Nikon Action 12x50 EX Extreme ATB Binocular

by Nikon

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 8.4 x 4.2 inches ; 3 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0001EFIFW
• California residents: Click here for Proposition 65 warning.
• Item model number: 7246
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,498 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 7, 2004

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

The Monarch ATB 42mm with Dielectric High-Reflective Multilayer Prism Coating binocular features brighter, sharper colors, crisp and drastically improved low-light performance. A new body style provides unparalleled strength and ruggedness in a package that is comfortable to carry all day. With rugged rubber armor for added durability and a firm grip even in the worst conditions, Nikon guarantees every ATB to be 100% waterproof and fogproof, each is backed by Nikon's 25 Year Limited Warranty and No-Fault Repair/Replacement Policy. The new Monarch ATB 42mm with Dielectric High-Reflective Multilayer Prism Coating binocular is available in 8x42, 10x42 and 12x42. It is also available in Team REALTREE models with the REALTREE APG HD camouflage pattern.

Technical Specs

Model	7x35	8x40	7x50	10x50	12x50	16x50
Magnification x	7	8	7	10	12	16
Objective Diameter	35	40	50	50	50	50
Angular FOV – Real	9.3	8.2	6.4	6.5	5.5	3.5
Angular FOV – Apparent	59.3	59.7	42.7	59.2	59.9	52.1
FOV @ 1000 yds	488	430	335	341	288	183
Close Focus Distance (ft.)	16.4	16.4	23	23	23	23
Exit Pupil (mm)	5	5	7.1	5	4.2	3.1
Relative Brightness	25	25	50.4	25	17.6	9.6
Eye Relief (mm)	17.3	17.2	17.1	17.2	16.1	17.8
Size (L&W) (in)	4.7 x 7.2	5.4 x 7.4	7 x 7.7	7 x 7.7	7 x 7.7	7 x 7.7
Weight (oz)	28.2	30.2	35.3	36	36.9	36.7

Additional Action EX Highlights:

• BaK 4 High Index Roof Prisms
  
• Tripod adaptable
• Long eye relief for eyeglass wearers

Warranty Information

Nikon is dedicated to quality, performance and total customer satisfaction. If your Nikon binocular, Spotting Scope or Fieldscope requires service or repair not covered by our 25 Year Limited Warranty, Nikon will repair or replace it (even it was your fault) for just $10, plus return shipping and handling.
Excludes – StabilEyes, Laser Rangefinders and Spotting Scope/Fieldscope eyepieces.

FAQ's

Real field of view
Real field of view is the angle of the visible field, seen without moving the binoculars, measured from the central point of the objective lens. The larger the value is, the wider the viewfield available. For example, binoculars with a wider field of view are advantageous for locating fast-moving wild birds within the viewfield. This also applies for finding small nebulas or a cluster of stars in astronomical observations.

Apparent field of view
Apparent field of view is the angle of the magnified field when you look through binoculars.
The larger the apparent field of view is, the wider the field of view you can see even at high magnifications.

With the conventional method used previously, the apparent field of view was calculated by multiplying the real field of view by the binocular magnification. (With this formula, apparent field of view wider than 65˚ is called wide field of view.)

After revision, Nikon's figures are now based on the ISO 14132-1:2002 standard, and obtained by the following formula:

tan ω' = τ x tan ω
Apparent field of view: 2ω'
Real field of view: 2ω
Magnification: τ
(With this formula, apparent field of view wider than 60° is called wide field of view.)

For example, the apparent field of view of 8x binoculars with an 7.0°real field of view is as follows:
2ω' = 2 x tan^-1 (r x tan ω)

= 2 x tan^-1 (8 x tan 3.5)
= 52.1°

Relative Brightness
Relative brightness value is obtained by squaring the diameter of the exit pupil. The greater the relative brightness is, the brighter the image will be. With 8x42 binoculars, the brightness is (42÷8)2= 28.1. This means that if the magnification is the same, the larger the effective diameter of the objective lens, the brighter the image will be.

Do binoculars with the same exit pupil offer the same brightness?

No. Brightness may vary even if the exit pupil is the same. This is because the amount of light reaching the viewer's eyes varies according to the number of lens elements and quality of lens/prism coatings. Superior optical design and highquality coating greatly contribute to the brightness of binoculars. Brightness values specified in product brochures, etc. are theoretical ones calculated in the design process. Please note these factors when comparing actual brightness values.

Prisms
Prisms are what let you see a correctly oriented image when you look through a pair of binoculars. There are two types of prisms in common use, Porro prisms and roof prisms.

Roof prisms are essentially in line inside the optical tubes, and make for a more compact set of binoculars. Roof prism binoculars have straight tubes (the front/objective lens is in line with the rear/ocular lens), and are therefore more compact, an important consideration for the sportsman. They usually have two pivot points between the tubes, and are more difficult to adjust to the spacing of your eyes. Roof prisms can give an optical image equal to the best Porro prisms, but for technical reasons they usually do not. To be really good, roof prism binoculars have to be in the high price class. Do not attempt to economize on roof prism binoculars.

