Browsing the current market offers you can notice that there aren't many 7×35 pairs of binoculars available. If you focus on products from well-known producers then you should start with the Olympus 7×35 DPS-I. It's a cheap Porro instrument with a field of view of 9.3 degrees. Unfortunately the Olympus doesn't feature BaK-4 but Bk7 prisms, cheaper and optically weaker; as a result the edge of the field of view can hardly be called impressive.
Luckily, it's enough you add a small amount of money and two Nikons are within your reach: the Aculon A211 7×35 and the Action EX 7×35 CF. Once again you deal with two Porro devices with a field of view of as much as 9.3 degrees and this time they come with better BaK-4 prisms. The more expensive Action EX model also features a more comfortable eye relief distance, a better build quality, and more efficient antireflection coatings.
Leica decided to make a very interesting move in this class. In 1965 that producer launched the Leitz Trinovid 7×35 B, a small, shapely and handy device with a sensible field of view, amounting to 8.5 degrees. In 1981-83 that pair of binoculars was also produced with rubber armour and BA letters in its name. In 1983 both pairs disappeared from the line-up of Leica. In 1990 Leica was revamping their products and they launched completely new Trinovids BA with the following parameters: 8×32, 10×32, 7×42, 8×42, 10×42, 8×50, 10×50 and12×50. As you see, at that time the 7×35 parameters were forgotten.
Please Support Us
If you enjoy our reviews and articles, and you want us to continue our work please, support our website by donating through PayPal. The funds are going to be used for paying our editorial team, renting servers, and equipping our testing studio; only that way we will be able to continue providing you interesting content for free.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - R E K L A M A - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Still, the fans of this class of equipment got a very nice surprise. In 2017 Leica announced a refreshment of the classic Trinovids from the 60s of the 20th century and the launch of 7×35, 8×40, and 10×40 instruments. As if it wasn't enough, they also wanted to offer them in three different finishing versions: leather, silver, and rubber. The 2017 announcement was a kind of misfire because the promised binoculars hit the shelves only in 2020; still, among them you could find also the small and handy 7×35 model but with a rather prohibitive price tag, that of 1500 USD.
It's worth adding here that the older Leitz Trinovid 7×35 models were based on Uppendahl prisms and the new one come with the Schmidt-Pechan system. Both types feature six reflecting surfaces and in both cases one of them has to be covered with a mirror coating. There is a difference, though – the Schmidt-Pechan system, contrary to the Uppendahl system, needs some air between the prisms.
If you still want to find any contemporary 7×35 binoculars there are also very cheap models produced by Barska, Bushnell, Celestron, or Tasco. Most of them doesn't feature a focusing mechanism and, overall, it is an equipment of low mechanical and optical quality. Personally I would think twice before buying any of these.
