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With these Nikon binoculars, the minimum distance that you can focus on an object is a 4 meters (13.1ft) away, which once again is not great and quite a bit further than the best. I consider anything under 6ft to be very good. So if you are looking for a compact binocular specifically for things like observing butterflies then I do not recommend getting these. Rather take a look at these close focusing binoculars. Comparing the view through these and that of my control compact, at 8x magnification I would say that in terms of brightness, they were almost equal, which is pretty good and equal to many much more expensive binoculars in this class. As you adjust the zoom and increase the magnification, you can actually see the image produced getting darker and darker, which is to be expected (see exit pupil above). In poor lighting conditions like at sunset, this actually has quite a big impact on just how effective and useful these zoom binoculars are. It may be obvious, but it is for this reason and the fact that they have such a small field of view that you really should not consider these Nikons as an option for binoculars for astronomy. I could not find any details as to exactly what the interior frame or the exterior body is made of, but the exterior looks to be made from some sort of hard plastic. Nikon state that they have added a carbon fibre material in parts of the grip which they say enhances durability. I am guessing that this is in the parts of the barrels that have a thin dark grey rubber coating on them, which you can see as being the dark sections on the image below: Specs-wise, it boasts superior optics and coatings and its Porro prisms are made with BaK-4 Barium Crown glass, considered the best prism material available. The exterior is rubberised and lens caps flip down. Accessories include a rugged carry bag with a strap and both regular and flared eyecups.
Stars are less exciting. The dots just become bigger dots and you really need a tripod to keep them steady. But you do see more stars. Observe one that you can see with the naked eye and you do see many other, fainter ones nearby.
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Ideal Uses: Like most compact binoculars, these are pretty good if you are looking for a take anywhere pair of binoculars, perfect for camping... although not if you are going to get them wet! I would take them hiking with me, if spotting birds and wildlife was not my main focus as they are let down by their poor field of view. I also see them sitting in the cubbyhole of my car, or in my golf or kit bag to be used at any time. I think where they may be ideal is at a sporting event, where you can use the zoom to take in some details on the field, although once again a wider field of view would have really been appreciated here. They’re lovely to use with a bright image that’s well magnified. They’re great outdoorsy all-rounders. A close focus range of just 1.9m means you can magnify even quite near objects.
Optics-wise they use premium glass (Schott HT) for the roof prisms with phase-correcting coating P40 and HighLux-System HLS. This makes for a pin-sharp image without the loss of contrast that cheaper roof prisms can suffer from. Lenses have reliable HDC Plus-multicoating and AquaDura lens coating for maximum protection, while anti-reflective coatings make for great low-light capabilities. The focusing mechanism is geared so that it takes a full 2 and 1/4 turns to go from infinity to it's minimum focusing distance of 13.1ft (4m).What this means is that focusing from near to far (or vise versa) takes a little longer than ones that take less turns, but it does have the slight advantage of making fine tuning your focus just that bit easier and more accurate. I think Nikon have got this about right with these as it really helps you to get the correct focus when you have the magnification at the higher settings like it's maximum of 24x.There is no mention in any of their marketing of them being either water or fog proof and so I must assume that they are neither. In this price range, not many binoculars are fully waterproof or fogproof and so this is fairly understandable, but it would be nice to know that they were at least a little "weather proof" - anyway I am sure that they would survive a little light rain, but to be completely safe just make sure that you don't get them really wet in very bad weather. At 16x Magnification:When you increase their magnification to 16x their Exit Pupil reduces to 1.56 (25/16) which means that even less light will be getting to your eyes. All lenses and prisms are multilayer-coated for brighter images and the body is a lightweight 305 g/10.8 oz. As you would expect on a low cost compact, these don't come with a vast array of expensive coatings and things like super high quality extra-low dispersion glass, but because they are a porro prism binocular their prisms have total internal reflection and as such they do not need some of the coatings that roof prism's do to achieve the same quality of image. This is one of the main reasons why you often get a better performance from a low cost porro prism binocular than that of a roof prism one in the same price range.
The twist-up eyecups look to be made from a very hard plastic that have a very thin rubber coating on them. The ocular lens has a diameter of 11mm and the eyecup has an external diameter of 37mm, which are both considerably smaller than what you find on most full sized binoculars, but is about average for a compact. This smaller size and very thin rubber covering mean that they are not the most comfortable eyecups that I have ever used, but any discomfort is only really noticeable when you push them quite firmly against your face.
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When set to a magnification level of 8x, their field of view is 80m at 100m / 240ft at 1000 yards (4.6°) - which, for a what at this setting effectively an 8x25 binocular is not very good. To put this into context, the Steiner 8.5x26 Wildlife Pro has a FOV of 333ft at 1000 yards and the Kowa 8x25 BD has a FOV of 331ft at 1000 yards and even the Minox 10x25 BV BRW which has a magnification of 10x has a FOV of 290ft at 1000 yards. These are quite hard parameters to judge and very subjective, but I thought that the contrast of the image produced was good and once you have correctly focussed on an object the image is pin sharp. There are two buttons on top for the two types of image stabilisation. The buttons feel different, so it’s easy to find the right one with your finger without looking. The Stabiliser mode eliminates shake; then, when you’ve found your subject, use the Powered IS mode to also eliminate bigger movements. The life of the (two AA) batteries varies dramatically: around 10 hours at 23°C but only around 1 hour at -10°C. As with other small binoculars, they come with a strap and a case (but the case doesn’t have its own strap). The case is simple but functional. The eyepiece cap is attached to the strap so you can’t lose it. While the objective lens caps flip down so you can’t lose them either.
Below is a table comparing this Nikon EagleView Zoom with a selection of other compact binoculars. The very top of the range Swarovski 8x20B compact binoculars as well as a few others like the Pentax 9x28 DCF, Minox 10x25 BV BRW's, Kowa 8x25 BD and the Steiner 8.5x26 Wildlife Pro. Strong Points: I think that on the whole their main feature, the 8-24x zoom works pretty well, which I have to be honest I was rather surprised about. Being able to zoom into something to view it in more detail is nice and the actual zoom adjustment dial is well positioned and it is really simple to adjust without having to remove the binoculars from your face, or even change your grip. In your hands the Nikon EagleViews feel good and I would say that they not only look good but also give off the impression that they are more expensive than they actually are. The image quality and brightness at 8x magnification is also pretty good for a pair of compacts.All lenses and prisms are multilayer-coated for brighter views and the body is a light-weight of only 305g. An optional red-dot finderscope (not included) can also be attached to the rail, to help you find objects fast, if you’re aiming for a serious, tripod-based setup. The lenses on these Nikon EagleView Zooms are multilayer-coated. What this means is that they have received multiple layers of anti-reflective coatings which helps to increase light transmission, for a brighter image and therefore better low light performance. This is good, but it would have been even better if they had been fully-multi coated, which would mean that they had multiple layers of anti-reflective coatings on all air to glass surfaces and not just some of them as these are.
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