff competition fromKowa and Vortex.

After Meopta had recently introduced theirnew 8x32 binocular, I had the opportunity to compare thisglass sideby side with my Nikon EII for more than two months by now.In what follows I want to report on my experiences with thesetwo binoculars.Fig. 1: The Meopta 8x32 Meostar B1 (no. 901209) with its characteristic anti-slip nipplesMeopta is a traditional optics maker located in the Czech Republic, knownfor its rifle scopes, binoculars and spotting scopes.Its Meostar binocular line consists of 8x32, 10x32, 7x42, 8x42, 10x42, 7x50, 10x50,12x50 and 8x56 devices, the 32mm being among their latest developments.This binocular is nitrogen purged and fully water proof, has got trulyfunctional twist-up eye-cups (that actually stay put at whicheverheight they are set) and a comfortable eye-reliefof 15.4mm, quite a lot for a 8x32 wide angle glass. It is deliveredwith a decent soft case and a very comfortable padded neck strap.Less useful, since too loose, are the front covers, but actually theyare not needed at all and may as well be removed permanently. Thisbinocular is available for less than 700 Euro, quite a bit apart fromthe prices currently asked for the premium class.Fig.

Shop Nikon Monarch 7 8x30 Binoculars $25.46 Off 5 Star Rating on 3 Reviews for Nikon Monarch 7 8x30 Binoculars + Free Shipping over $49. I picked up a pair of Nikon 8x30e 8.3 WF binoculars for $80. They were a bit dusty, but overall look to be in great shape with one exception. The focus wheel cracked and lost a small chunk (see photo). The focus wheel still operates well enough, though it can slip and rotate without moving the focus of pressured the wrong way. Nikon Vision Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Nikon Corporation, is pleased to announce the release of its MONARCH 7 binoculars 8x30 and 10x30. These new models complement the existing MONARCH 7 8x42 and 10x42 binoculars. Integrating two values that Nikon has consistently pursued, namely, technical.

2: The Nikon 8x30 EII (no. 500463), short and stubby like the classic Zeiss (Oberkochen)Nikon is among the very few manufacturers who kept on designingnew top-class Porro-type binoculars for the civilian marketuntil the late 1990s.

The wide angle Nikon 8x30 EII was introducedin 1999 along with the 10x35 EII, as a successor of the Nikon E(which was around as early as 1978). Just one year before, in 1998,another excellent Porro glass of similar specification, the,had been launched, so one may ask whether or not such a redundancyon a shrinking market of Porro binoculars was a bit ambitious.Apparently, the EII binoculars did never sell well, and more thanonce rumors about their discontinuation came up on the Internetdiscussion boards.

Fortunately, the EII are still available, andI can only suggest to get them as long as they are around, sincethere is nothing comparable left on the market.The Nikon EII is of very compact design, similar to the old,and it comes with a precious magnesium body and a durable covering,but it is not waterproof. There exists an excellent. Currently, this binocular can bepurchased for less than 500 Euro, a bargain when consideringits outstanding optical performance.Fig. 3: The Meopta and the Nikon, elegance of the roof and the PorroThe following table summarizes some of the specifications of thetwo contenders. Angle of view: The Nikon is an outstanding performer as a wideangle binocular. With 8.8 degs. True angle, it outperforms everysingle 8x and even 7x binocular currently available on the high-endmarket.

As such it remains surprisingly compact, and with 14mm itseyepiece offers a lot of eye-relief despite of its roughly 70 degs.apparent angle. The Meostar is of wide angle design as well, andwith 7.9 degs. True angle it delivers a pleasant overviewof the scenery.

The field stops of both binocularsdisplay crisp and well defined edges - a feature that I very muchappreciate, since I dislike those fuzzy edges that are frequently foundwith other wide angle binoculars.Image sharpness: All quality binoculars offer a sharp and crisp imageat least near the central region of the field, and there are rarelyany significant differences discernible. The star test deliverspoint-like images from the center up to roughly 70% toward theedge of field, quite similar in both binoculars. Beyond that,the image blur is rapidly increasing.

