Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/01/19

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Subject: [Leica] binoculars - looking for assistance
From: marcsmall at comcast.net (Marc James Small)
Date: Fri Jan 19 18:37:30 2007
References: <82c9dd70701180437w53164f0as5cdf7876ee4dc0c1@mail.gmail.com> <9b678e0701181822k1af49093j513fc3c8d90d4667@mail.gmail.com> <200701190336.l0J3aXUx089592@server1.waverley.reid.org> <9b678e0701191514q334daf02r9845b671a24a73cd@mail.gmail.com> <200701192327.l0JNRwUR010458@server1.waverley.reid.org> <001201c73c26$4d84a170$6501a8c0@asus930> <200701200045.l0K0jpZU053846@server1.waverley.reid.org> <001d01c73c32$9ebe4710$6501a8c0@asus930>

At 08:30 PM 1/19/2007, G Hopkinson wrote:
 >Very interesting Marc. I am by no means expert. I was familiar with
 >the method of calculating the exit pupil diameter and the
 >twilight factor performance as espoused by Zeiss. Please immediately
 >mail to me any Zeiss binoculars that you may have on hand with
 >large objectives as they are of no use to you ;-)
 >Seriously, I've now dug out some Zeiss binocular literature here and
 >with the equation calculation, it also suggests that "the
 >twilight performance factor only serves as a reference and does not
 >give an indication of the twilight efficiency of a binocular.
 >This is determined by high transmission in the correct spectral range,
 >a low stray light component, high contrast and resolution"
 >Hey, this starting to sound like why we like and appreciate good
 >German glass around here.
 >
 >I was pleased to hear that you found your K&E Log Log Duplex
 >Decitrig hiding under some Ciro-Flex literature :-) ;-)

You were pleased?  I was DAMNED happy to find 
it.  A day without a slide rule is a day wasted 
in my life, and I've not been able to find it for 
a month, though I have been using my King 
cylindrical in the meantime.  I do note that the 
cursor clasp has been broken and I hope K&E is 
still about so that I can get a replacement 
without having to buy an entire slide rule for 
one silly and non-essential part.

None of these mathematical calculations amount to 
much, Hoppy.  USE binoculars.  That is the only 
way to learn.  I cannot tell you how this aged 
56-year-old-man can use a pair of 15x,60mm 
glasses handheld on the stars, but I can do 
so:  come here and I shall struggle to teach 
you.  Otherwise, learn as I did, by years of 
doing so.  (That isn't meant to be nasty:  it is 
just that I have learned things by doing 
them.  The first time I tried to load an LTM 
camera I was stymied.  Then I tried a couple of 
times on bogus rolls of film and it didn't 
work.  THEN I read the instructions neatly 
printed on the inner bottom of the camera, took 
out my Swiss Army Knife, and all was perfect, and 
never a problem since then on an LTM 
camera.  Yes, Kodak went from a long-leader in 
1975, the last major producer to do so.  The 
others had gone to a short-leader format decades 
before.  I do have a roll of Soviet film from the 
early 1990's which has a long leader, somewhere 
in a box buried away somewhere ... )

A pair of 8x40 glasses should work well for most 
birdwatching purposes, and 10x40 for 
stargazing.  For the teen-agers in the group, a 
pair of Docter Optic 15x, 60mm glasses will be 
ideal but, for me, I enjoy the power but lose the 
vibrance of the image due to the age 
deterioration of my eyes.  (My hearing is 
exceptional, though I generally refuse to listen 
to things I do not want to hear.  My vision has 
always been only normal, and it is rather odd 
that I have become such a student of optics.)

Thank God I found my slide rule.  That King 
cylindrical thing confuses me, albeit it gives four-figure accuracy.

Marc


msmall@aya.yale.edu
Cha robh b?s fir gun ghr?s fir!



In reply to: Message from faneuil at gmail.com (Eric Korenman) ([Leica] binoculars - looking for assistance)
Message from don.dory at gmail.com (Don Dory) ([Leica] binoculars - looking for assistance)
Message from marcsmall at comcast.net (Marc James Small) ([Leica] binoculars - looking for assistance)
Message from don.dory at gmail.com (Don Dory) ([Leica] binoculars - looking for assistance)
Message from marcsmall at comcast.net (Marc James Small) ([Leica] binoculars - looking for assistance)
Message from hoppyman at bigpond.net.au (G Hopkinson) ([Leica] binoculars - looking for assistance)
Message from marcsmall at comcast.net (Marc James Small) ([Leica] binoculars - looking for assistance)
Message from hoppyman at bigpond.net.au (G Hopkinson) ([Leica] binoculars - looking for assistance)