Vintage (?) Nikon J-B7 8x30 binocular.

[Alfian]

My family and myself have  just had a very nice holiday in a cottage in Scotland (near Gatehouse of Fleet) . Like most holiday cottages it came well equipped but I was surprised to find the above binos (in a nice case) on the windowsill  ready for occupants to use. They were in very good condition and I was immediately impressed with their build quality which included very nice well fitting lens caps. They had a very wide field of view, most of which was sharp. There was noticeable dimming right at the edge. I was quite surprised that the cottage owners had left such a nice binocular to be used where, lets be honest, they will be subject to possible abuse.  Unfortunately I didn't get to use them at night, good weather during the day, cloud at night!

I had with me my Opticron iMagic 10x42s, so it was interesting to compare them. Immidiately noticeable was the brighter image in Opticrons. Given good daylight conditions, assuming a similar exit pupil (?) I would expect the Opticrons to be brighter because of the higher magnification but they were much brighter. Contrast was better and image equally sharp but the field of view, of course, was much narrower.  So I reasoned that modern optics with modern coatings won the day but that still didn't stop me from liking the Nikons - and they were just so nice to hold and use.  I wouldn't say no if a good one came up second hand. 

[Alfian]

Just found a picture of the Nikons. According to the caption with the photo they hail from 1962/63

 

[PeterW]

Nice find, modern coatings do improve transmission. There are plenty of old 7x35 wide angle bins out there for the finding, really help when birding and star hopping... no "looking down a drainpipe" feel. Companies just don't make them like they used to!

PeterW