Binoculars

[esteban68]

Every adventurer needs a pair of sturdy binoculars for his or her travels so what about these?

A pair of San Giorgio 8x 30's brought back from the desert during ww2, optically these are stunning easily upto modern standards even if they have no coatings.

 

[esteban68]

Or these 1940 British Watson-Baker 6x 30's;

 

[esteban68]

Or even these British Ross 6x 24's c 1917;

 

[Saint-Just]

Don't have a photo of mine but they're Carl Zeiss Jena Deltrintem 8x30.

Got them in Berlin 30 years ago - and they were 2nd hand -. Gave them an interesting life. I have been tempted by modern offering but always turned them away at the last minute. They may not compare to a pair of Swaros, but they are my binos.

 

[Oldsarge]

I have just returned from a plains game hunt where my eyes were worn out by inferior optics. The old ones may have great nostalgia and sentimental value but if you are going to stare out through a pair for hours, looking so hard that sometimes you forget to blink, forget them! Today's optics are incomparably superior. The beautiful examples shown above may make you feel good when adventuring but for use . . .

THESE!

Yes, they cost nearly two grand but they are worth every penny!

 

[Philip A.]

Oldsarge,

I do agree. Whe one is using binoculars every day as a professional tool, only the top of the top works. Even very slightly misaligned tubes or prisms will cause headache, and straining your eyes to compensate for optical imperfections takes a toll on your vision. Not if you just peep briefly at the landscape, but certainly if you do use binoculars as a tool.

Every single one of the professional guides or hunters I know uses one of the big three, Swarovski/Leica/Zeiss, the preference seeming to be Swarovski (in a current model...).

 

[esteban68]

A lot of money guys and not in the spirit of the times, granted very nice to use.
All my old binoculars (around 40 pairs) are stripped cleaned and rebuilt many are Zeiss, Goerz, Spindler & Hoyer, Ross, Kershaw, REL Canada, Russian Zomz & Komz if they were good enough for military use they are good enough for me, admittedly many do not have 'modern' coatings but some like my multicoated Zeiss Deltrintem 8x 30's are not as sharp as the WW2 San Giorgio's above.
Old doesn't necessarily mean inferior, worn out and misalinged suggests to me poorly maintained badl;y stored and possibly repeatedly dropped binoculars?

 

[esteban68]

deleted double post

 

[WH1]

I have just returned from a plains game hunt . .

Do tell, want details preferably with pictures...of course in the appropriate thread since I am WAY fftopic:

 

[Edward]

I remember reading somewhere years ago that the Wehrmacht binos were superior to anything the Allies had - I think that was specifically in the context of the Afrika Corps. Any traction in that?

I'd like a nice pair of binoculars for occasional use, but haven't yet found something I'd settle on. It's not something I have any specific use for, so I wouldn't want to spend much on them, and I don't much care for the aesthetics of anything too new either. I've seen a fair few nice things with a steampunk vibe that would look great as an accessory, but the magnification is pretty poor compared even to the cheapest opera glasses.

 

[esteban68]

Not quite true Edward, the Wehrmacht stuff was pretty good but not really any better certainly in the 6 x 30 size, the German stuff was it is true in many cases lighter, here's my PZO 6x 30's

built in Warsaw? under the German occupation the letters eug are the 3 letter wartime code for PZO, they are very good indeed for uncoated binoculars but not really that much superior to any Allied counterparts well maybe a little but hardly noticable if I am completely honest...the British 6x 30 Kershaw takes some beating and if you ran out of bullets you could throw them at the enemy!

 

[DNO]

I have a number of military binoculars from the First and Second World Wars. They are mostly Canadian or British although I have a pair of Fernglas 08's as well. They were all consigned to boxes in the basement during a reno and have yet to emerge again. I do have this pair handy, though.

I was very pleased to obtain this 6x30 by REL Canada from the estate of a fellow who served as a Lieutenant in the RCN in Corvettes in WW2. It's my only naval pair and is dated 1943.

 

[John in Covina]

i have some Tasco 8X from 1969 that work well.

 

[bburtner@moran]

Some of the Russian binos are great,bought a pair of Photon "roof prisms" 20 years ago,they are just as bright as my Zeiss Dialyt`s!

 

[Edward]

Not quite true Edward, the Wehrmacht stuff was pretty good but not really any better certainly in the 6 x 30 size, the German stuff was it is true in many cases lighter, here's my PZO 6x 30's

built in Warsaw? under the German occupation the letters eug are the 3 letter wartime code for PZO, they are very good indeed for uncoated binoculars but not really that much superior to any Allied counterparts well maybe a little but hardly noticable if I am completely honest...the British 6x 30 Kershaw takes some beating and if you ran out of bullets you could throw them at the enemy!

Ah, that might be the root of what I heard, that they were preferable owing to being *lighter*. I can see how that would matter in the combat field!

I recently picked up some vintage binos, gonig cheap, on eBay. They seem quite good - magnification is, I think, about ten times. I see figures above like "6x30" - how does one decipher that?

 

[esteban68]

the first number is the power or magnification and the second the objective diameter, basically the big lens size so a 6x30 would be 6 times magnification with a 30mm diameter 'objective' lens...6x30 is the most common for military /infantry use often and most usually seen with both eyepieces adjustable, this makes a far more 'waterproof & fieldproof' instrument you do occassionaly see British and Commonwealth binocular with the war department mark of a 'crows foot' or arrow like device on a centre focus binocular(one with a central adjusting wheel) these are generally binoculars 'conscripted' or requested by and from the general public for military useage in times of great need or shortage.
This happened during WW1 when many binoculars were imported from Germany thus with a war on their was a shortage so you will see binoculars with the WD arrow or S1 or S2 denoting binoculars tested by the ministry of defence / War Department and passed as fit for military use S1 being first class optically, though it is doubtful that centre focus models would have made it into the field/ front line they would probably have been used for observation in a safe dry-ish place.

 

[normanf]

Carl Zeiss Jena from the DDR time.

Highly regarded world class binoculars.

You can still get them off eBay

 

[bburtner@moran]

Expensive too.

 

[Mrs Chaddsley_Corbett]

I Found an Alligator Binocular case with shoulder strap which makes a very practical shoulder bag

 

[esteban68]

Mrs CC I don't know how many times my goodlady has tried to 'aquire' one of my binocular cases for the exact same reason...a while ago we spotted one in a handbag shop it was brand new and of faux leather but looked exactly like a binocular case but without the wooden blocks inside.