I thought about the Nikon Action Zoom bins for stars but was on the (Mount Oriel) fence about it.
Definitely glad I got to test different types of magnifications yesterday. The Hawke bins were very nice, but I’ve used Nikon camera lenses for donkeys years so trust them to make decent quality binoculars for a casual user.
For stargazing I don’t buy that Dwarf or Seestar cobblers all the ‘influencers’ (that word needs banning) are peddling either.
I was asking the fella in the shop yesterday about Pentax. Basically what I thought already, that they were good for optics about 20+ years ago. I tried a pair of Olympus (or OM System) too which I thought were poor quality in comparison to the Hawke ones.
I’ve been lurking and reading this thread but stayed out because I do not have binocular vision! Not that I don’t have any bins, they just get used as monoculars. I carry a pair of 8X21 folding bins, no idea who made them, they came as a free gift for joining the National Trust. They fit into a small pouch in a pocket of my camera bag when not in use. The quality may not be up to that of the big names but frankly for most purposes they are perfectly adequate. I also have a true monocular, a Zenith 8X30, ancient now, just like me, but perfectly OK for a bit of casual sky watching, though (like all bins) you have to take a stance (or seat) with your elbows tucked in and braced. They’ve logged a good few comets over the last fifty years! Talking of Zenith (Zenit) my wife has a pair of 8X30 bins, a bit on the heavy side but perfectly serviceable. Its nice to have high grade stuff but for 99% of the time more pedestrian stuff is perfectly adequate!
Going on to birds, I have a largish garden (~400m^2) in a leafy suburb of a city with a population of about a million - its long enough for an 80m dipole. Recently the garden score of species rose to 44, with parakeets moving into the area. The feeders are busy but in ones and twos, the nesting season is in full swing here, and of course nuthatches are regulars. The resident robins try to repel all comers but with two feeding stations they have their work cut out!
I’m 37.2% sure I have a Zenith camera and/or lens somewhere. Might be confusing it with Zorki, which I definitely have one of and in a matching case. I’ll have to look now!
I used to have a Zenith camera, built like a tank! A climber friend dropped one at the top of Milestone Buttress on Tryfan. When he recovered it from the scree, about 70m lower, it still worked OK but the case had some damage!
I owned one of those for years until I graduated to Pentax SLR
I still have zenith 8x40 binos I bought for £10 in Gibraltar In 1971. They are dented , scratched but easily repaired and dismantled for cleaning or repair using an ordinary screwdriver.
20 yrs ago I bought a pair of Ziess conquest bins especially for birding. Rather more than the Zeniths but bomb proof and the optical quality is excellent. Which for me and other birders means bright images to show accurate colours of bird plumage and see clearly in dull or poor light.
Nice! Zeiss, Swarovski etc are S++ Rank optics. Enjoy!
Looking forward to receiving my Nikon P7’s. I’m out of the country and Amazon won’t deliver them without a PIN code. That’s a new one on me. I was hoping they’d have been punted over the wall and left out in the rain til I got back!
I carry a pair of 8X21 folding bins, no idea who made them, they came as a free gift for joining the National Trust. They fit into a small pouch in a pocket of my camera bag when not in use. The quality may not be up to that of the big names but frankly for most purposes they are perfectly adequate. I also have a true monocular, a Zenith 8X30, ancient now, just like me, but perfectly OK for a bit of casual sky watching, though (like all bins) you have to take a stance (or seat) with your elbows tucked in and braced. They’ve logged a good few comets over the last fifty years! Talking of Zenith (Zenit) my wife has a pair of 8X30 bins, a bit on the heavy side but perfectly serviceable. Its nice to have high grade stuff but for 99% of the time more pedestrian stuff is perfectly adequate!