Fujinon FMTR-SX 10x50

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DeanD Australia
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Fujinon FMTR-SX 10x50

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Post by DeanD »


I couldn't resist: a pair of these came up "barely used" and for a good price...

My "old" 10x50's are the "HG Series" Chinese-made (http://www.binocularschina.com/binoculars/HG.html ). These are quite nice for the price, but are stopped down to give an exit pupil of around 4.2mm (a good cheats way to sharpen the edge view, and making them effectively 10x42's)... so I have been thinking about a nice 10x50 for a long time. (The HG's are now relegated to the side pocket of the car door.)

There are heaps of reviews of the Fuji's out there, and most will tell you they are the best of the best, especially for their price. Allbinos have rated them second only to the Nikon WX (and that is only because they don't have as wide a FOV), at about 1/15th of the price , and even above the Swaro EL's (about 7x the price of the Fuji's). So, I won't bore you with what is already out there, just a few of my non-technical impressions. :)

First light:

Well, for a start, they aren't stopped down! ;)
In the daytime they are very bright, and sharp out to around 90% of the field; in fact the edge view is quite acceptable. Very little CA, pretty much invisible in the centre, and acceptable (to me) at the edge. I don't really notice it even on tree branches silhouetted against a blue sky.
The colour of the view seems very natural.

I compared them for colour and sharpness against my Habicht 8x30's, which are some of the sharpest binos ever in the centre, and the Fuji's didn't give any ground at all. The Habicht's are amazingly sharp, but only for the centre 1/2 of the FOV; so in reality the Fuji's probably have a wider sharp field...

The Fuji's are IF, so they are not ideal for day-time viewing; but their depth of field is such that they require very little change in focus from (say) 100m to infinity. This means you don't get as much of a "3D" view as some (like the Habicht's and my old Carton 11x80's), but it also means you can see most things in sharp focus without adjustment; except that bird in the garden... (The close focus is around 8-9 metres, so you can see that bird as long as it doesn't get too inquisitive, but that requires lots of eyepiece turning. These aren't meant for bird-watching.)

Night-time: I will reserve more comments until I get to a good dark sky site, but initial impressions from my suburban home are very good: stars are sharp almost to the edge, and the contrast is excellent. Views of Eta Carina, M42, the Magellanic clouds, Omega Centauri and 47Tuc are all that I could possibly expect from 50mm binoculars.

They provide the (to me) perfect complement to my 8x30 Habicht, 22x60 Tak's, 15x70 Resolux and 25x100FB's, so I reckon these are keepers, no need for anything else... (BTW, the Habicht's are the only ones I have bought new, and were therefore the most expensive of the set. The Tak's were a wonderful bargain from a friend.)

Hang on a minute: I see someone local is advertising some 3 month old 8.5x42 Swaro EL's at the moment for around 60% of the new price... Sadly I don't have to ask: I can hear my wife now; "NO MORE BINOCULARS!" :lol:

Happy viewing all,

Dean
Telescopes: 12" f5 dob, Celestron CPC800, 150mmf5 Celestron achro, Tak TSA102, TV76, ETX125...
Binos: Steiner Wildlife XP 10x26, Swarovski 8x30 Habicht, Zeiss SFL 8x40, Vanguard Endeavour 10.5x45, Fuji FMTR-SX 10x50, Tak 22x60, Orion Resolux 15x70
Eyepieces: way too many (is that possible?), but I do like my TV 32mm plossl, 13mm Nagler T6, 27mm Panoptic and 3-6mm Nagler zoom, plus Fujiyama 18mm and 25mm orthos and Tak 7.5mm LE
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Nakedgun United States of America
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Re: Fujinon FMTR-SX 10x50

#2

Post by Nakedgun »


Thanks for the report. How about an image of them.
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John Baars Netherlands
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Re: Fujinon FMTR-SX 10x50

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Post by John Baars »


Great binoculars! Congrats on your purchase!
I have looked through them and for handheld astro-purposes this is the best.
Lasts a lifetime.
Refractors in frequency of use : *SW Evostar 120ED F/7.5 (all round ), * Vixen 102ED F/9 (vintage), both on Vixen GPDX.
GrabnGo on Alt/AZ : *SW Startravel 102 F/5 refractor( widefield, Sun, push-to), *OMC140 Maksutov F/14.3 ( planets).
Most used Eyepieces: *Panoptic 24, *Morpheus 14, *Leica ASPH zoom, *Zeiss barlow, *Pentax XO5.
Commonly used bino's : *Jena 10X50 , * Canon 10X30 IS, *Swarovski Habicht 7X42, * Celestron 15X70, *Kasai 2.3X40
Rijswijk Public Observatory: * Astro-Physics Starfire 130 f/8, * 6 inch Newton, * C9.25, * Meade 14 inch LX600 ACF, *Lunt.
Amateur astronomer since 1970.
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Bigzmey United States of America
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Re: Fujinon FMTR-SX 10x50

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Post by Bigzmey »


Congrats on the new glass Dean! My wife would be happy if I buy more binos as long as I don't buy more scopes. :lol:
Scopes: Stellarvue: SV102ED; Celestron: 9.25" EdgeHD, 8" SCT, 150ST, Onyx 80ED; iOptron: Hankmeister 6" Mak; SW: 7" Mak; Meade: 80ST.
Mounts: SW: SkyTee2, AzGTi; iOptron: AZMP; ES: Twilight I; Bresser: EXOS2; UA: MicroStar.
Binos: APM: 100-90 APO; Canon: IS 15x50; Orion: Binoviewer, LG II 15x70, WV 10x50, Nikon: AE 16x50, 10x50, 8x40.
EPs: Pentax: XWs & XFs; TeleVue: Delites, Panoptic & Plossls; ES: 68, 62; Vixen: SLVs; Baader: BCOs, Aspherics, Mark IV.
Diagonals: Baader: BBHS mirror, Zeiss Spec T2 prism, Clicklock dielectric; TeleVue: Evebrite dielectric; AltairAstro: 2" prism.
Filters: Lumicon: DeepSky, UHC, OIII, H-beta; Baader: Moon & SkyGlow, Contrast Booster, UHC-S, 6-color set; Astronomik: UHC.

Observing: DSOs: 3106 (Completed: Messier, Herschel 1, 2, 3. In progress: H2,500: 2180, S110: 77). Doubles: 2382, Comets: 34, Asteroids: 255
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DeanD Australia
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Re: Fujinon FMTR-SX 10x50

#5

Post by DeanD »


Bigzmey wrote: Fri Feb 19, 2021 1:32 am Congrats on the new glass Dean! My wife would be happy if I buy more binos as long as I don't buy more scopes. :lol:
I guess that would depend on the price and size of the binos! (My 14" binos are (slowly) under construction...) ;)
Telescopes: 12" f5 dob, Celestron CPC800, 150mmf5 Celestron achro, Tak TSA102, TV76, ETX125...
Binos: Steiner Wildlife XP 10x26, Swarovski 8x30 Habicht, Zeiss SFL 8x40, Vanguard Endeavour 10.5x45, Fuji FMTR-SX 10x50, Tak 22x60, Orion Resolux 15x70
Eyepieces: way too many (is that possible?), but I do like my TV 32mm plossl, 13mm Nagler T6, 27mm Panoptic and 3-6mm Nagler zoom, plus Fujiyama 18mm and 25mm orthos and Tak 7.5mm LE
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