Nikon ACULON A211 12x50
In 2013 Action VII models were replaced by the ACULON A211 series. Nikon presented as many as nine Porro prism binoculars at the same time and they came with the following parameters: 7x35, 8x42, 10x42, 7x50, 10x50, 12x50, 16x50, and two zoom instruments, the 8–16×40, and the10–22×50.
Pros:
Cons:
The ACULON A211 series are the cheapest Porro pairs of binoculars offered by this renowned Japanese producer. In order to keep the price low, on a level of 100 USD, they decided to economize a lot. Forget about efficient antireflection coatings – the ones, used here, are the simplest; what's more, they don't even cover all air-to-glass surfaces. The result is easy to predict – it's enough you glance at the transmission graph below.
In the centre of the visible spectrum the instrument barely brushes agains 80%, a weak result in case of a Porro device with efficient prisms. What's more, the graph is distinctly slated, with a prominent loss of purple and blue light; that's why images are dominated by yellow colouring. Perhaps the situation is not as weak as in old PZO and BPC pairs of binoculars but it hardly meets contemporary standards.
However, the binoculars also feature several assets, especially taking its price point into account. The quality of images in the field centre is really sensible – mainly due to good astigmatism correction and low chromatic aberration. You should praise distortion correction as well.
Unfortunately, all these efforts are sufficient only for correction of the centre of the field of view; the edges are very weak, with a very fast decrease of sharpness, suffering also from negative influence of high levels of coma and chromatic aberration.
That's why you can recommend the Nikon Aculon A211 12x50 only to buyers with really limited budgets. Of course such a purchase is definitely a better idea than looking for cheap binoculars on different Internet auction sites – contrary to other obscure producers Nikon still implement control quality and their warranty is not fictional. However, you have to be aware of the fact that with a just slightly higher budget you would be able to buy an instrument of noticeable better optical and mechanical quality.
What do you get inside? The producers boast of multi-coatings but they never state that all air-to-glass surfaces are covered by them. They also mention aspherical elements and very good distortion correction.
Binoculars come with a 10-year warranty period, and in the box you can find also objective caps, a rainguard, a case, and a cleaning cloth.
Manufacturer data
Magnification | Lens diameter | Angular field of view | Prisms | Eye relief | Weight | Price |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
12 | 50 | 91/1000(5.2o) | BaK-4/Porro | 11.5 mm | 910 g | 499 PLN |
Results of the review
Summary
Pros:
- solid casing for this price point,
- good correction of astigmatism,
- very low distortion,
- sensible apparent field of eyepieces,
- low vignetting or prisms made of BaK-4 glass,
- moderate brightness loss on the edge of the field of view,
- more or less circular exit pupils against a quite dark background,
- sensible price/performance ratio.
Cons:
- weak correction of chromatic aberration on the edge of the field,
- distinct coma,
- weak sharpness of images on the edge of the field,
- noticeable yellowish hue of images,
- stability of the bridge could have been better.
Nikon Aculon A211 12x50 and Nikon Action EX 12x50 CF. |
Nikon Aculon A211 12x50, Nikon Action EX 12x50 CF and Nikon SE 12x50 CF. |