Re: [Leica] Binoculars, Old and New

["Robert G. Stevens" <robsteve@istar.ca>]

Marc:

Have you looked through any of the Fujinon 7x50 Marine binoculars?  I have
a set and the manual says they exceed other brands in light gathering
ability including the best Ziess 7x50.  I forget the model number, but the
are the rubber armoured, nitrogen filled model that the US military, DEA,
and Coastgard use.  I showed them to a friend who swears by his Leica
8x40's and he promtly pointed them at a dark spot under a bush and was very
impressed by how much light they gathered compared to his Leica binoculars.
 They are however big and heavy, best left on the bridge of a boat or on a
shelf ready to peer at the birds in the back yard.

Regards,

Robert

At 02:51 AM 4/11/99 -0400, you wrote:
>At 11:03 AM 4/11/99 -0400, Terry Price wrote:
>>I recently found a pair of mint Leitz Wetzlar 7x50s, about 35 years old.
>>These are a bit bulky but incredibly sharp. I have never used a nicer pair
>>of binoculars. I can see clearer details with them than with my Zeiss
>>10x50s which are no slouches either. I can easily pick out 4 seperate moons
>>of Jupiter on a clear night.
>
>Well, you should be able to see the four Galilean moons of Jupiter with
>virtually ANY optical aid:  there are tales, disputed, of folks whose
>vision was acute enough to allow them to see these moons without any
>optical magnification.
>
>The "Zeiss" binoculars you have are probably Jena DEKAREM/DEKARIS glasses.
>These, along with the 8x,21mm TURMON monocular and the 7x,50mm
>BINOCTEM/BINOCTIS  and 8x,30 DELTRINTEM/DELTRINTIS, were designed and
>entered production in 1922.  The 10x,50mm and 7x,50mm glasses lasted until
>1994, a 72 year production run, while the TURMON remains in production at
>the Eisfeld plant, now under Docter Optic ownership (and with a snazzy new
>option with a purple (!) finish, and the 8x,30mm glass is still produced in
>Russia.
>
>Certainly, a 1922 porro-prism design will not perform as well as a much
>later design, any more than a 1922 camera lens will do as well in general
>use as will a 1950 or 1999 design.  However, these are fine binoculars,
>especially in their coated Postwar permutation.  
>
>Absolutely, positively, the finest binoculars I have yet used are the late
>Jena 10x,40mm ED BGA's, the guys that the Checkpoint Charlie guards used to
>sport.  Heavy, but absolutely stunning.  And, with the reticle-equipped
>model, you can even call in an artillery strike or two.
>
>Marc
>
>msmall@roanoke.infi.net  FAX:  +540/343-7315
>Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!
>
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