Porro prism binoculars can be identified by their offset tubes; the objective lens is not in line with the ocular lens. The front lenses are usually closer together than the rear lenses, but the reverse can also be true, particularly in compact models. The Porro prism design is usually optically superior to the roof prism design, especially in medium priced class binoculars. Porro prism binoculars have a single pivot between the two halves of the binocular, and are therefore easy to adjust for the distance between your eyes.

Like roof prisms, not all Porro prisms are created equal. BAK-4 prisms are the best; they are made of superior optical glass that produces clearer images. These are what you want in your binoculars. BK-7 prisms are also used, usually in lower priced binoculars. These are satisfactory, but they are inferior to the BAK-4 prisms. Some manufacturers will not tell you what kind of prisms they use, usually because they are of inferior quality. BAK-4 prisms show a truer round, which translates to better light transmission and edge-to-edge sharpness

Prism Coatings
Multilayer coating is also applied to prisms to raise transmittance. A roof prism system has one surface that does not feature total internal reflection, so vapor deposition with metals, etc. must be used to raise the reflectivity of this surface. Also, phase-correction coating on roof surface ensures high-contrast images.
*Binoculars' brightness and contrast are affected by not only prism coatings, but also the number of objective lens and eyepiece lens, and types of coatings.

Metal-vaporized, high-reflectivity prism coating Using vacuum-vaporization technology, metallic material such as aluminum or silver is applied to the reverse side of a prism surface that is not totally reflective. This raises the reflectivity of the prism mirror surface. Dielectric high-reflective multilayer prism coating This coating features reflectance that exceeds 99%. By utilizing light interference, this coating assures high reflectivity across the full visible range, and ensures high color reproducibility.

Reflectance characteristics of prism coatings on mirror surface The horizontal axis indicates the wavelength of light. The vertical axis indicates the reflectance of light. Binoculars' brightness is determined not only by the reflective mirror, but also by the total optical system such as the number of lenses and quality of coatings.

Phase-correction coating
A roof (Dach) surface can cause phase shift of light that affects image resolution. This phenomenon is caused by phase differences arising from total light reflection on a roof (Dach) surface and it can occur with even a perfectly processed prism. Phase-correction coating is applied to the surface to minimize loss of resolution, ensuring high-contrast images.

Twilight Factor
The factor that has the greatest impact on resolution or image detail, will be dependent upon the amount of light available during the time of observation. During daylight hours, when your eye pupil size will be only about 2 to 3mm, magnification will be the principal factor in image resolution. At night, with the eye pupil dilated to 6 to 8mm, aperture size is the controlling factor. In twilight conditions both of these factors control resolution effectiveness and the twilight factor is the term that compares binocular performance under these conditions.

The twilight factor is calculated by taking the square root of the product of the magnification and the aperture. The higher the twilight factor, the better the resolution of the binocular when observing under dim light conditions. For example, a 10 X 40 (twilight factor 20) would effectively resolve better under these conditions than a 7 X 35 (twilight factor 15.4) even though the 10 X 40 has a smaller exit pupil. Remember, however, that the twilight factor does not take into account the transmittance or quality of the optical system.

Product Description

BN3) NIKON 12X50 ACTION EXTREME 7246

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

142 of 143 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jumps into your hand like it lives there., February 27, 2006

By 

John Robinson "john" (Yokohama, Kanagawa Japan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nikon Action 12x50 EX Extreme ATB Binocular (Electronics)

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.

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 12x50 not as good as expected based on reviews, May 31, 2009

By 

Rick Taylor (Kentucky) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nikon Action 12x50 EX Extreme ATB Binocular (Electronics)

Note updated March 2010: Amazon has now moved the reviews back into separate magnifications and is no longer combining the reviews as they did when I originally wrote this!

Note: Amazon is 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 reasonable quality for $60, but I was somewhat disappointed by the Action Extreme 12x50 I bought 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, indicating that Nikon has skimped on the quality of the lens and prism coatings, as well as the interior blacking.

I use these mostly for bird watching on our farm, and they are good binoculars but better coatings would make them excellent. The Action Extreme is noticeably more solidly built and rugged in 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. You can punch or drill a hole in the slotted tabs and then use a plastic clip or even string to keep them from falling off the strap. The twist-up adjustable eye cups work beautifully for a glasses wearer like me (and are far superior to the rubber cups that fold down on the Action model).

Brightness was sufficient, 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 if you have an opportunity to get another decent waterproof set for less, I suggest comparing them if you can. I wish that I had. If you can afford it, the NIKON 7296 Monarch III 12x42 Binocular series promises to be substantially better than these (the Monarchs are fully multi-coated, plus they offer roof prism if you prefer that to porro). Overall, I was just a little let down on the 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. But I definitely would shop around for comparable quality for less money. I suspect some of the waterproof Bushnells I've seen priced significantly less aren't much different. Of course, the way everything is sealed in plastic these days the opportunity to compare is severely limited unless you have a friendly camera shop nearby, or maybe a birding group whose members can let you see through their equipment.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Really like them!, January 14, 2008

By 

Laura Hughes "no nonsense lady" (Champaign, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Nikon Action 12x50 EX Extreme ATB Binocular (Electronics)

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.