Minolta Activa 10x50W

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Brand and Model:Minolta Activa 10x50W
Price ($USD):$149.99
Attributes:checked Waterproof checked Armored
Objective Lens Size:50 mm
Magnification:10 x
Prism Type:BAK4 Porro
Coatings:Fully Multi-Coated
Field of View:6.5 degrees
Eye Relief:12 mm
Near Focus:29 ft
Weight (lbs):31 oz.
Dimensions (w/h/d):7.75"x2.55"x6.61"
Description:"Weatherproof" (not waterproof). Fully armored. Focus knob centrally located (between hinges). Fully multi-coated with BAK-4 prisms. Roll-down eyecups. Tripod adapter socket.


Amazon Minolta Activa 10x50 Page

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Minolta Activa 10x50W
Nice eye relief, but the extra glass on the eyepiece and lack of eye cups will create a ghosting effect during daytime viewing because the light reflects off it into your eyes; it can be avoided but it is not nice to hold. Took them out onto my driveway in a city of over .5mill, and a street light about 13 degrees below Jupiter and a streelight behind me; but was able to easily see 3 of Jupiter's moons - Jupiter was too bright to make out anything other than its moons. During calm seeing Saturn's rings were very slightly visible with a very faint and small black line across the planet. Could make out M33 but it was nothing more than a faint smudge. No fair brightness assessment can be made until they are taken to dark skies. Very slight color on Jupiter at the edges, and that was only during unsteady seeing.

These observations were made without a tripod with some haze at the horizon that made Venus constantly shimmer and change colours even to the naked eye, so I was unable to test contrast. The skies were barely 4.5 mag about 45 degrees above the horizon. This was also within 2 weeks of Saturn's opposition and within a month of Jupiter's. About 11/16 of the radius length away from the centre it becomes soft, but i'm not complaining because with the FOV and the lack of a tripod I dont bother looking at the stuff at the edges other than to be critical. Its much more straining on the eyes looking at the edges than the actual images.

Rating is an actual 8.5, it lost marks because of the ghosting problem during daytime viewing. Highly recommended for astronomy.

Overall Rating: 8
Weight: 11 (Trustworthy Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=41817

Minolta Activa 10x50W
Extremely comfortable to hold and adjust. My optics vote is tentative until I get a chance to use them more, but images appear to be clear and sharp across most of the fov. Like the fog proof/weather proff feature. Overall at $148 including shipping these appear to be a fantastic buy.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:9 Value:9
Weight: 10 (Trustworthy Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=95759

Minolta Activa 10x50W
Features and specs very comparable to Orion Utraviews and Meade Safari Pros, but with nicer ergonomics. They feel really nice in hands - reminiscent of Nikon Superiors. View is bright and wide, but noticeably softer toward edges (again, comparable to Orion's & Meade's). Well-collimated. Detected no obvious chromatic abberration during daytime viewing session, but was unable to test at night. Nikon's Lookout yields more/better sharpness, but at the expense of some eye relief. The Activa series is a good leap forward for Minolta's binocular products. An excellent buy, given features and performance.

Overall Rating: 8
Weight: 5 (Veritable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=41815

Minolta Activa 10x50W
Good ergonomics, don't have to think about how I'm holding them. Worlds apart from my old Bushnell 7x35's. Great field of view, but outside 1-1.5 degrees get a little soft. Contrast and clarity very good for this price range. No longer have the itch to buy a pricey pair, these work better than I expected. Didn't think much of binocular observing before; but buy the tripod adapter, throw them on the camcorder tripod, grab a chair, and instant "quick look scope".

Overall Rating: 8
Weight: 2 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=41816

Minolta Activa 10x50W
Mechanically very good.
Some small curvature noticeable when scanning, coma in and out of focus sharp in focus to 80% FOV then focus go a bit soft. bright in focus great contrast with some colour green on the moon limb.
Medium weight some fogging coming in from cold to warm house but instantly clears up when you go back outside.
Better interoptic spacing than Pentax I tried both and the minoltas are better for me at 72mm.

My binoculars are 12x50 5.5d fov. which is great with 18mm eye relief with glass's I can just get the full fov when view stright ahead. Some black outs if I look around but once you get used to it panning is easy whilst avoiding small eye movements.

Mounted on an old camera tripod with bracket and need som thing more substantial but it work at a push. They can over whelm a light weight mount once mounted on a bracket.

Happy overall looking to upgrade my tripod.

Kevin.

Overall Rating: 7
Optics:6 Value:8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=426566

Minolta Activa 10x50W
An excellent pair of binoculars at a fair price. The eye relief is good enough to allow full field viewing eaisly even while wearing glasses although not quite as long as the Celestron Ultima. Build quality and feel are excellent also. Optically they are as good as anything I've ever used. Sharp with good contrast to the edge of field. I too believe I can make out Saturn's rings on a good night with them on a steady mount. Highly recommended

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=41818

Minolta Activa 10x50W
excellent but some chroma at edges for high contrast bright images ...red/blue color..still great for star clusters etc.

Overall Rating: No Vote
Weight: <none>
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=41820

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