Buy Nikon Action 12x50 EX Extreme ATB BinocularNikon Action 12x50 EX Extreme ATB Binocular Product Description:
- Waterproof, fogproof, and shockproof performance
- All-metal chassis in lightweight polycarbonate shell
- Rubber-coated body for firm, non-slip grip
- Magnification: 12x
- Objective lens: 50mm
Product Description
Nikon's Action Extreme series offer lots of features that will be appreciated by those who enjoy the view provided by classically-styled porro prism units. Following the enormously popular Action series, Nikon has made significant improvements. The group still retains the high-refraction prisms with their wide viewing fields, and every model has a tripod adapter threading for easy extended glassing from a stationary position. The 10x50 model, with its broad 5mm exit pupil, is ideally suited to high powered lowlight observations. Their performance in twilight is commendable.
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
162 of 163 people found the following review helpful.
Jumps into your hand like it lives there.
By John Robinson
This binocular simply fell into my hand as though it were made for me personally. Love at first feel? Yes!I compared this binocular to several others in the same price range, here is what I found:Fit and finish: Nikon is easily the equal of any Vixen or Pentax or Olympus (I didn't try Canon).Feel: Nikon was by far the best.Optics: Nikon did something clever here. First of all, they gave this one a wider field of view than, for example, the Pentax PCF. Looking through the Pentax (and, by the way, I have a high regard for Pentax and *love* their Papilio series, but that is another binocular for a different purpose) after using the Nikon, the view seemed dimmer and claustrophobic. With the Nikon, you have that wonderful feeling of actually being "out there" in the field or in the sky with your object. And everything is so bright and sharp! The Nikon really excels in sharpness at the center.However, Nikon did another clever thing (and I checked a couple of pairs of these Nikon binos to see if this was true generally, and it was): at this price point you can't possibly have the whole field of view perfectly sharp. No binocular is perfectly sharp at the edges. Here is what Nikon did, best as I can tell: they put the sloppiest edges at the outside and top of the field of view. Wow! Think about it: if you had to compromise somewhere, you want to compromise AWAY from the center and bottom. Why? Because, the inside edge of the FOV of each barrel is where the object will be. And, most likely (especially for terrestrial viewing), the object or its environment will also be resting on or near the bottom (think of a bird in a tree or an animal on the ground) So, Nikon seems to have made sure that the bottoms and inside edge of the FOV was as sharp as possible, while allowing the far outside and top edges to be a little worse. Smart!There is some chromatic abberation, but that, too, is unavoidable at this price. Even some very high priced camera lenses (with only one barrel to worry about) have this. The CA is not at all objectionable. A little rim of faint purple at the edges of the FOV in high contrast situations.A very nice binocular. Not too heavy, not too big, very comfortable to use, excellent imagery, top-of-the-line sharpness-at-center, great construction. I expect to get a lifetime's enjoyment out of them.
32 of 33 people found the following review helpful.
12x50 not as good as expected based on reviews
By Rick Taylor
Note updated: Amazon has repeatedly separated and combined the reviews based on magnification since the original review!Note: Amazon is again combining reviews for Action Extreme models with 50mm objectives; 7x50, 10x50, 12x50, 16x50 etc.We already had the Nikon Action 8x40 which I think was acceptable quality for $60 but not good enough to recommend. I was somewhat disappointed by the Action Extreme 12x50 I bought for $145 when I wanted something waterproof and with more reach. Both the Action and Action Extreme have a lot of internal reflection that causes glare around the edges during daytime viewing and from bright objects at night like the moon. This is very noticeable and I wonder why so few these reviews mention it. The glare from a blue sky really intrudes into the lower half of your view while watching animals on the ground. Overall, the Action Extreme does outperform the Action model we have. Both are fairly soft focus, but the Extreme model is sharper and has less pincushioning when scanning. Fortunately, neither pair has the slop and backlash during focusing that many inexpensive binoculars have.I use these mostly for bird watching on our farm and they are good binoculars. Better coatings would make them excellent. The Action Extreme is noticeably more solidly built and rugged than the Action series we own, and more likely to survive being dropped. Both models have objective lens covers that are guaranteed to be lost if you rely on the slots that are supposed to be used to attach them to the straps. The twist-up adjustable eye cups work much better for a glasses wearer like me and are far superior to the rubber cups that fold down on the Action model. Brightness was sufficient but not great, as these are not fully multi-coated so I didn't expect them to be tremendously bright, especially at 12x, but improved coatings would also enhance the brightness.The Nikon brand reputation was the deciding factor for me, but I suspect some of the waterproof Bushnell models would be close to these so you may want to compare them if you have a chance. For about $100 more you can get the Nikon Monarch 5 series, Nikon Sport Optics 7543 MONARCH 5 10x42 Binocular - Black , which promises to be substantially better than these. The Monarch 5 has the dielectric prism coating (Nikon's best) that should make them significantly brighter, plus they offer roof prism if you prefer that to porro.Overall, I was just a little let down on the softer than expected image quality from these as the reviews on Amazon were mostly glowing. These are good quality and will meet most peoples needs, and I would still recommend them to friends (I would not recommend the basic Action model!). But if I was getting a pair today, I'd scrape together a few extra dollars and get the Monarch 5 instead.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful.Really like them!
By Laura Hughes
This is the first pair of really good binoculars we have every bought. I can't believe how clear everything is. They work easily and although a little heavy, not bad. I would recommend these to anyone.
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