Resources About Discontinued Nikon Binoculars & Nikon History (1 Viewer)

[John A Roberts]

Recently I became interested in the multicoated E series Porro prism binoculars i.e. those preceding the current EII series
Reading around the topic, I ended up looking at a lot of other information, much of which will be of more general interest . . .


I) INFORMATION FROM NIKON
NIKON BINOCULAR CHRONOLOGY TO 2004
I’ve attached a chronology previously compiled by Nikon. It gives an easy introduction as to when many models were introduced
It was originally posted by elkcub: https://www.birdforum.net/showpost.php?p=2257403&postcount=11

HISTORY OF NIKON
Nikon has a lot of information on it’s website (the product specific information relates primarily to photographic developments): https://www.nikon.com/about/corporate/history/

CORPORATE INFORMATION
Current corporate information can be found here: https://www.nikon.com/about/corporate/
Included at the bottom of the page is a link to a PDF of the 2018 Company Profile, which provides an overview of much of the corporate information

Information about the restructuring plan referred to in the Company Profile - including strategic detail about what is proposed in relation to Imaging Products (which includes binoculars),
can be found here:https://www.nikon.com/about/ir/management/midtermbusiness/ , see the PDF ‘Restructuring plan’, especially pages 20 and 21


II) INFORMATION FROM OTHERS
HANS BRAAKHUiS
A wide variety of information can be found on Hans’ website: http://www.hansbraakhuis.nl/Nikon/Nikon.html

A) Look down the left column to ‘verrekijkers’, and then select the options to the right. These include:
- a comprehensive spreadsheet of introductions and basic detail for binoculars from 1910 on (first for the Fujii Brothers precursors, and then from 1917 for Nikon)

- a history of Mikron miniature binoculars (in Dutch)

- a PowerPoint presentation about Mikron miniature binoculars, based on the above (in English)

B) To the right of ‘Nikon History’ is:
- a detailed history of Nikon, primarily to the end of WWII, and a lot more (in English)

C) To the right of ‘overig Nikon’ is:
- a 1954 Nippon Kogaku catalogue of 22 pages, listing a comprehensive range of products


III) MORE BINOCULAR INFORMATION
1951 MIKRON BINOCULAR FLYER
A flyer for the US market is on the Miniature Binoculars website: http://www.miniaturebinoculars.com/part2/Page21529.htm
The MB site contains a large selection of material about discontinued binoculars
- go to the 3 ‘Research Materials’ buttons at the bottom of the Navigation panel on the right side of the page


1977 BINOCULAR FLYER
The flyer is on the Pacific Rim Camera website: https://www.pacificrimcamera.com/rl/rlNikonNotebook.htm
PRC also has a wealth of old photographic flyers and brochures: https://www.pacificrimcamera.com/rl/rlrindex.htm


pre-1982 BROCHURE
I’ve attached copies of 6 pages from an undated and somewhat worse for wear brochure that I obtained
- based on Braakhuis’ spreadsheet it should date to between 1979 and 1981
n.b. the 1977 flyer above has A series Porro models, this brochure has E series models


1985 BROCHURE
Henry Link has provided various pages with specifications for:
- x50 and x70 Porro binoculars: https://www.birdforum.net/showpost.php?p=2989967&postcount=9

- Action series Porro binoculars: https://www.birdforum.net/showpost.php?p=2307804&postcount=6

- roof prism binoculars: https://www.birdforum.net/showpost.php?p=3282171&postcount=4
(and there is more information about the roof prisms provided by fstop: https://www.birdforum.net/showpost.php?p=3282184&postcount=5 )

- spotting scopes: https://www.birdforum.net/showpost.php?p=1921245&postcount=7

- and an image of E series Porro binoculars: https://www.birdforum.net/showpost.php?p=1897338&postcount=26


ACTION SERIES PORROS (from 1984 on)
Henry has also provided copies of specifications for the various Action series Porro prisms here: https://www.birdforum.net/showpost.php?p=2334547&postcount=22
And some additional images here: https://www.birdforum.net/showpost.php?p=2341566&postcount=30


I hope the above proves to be of interest and use
And as always, if anyone knows of additional resources, please contribute

John

 

[John A Roberts]

. . . and the three additional pages

 

[NDhunter]

John:

You are a great resource on here, it will take me a while to read all of what you have presented.

Keep up the good work.

Jerry

 

[mooreorless]

Jerry I have the Nikon 8x30 IF roof like the one in the roof prism link one except mine is camo. Here is a picture of it from the extenders test that I did a while back.
https://www.birdforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=363150&d=1325633870

https://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=219014

I forgot to say thanks John for putting this together!!

 

[dries1]

John,

Thanks for taking the time to put this together, I am also a fan of many of their glass, and the E series 8X30 is still a great glass providing wide 3D views. Solid metal construction in small package, a very well made in Japan product. Additionally on the brochure, third pic on the right, I am sending in the same 7X26 roof for service, a nice small glass for travel.

Andy W.

 

[dries1]

Nikon 10X70

John,

A couple of pics of the 10X70, I only viewed through it one night, WOW, on a dark moonless night viewing the milky way was a great experience. They are heavy and very rare.

Andy W.

 

[John A Roberts]

Images of Older Nikon Binoculars

In 2018, the Nikon Museum staged a comprehensive exhibit to celebrate 100 years of binocular production, as reported here: https://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=365724

The OP included a link to a Japanese site that included various images at: https://dc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/eventreport/1131953.html


I recently found another report that’s on Richard Haw's Nikon camera repair site at: https://richardhaw.com/2018/09/17/report-nikon-binoculars/

Usefully, many of the images can be either clicked on to enlarge, and/ or dragged onto your desktop, opened and then further enlarged
Typically the detail is clear, and handily most of the models are labelled both in Japanese and English, with many including additional comments
See a selection of images here: https://www.birdforum.net/showpost.php?p=3977828&postcount=6


John