These binoculars are decentperformers here, in particular the Nikon with its even wider field,but neither of them is outstanding: If we consider that Swarovskiwith its Swarovision line is nowadays capable of making binocularsof similar apparent angle as the Meopta, but sharp practically to theedge, then obviously both the Meostar and the Nikon EII appearmodest. However, Zeiss and Leica are not any better here,few people do actually ask for a perfect near-edge sharpness,and the price tag of the Swarovision is well above its competitionas well.Image color: The test with a white sheet of paper delivers a completelyneutral color tone of the Nikon, and a slightly warmer tone of theMeopta. This is not to be confused with a 'yellow tint' - when lookingthrough the Meostar binocular, the image appears neutral as well. Butthe light appears a little bit milder, causing less eye-strain onsunny days.

I admit that I have been inconsistent at times in previousreviews, sometimes scoring those binoculars that offereda completely neutral color rendering higher than others, and sometimesnot. I am in doubt now,because I realize that those glasses with a slightly warmer tonalityenable us to observe at higher accuracy simply because they allowfor relaxed observations with reduced eye-strain. It is a matter of factthat we tend to use sunglasses on bright sunny days. But we don't wantto wear these glasses when using our binoculars. If the binocularis damping down the outermost short-wavelength region of the spectrum, thenthe most aggressive and eye-straining contribution of the light isgone and the resulting image assumes a slight warm (yellowish) tone,and this does have its advantages.

Those roof-prism binocularswith silver mirror (like the Meostar) deliver that feature free house,since the reflectivity of that mirror layer drops rapidly toward the violetend of the spectrum. The latest premium roof-prism binoculars with theirdielectric mirrors offer a constant high reflectivity all over thespectrum and deliver a neutral image tone with slightly highereffective transmission ('slightly' higher, because the sensitivityof our eye is also dropping toward the violet end of the spectrum anda reduced transmission here does hardly affect the weighted integraltransmission). The Nikon, being of Porro design, does not requireany of these mirrors and is hence capable of delivering an almost flattransmission curve.Ideally, a binocular should offer the maximum possibletransmission, in combination with filter threads in front of theobjectives, so that the user is able to tune the transmission accordingto his current light and viewing conditions.Rectilinear distortion: Both binoculars have got a slight amount ofpincushion distortion implemented in their optical formulato eliminate the. The amount of distortion appears to bewell chosen here, the pincushion distortion is visible but remains moderate,and the globe effect is fully compensated.Stray light: Stray light is generated whenever light finds itsway through the instrument into the eye through an unforeseen path,for example as a reflex at the internal tube, a prism or lens edge.Top class binoculars often differ from their medium range competitionin their ability to suppress stray light under difficult lightconditions. The Nikon EII, though generally well protected against theseeffects, can suffer a moderate amount of stray light under very difficultlight conditions.

In these (rare) cases, the contrast of the image maybe reduced by a hint of a 'whiteout'. The Meostar performs very welleven under these conditions, its stray light protection is excellent andcompetitive with the high-end class.Ghost images: If, at night, a bright object (street lantern, moon) ispositioned into the field, reflections on the air-to-glass surfacestake place, which can lead to multiple 'ghost' images of thelight source. A successful suppression of these ghosts indicatesa high quality of the anti-reflection coating. Both binocularsperform very well here.

The Meopta does show some of those'spikes' with bright light sources in the night:As a result of diffraction at theroof edge, a bright point-like source is producing a single'spike', and since both prisms (left and right tube) areoriented under different angles, both spikes form a cross-likestructure when the light source is of sufficient intensity.The intensity of these spikes may be related to theaccuracy to which the roof edge is cut, and hence it differsfrom instrument to instrument. Through my sample of theMeostar, the intensity of the spikes is moderately high,and I have seen better performances with other (expensive)binoculars.

Perhaps, at this point Meopta could stillimprove, even though in most daily life situations these spikesremain entirely invisible. The Nikon, being of Porro design,does naturally not suffer these diffraction effects andit performs somewhat better under the conditions describedabove.Low light performance: Here we have a minor advantage of the Meostar,mostly due to its wider exit pupil. One has to keep in mind, however, thatbinoculars of the 8x30 class will never be great performers underlow light, and here they are vastly outperformed even by modestly priced8x42 binoculars. Nevertheless, the advantage of 8x30 binoculars lies intheir compactness and mobility, and since they are with us all over theday, situations arise in which they have to be used under low light aswell. Obviously, it is not only exit pupil size and transmission thatdecide about low light performance, but also stray light protection thathas an impact on the contrast of the (already dim) image.Both binoculars are of similar weight, very well builtand operating at high precision.I am using the Nikon since almost 6 years now and everything isstill functioning just as it did on the first day after purchase (well, with twoexceptions: The rubber eye-cups have turned a bit soft overthe years, and the soft case made of artificial leather is completelyworn down). TheMeopta has got a couple of advantages, however.

