Old Nikon 8x24 Binoculars

Cougar Allen

Cougar Allen

Buccaneer (ret.)
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I found an old pair of Nikon reverse porro binoculars in a secondhand store this afternoon. The only marking is on the focusing knob: Nikon 8x24 7° The other end says Japan. The oval silver sticker on the body is completely illegible now. The imitation pigskin pouch also says Nikon and MADE IN JAPAN.

It was out of alignment but I fixed that already. It's heavy. Eye relief is near zero. Close focus to 15 feet. I went up on a hill to try it out and the resolution seemed very good to me -- better than an old pair of 7x35s I brought along for comparison.

I'm sure I got my $5.99 worth, but I wonder how big a score it really is.... I think the number on the focusing knob is a serial number rather than a model number. What model is it? I poked around the net a little and found a mention with no picture that might be the same, said to have been new around 1970. I don't know, maybe it's too old for even the binocular bnuts to recognize....

The flat glass covering the objective lenses is obviously for waterproofing, but I wonder how waterproof it really is, especially after the seals have aged?

nikon1.jpg

nikon2.jpg

nikon 3.jpg
 
Those are quite coveted binoculars. I guess consumer reports gave them a very high rating and now they are sought after. I think they are the Nikon Look.

Nikon warranties their binoculars for life and for $20 you can send them in and have them gone over. Of course you may not want to do that for a $5 pair of binos. I just saw a pair on eBay for $50 shipped so I guess they aren't quite as valuable as I thought they were. They still are supposed to be good binoculars though.

Chad
 
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ChadHahn said:
Those are quite coveted binoculars. I guess consumer reports gave them a very high rating and now they are sought after. I think they are the Nikon Look.
Click to expand...

Nikon do make very good glass - both photography lenses, and binoculars.

But unfortunately those are NOT the ones Consumer Reports rated so highly.

That was the Nikon Venturer II 8x23 compacts - which I have - here's a quote from BetterViewDesired:

" ( A side note for those who don't recall the Nikon Venturer story: Back in the late 1980s, Nikon was coming to the end of their planned life cycle for their Venturer II compact binoculars. They were going to replace them with the first of the Travelite compacts and had announced the end of the Venturers to their dealers. Then, Consumer Reports came out with a compact binocular test report that rated the 8 x 23 Venturer II as the "Best Buy." It was rated as good as, or better than, even some expensive high-end compact roof prisms like Zeiss, with the highest total score of all 25 binoculars tested. Naturally, everybody and their cousin suddenly had to have a Venturer II. The result of the demand was that Nikon went back in production on the discontinued Venturer II and kept making them unchanged for more than four years, until the end of 1993, when the were finally discontinued for the last time. Such is the power of Consumer Reports. ) "

Here are pics of those highly rated Nikon Venturer II -
NikonVenturerII.jpg
NikonVenturerIIObjective.jpg


and a shot comparing sizes with other binoculars:
binoculars100407.jpg


please see Binoculars - Compact "Quality" Budget for more details.

But like I said Nikon has always made good glass.

EDIT to ADD -

I found a reference to the "Nikon Look" binoculars - no pics but the description sounds similar:

Nikon Look 6x18 & 8x24 Binos - BirdForum

(see in particular Post #3 )

--
Vincent

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Cougar Allen said:
I found another post, with pix this time: http://www.birdforum.net/showpost.php?p=1566943&postcount=12

That looks like the one. Says "originated in 1964" but doesn't say how long it was made....
Click to expand...

Cool!

Later in that thread in Post #14 :

" the Look series originated in 1964 and and the 6x18's were rolled out in conjunction with the Tokyo Olympics. Subsequently Nikon added a 7x21 and 8x24. My 8x24 was sold in 1970. "

I wasn't too sure whether the poster meant the 8x24 were first sold in 1970, or they had sold theirs in 1970 - but start of their next para clarifies:

" I've used both the 8x24 and the 6x18 over the past decade "

This meant the poster still owned the 8x24 -
so means the 8x24 were introduced in 1970?

--
Vincent

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