Telescope Reviews: Minireview- Nikon AE 7x35s

I've been a confirmed wide-field bino nut since 2004, when I received a pair of 8 degree 8x40's as a gift (see my review on Nikon Actions 8x40 in the Minireviews section). Viewing huge swaths of the Milky Way is really exciting, it never seems to lose novelty for me. Of course, it is hard to find a bino pair with the important attributes namely wide AFOV eyepieces,comfortable eye relief, decent aperture and sharp-to-the edge optics. I have been reading reviews of the Miyauchi 5x32s with a lot of interest but the price tag is too high for my budget. About two years ago I purchased a pair of Barska 6x30 roofs, 11 degree field. They offer short eye relief and relatively dim images (due to losses in the single coated roof prisms no doubt). The Barskas are probably best suited as sports binos, not astro binos. So it has been hard to really push this equipment envelope on a budget...

After a lot of comparison shopping before/after the holidays, I stumbled across a seemingly perfect compromise: Nikon Action Extreme 7x35s. These guys are rated at 9.3 degrees, 17 mm eye relief and are built to Nikon's dependable standards. THe AEs use twist up eyecups, which I prefer. They balance easily and are compact. The 35 mm aperture is a fair compromise for astro use, but I've been surprised at their performance on star fields. based on one night's test in 10 degree F weather, I'd say the compromise is an above-average mix of features. The main advantage to this design (see edz's recent tests on AEs), is image brightness and sharpness. I used Sirius to test glare and out-of-field reflections-no problem. I was able to resolve the Trapezium tightly at field center, which my older 8x40s or 6x30s couldn't accomplish. Using moderately bright stars, I'd estimate field sharpness to be excellent over the inner 40% radius, good to about 70% then declining beyond that. Still, pretty good wide field performance overall to my eyes. The Actions suffered from excessive field curvature, but the AE appears mostly flat.

The eyecups click stop in one of four positions and hold position under pressure. The focus mechanism is stiff, but that will probably ease with warmer weather and use. I did notice just a slight uneven tracking of one eyepiece relative to the other (sticking on the focus column) but it does not affect images to my eyes. The box claimed "internal blackening minimizes light loss", but I found noticably non-blackened areas around the prism housing (dull silver). This is of no practical consequence in my opinion, just an observation. Also it is claimed to be fully multicoated but the prism faces are just single coated blue. Again of little to no consequence. The objective and eyepiece surfaces are nicely coated with no obvious back reflection under bright light indoors. My only real complaint relates to the lense covers- the objective covers are extremely tight fits and mostly not usable, the eyepiece cover is also a very tight fit. Although the AEs are rated as waterproof, I would challenge anyone to guarentee that given the covers. By the way, the eyelenses are a large 23 mm in diameter, very nice. And, I should mention finally, that this pair is made in China, but the build quality belies its origin. So, in all I'd rate the AEs as a 7 out of 10. In fact, better than "for the price" making them a good buy.

Edited by Loren Toole (01/31/08 11:18 PM)

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