It is fullywaterproof and has a rubber armor. As such, the range of conditionsunder which the Meopta can be used without possibly taking damage is extended.The eye-relief of the Meostar is also a bit longer, making itfully functional for eye-glass wearer, whilethe Nikon's field of view may suffer once it is used togetherwith spectacles.

Nikon 8x30 8.3 Wf Printer

The eye-cups of the Meostar are of twist-uptype that lock at a single intermediate position. However, theyturn very stiff and in fact they stay safely put at any otherheight as well. To the contrary, the Nikon just has those oldfashion rubber eye-cups that are either fully up or down.Both binoculars have got a moderately fast central focuserthat is fairly stiff.

Nikon 8x30 8.3 Wff

Some 'power birder' may ask for afaster and softer focuser, but I prefer the present layoutbecause it allows for a precise focusing, and the wheelstays exactly where it is left and does not turn accidentally. TheMeopta has got a closer near-focusing distance, well below2m to me (it does depend on the eye as well), whereas theNikon cannot be focused much closer than 3m, and only withsome eye-strain as a result of its wide separation ofits objective lenses. Of course, for the same reason the Nikonoffers a far superior plasticity ('3D-effect') of the imageat intermediate distances with its superior stereoscopicbasis. All in all one can safely summarize that the Meostaroffers a lot of luxury that is absent with the Nikon, thelatter being a true instrument for the purist who wantsno-compromise optical performance without all those additionalbells and whistles that come along with modern high-end binoculars.The following table is supposed to summarize the above observations.The best performing binocular gets two points,the other one just a single one. In case bothof them perform equally well, the scores are averaged. The 'final score' is the sum of the individual scores andis intended to serve as an orientation only.These two binoculars are playing in the same league when itcomes to optical performance. Here they differ among oneanother in various aspects, but all of these differences are minorand there is no point in rating any binocular significantlyhigher than the other.

Most importantly, their distance tothe high-end class is close enough to qualify themas good alternatives. The Meopta has got theadvantage when it comes to ruggedness, water resistance anda couple of 'luxury' features like eye-relief, eye-cups orclose focus. Consequently, it is of somewhat higher pricethan the Nikon, that only offers excellent optics anda well built body. The Nikon is the best choice forthose purists who want maximum optical performanceat a moderate price, and who are able and willing to take care oftheir instrument (which is neither waterproof nor builtlike a tank - my own sample has already collecteda couple of dust grains on its field lenses andmay be in need for a cleaning after a few additionalyears of use). The Meopta offers an excellent overallpackage at a very attractive price, in particular if weconsider how fast the prices of the premium binocularshave been rising in recent years.The careful reader of this report may not have overseen myattempts to question some of the recent developmentsin binocular technology.

Nikon 8x30 8.3 Wfla

Not everything that is new and costly is necessarilysuperior. Do we really need 'flat' transmission curves, i.e. Maximumtransmission even of the shortest wavelengths, to achieve a fullyneutral image tone, and then having to wear sun glasses when observing onbright sunny days? If yes, why not at least adding filter threads to dampen/tunethe light whenever necessary?

Do we need a super fast and lowtension focuser, perhaps at the cost of precision? Do we really wantto pay a fortune just to have the circle of maximum image sharpnessextended all the way to the edge of field, rather than moving theobject of interest a little bit toward the center? Many people are using binocularsin order to observe distant objects. Should these people have to pay extra,or compromise performance, because there are some who would like towatch butterflies at 1.5m distance?

And is a binocularincomplete if it is not waterproof? Top binoculars of the 1980s likethe Zeiss Dialyt and the Leica Trinovid have not been waterproof either, and did a great job nonetheless.Should not those users who arewilling to take good care of their gear have the chance to purchasehigh-end optics without paying extra for water sealing and shockresistance? Let us hope that the manufacturers will find the rightanswers to these questions and a proper balance between usefulimprovements and an overload of features that yield little morethan a further increase of costs.The information given in this report reflects the personalimpression and opinion of the author only. I cannot guarantee for theaccuracy of any given specification. I have neither been payednor have I been supported in any other way to write this review.Last modified: July 2010.

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