Nikon Sportstar Zoom 8-24x25 Black binocular Sportstar Zoom 8-24x25 Black, 8x, 2.5 cm, Black, 305 g

Product Information

At 350g (12.3oz), it must be said they are on the heavy end of the scale when compared to most other compacts, they do however still feel very light compared to most standard full sized binoculars. Another downside to them not being fully covered in rubber is that there is more chance of them making a louder sound if something like your watch or more commonly a ring on your finger strikes against them. Rubber armour dampens down the sound and helps to ensure that you don't frighten away easily spooked animals like birds or deer.

At 24x Magnification:When you increased to their maximum level of 24x the Exit Pupil reduces to just over 1 (25/24) which means that not a lot of light that enters the binocular will reach your eyes. 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. 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. Magnification: 7x | Objective lens diameter: 21mm | Prism: Roof | Field of view: 7.7° | Weight: 250gTOKYO - Nikon Vision Co., Ltd., (Nikon Vision), a subsidiary of Nikon Corporation (Nikon), is pleased to announce the release of a new binocular model, the Sportstar Zoom 8-24x25. The Sportstar Zoom 8-24x25 binoculars feature a portable and compact body, and employ a zoom lever on the top of the body which enables smooth 8-24x zooming. The focusing ring can be operated while looking through the binoculars during observation. 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.

To minimize reflection on the lens surfaces and ensure clear, sharp images, anti-reflective coatings are often applied. These anti-reflection coatings are very important as part of the light that passes through any lens is reflected by the front (incident light) and rear (exiting light) surfaces. This reduces the amount of light passing through the lens and if this transmittance is very bad, the image you see will be darker than on binoculars that transmit more light. Also, the reflected light may cause ghosting and flaring, affecting image contrast. As you increase the magnification level and zoom in on an object, the FOV reduces even further. However this is not as big a problem as I would suggest the best way to use these zoom binoculars is to have them set at 8x to locate the object that you want to observe and the once you have it in your field of view, you can then zoom into it to get a more detailed view. 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. Canon offers a good range of image stabilised binoculars but higher magnifications are where you’ll benefit from it the most. Two caveats though: the high magnification makes for a narrow field of view (you see less at any given time) so it’s harder to spot the bird, star, whatever in the first place. And combined with the 32mm objective lenses, they don’t gather enough light for low light use at dusk. However, they’re great for shake-free stargazing and a delight for detailed moon gazing.

Product Specification

At 8x Magnification: All binoculars with an 8x magnification and 25mm objective lenses have an Exit Pupil of 3.13 (25/8) and a Twilight Factor of 14.1, which if you compare them to a full size 8x42 binocular, which has an exit pupil of 5.25 and a twilight factor of 18.3, it shows that the increased objective lens diameter of the 8x42 binoculars will gather more light and make it possible for the binoculars to transmit more light to your eyes. This is the main compromise to using a compact over a larger pair of optics, but having said that in reasonably good lighting conditions like during the day, where your eye pupil size is only about 2 to 3mm, this will not be much of a factor, it is just at twilight and under poor light where you can really notice the difference. You must also remember that having a good pair of compacts even in poor light is still much better than having no binoculars at all! Despite the glossy plastic exterior to the Nikon Sportstar Zoom 8-24x25 binocular, there’s enough weight and heft that we found it easy enough to hold them steady when observing. Inevitiably though, the further we went up the magnification range amplified any exterior hand wobble, with resultant image judder. Weak points? Their very narrow field of view, even at 8x magnification is really noticeable and their rather distant minimum focusing distance are definite weak points. The amount of eye-relief will also be disappointing to those of you who want to use them with glasses on. The fact that they are neither water or fogproof is also a shame, especially for those that like to use their optics in all weather conditions.