Anyone Using Optolyth Alpin Binoculars?

[Blackstart]

Hi all-

Anyone out there using Optolyth Alpin binos?

I'd like to hear the good, the bad, and the ugly...

Thanks.

-Adam

[Tim Allwood]

very, very light and perfectly fine optically if I recall

and what a fine film the Good, the bad and the ugly is - watched it again this week - the final 30 mins are among the best ever commited to celluloid or whatever it is they make films out of!

[Bluetail]

I have a pair of 10x50s which I bought years ago and which I've hung onto so that she-who-it-isn't-worth-the-hassle-disobeying can use them when we're out together.

Optically they are excellent - a bit less crisp than my 10x40 Leitz, but not that much - and have good light gathering power (as you'd expect from 10x50s). The colour is not as true as the Leitz; there's a slightly greenish hue from the lens coating. Some might be put off by that, but I find it merely different and perfectly acceptable.

Downside: they leak like a seive. A couple of weeks after I bought them I went birding in heavy rain and, despite having a rain-guard, I ended up with a pool of water swimming round inside the eyepieces. When they dried out I was left with a dirty deposit on the inside of the lenses. Fortunately the shop repaired them under guarantee. Since then I've been careful not to let them get wet, but they've accumulated a lot of dust inside instead, to the point where it's obstructing the clarity a bit.

So my verdict: great bins, but just don't take them out in the rain. In fact, don't take them anywhere.

Jason

[seb salas]

I had a pair until about 3 years ago. They were fantastic. Incredibly light and the 10x40's were very good in poor light, but mine were the old model. Not sure about the new ones are like. Don't see them muck any more.

[scampo]

My son now has mine and he won't part with them (the 10x40s) even though he had the chance to buy a more expensive pair.

He loves them for their very light weight, their brightness - and they are also exceptionally sharp and have a super field of view. In truth they are probably all you could ask for except they are not fully waterproof but in many years they have never misted up and they have travelled many miles around the globe. I am surprised at the problems noted above regarding "leaking" - I bought mine on the strength of a friend's experience (at the time the keenest birder I knew) and he rated them very highly indeed. It must be said that they do not focus quite as closely as the more expensive roof prism binos but they still go down pretty close. I find the image very sharp and neutral in colour - maybe the 10x50s are different?

If you find them at a fair price you have a bargain that will last a lifetime as they are very well made - typical West German quality.

[Bluetail]

I find the image very sharp and neutral in colour - maybe the 10x50s are different?

Hi, Scampo. I wouldn't have thought so. I agree with you about their optical quality. The colour is indeed pretty neutral and very good. In fact, it was only when I upgraded to my Leitz that I noticed any colour cast. You probably wouldn't notice anything except in direct comparison with other bins and even then you'd probably prefer it to some other makes. It's not at all offputting, just different. YMMV.

Jason

[scampo]

Hi Jason

You seem to have had bad luck then? They are very sharp. My Swarovski's are very neutral and the Optolyth are similar as I recall. I'll have to look again!

[Bluetail]

Sorry, I didn't express myself clearly. What I meant was that I wouldn't think there's much difference between the 10x40s and the 10x50s. I agree entirely about the sharpness. I bought mine way back in 1985 and haven't checked current prices. In those days they were a best buy in "bang for the buck" terms. My only reservation is about the leakiness, but maybe I just had a duff pair.

Jason

[scampo]

Jason

It was when I read "...in fact, don't take them anywhere" that I was most surprised as I had taken mine just about everywhere in their time and they're still virtually as good as the day I bought them.

[Henry B]

I got mine from Infocus recently[10x40]@£150.aprox,.I think they were a great buy.

[Bluetail]

Compare that with the £131 they were going for in 1985 and that sounds excellent value for money.

Jason

[Tim Allwood]

yep top-notch value I reckon

[Graham Osborne]

Hi Blackstart

I bought a pair of (old style) 10x40 Alpins some months ago through eBay (£100 as new unused). I reckon that their centre field resolution almost matches my Swarovski ELs. Their lightness is a big plus, and they received a good review for their low-light performance on the Better View Desired website.

Good luck whatever

Graham

[scampo]

I remember reading a technical review of them - they were as sharp as could be measured if I recall well and very, very bright. I think they're a very fine glass - but I would as they have shown me many hundreds of fine birds in their time.

[Blackstart]

Hi all-

Thanks for your comments.

They will certainly be considered.

[Henry B]

Can anyone offer advice? I have the 10x40 classics.I have noticed {some time ago} that thier is what looks to be small white bubbles in one of thebarrels,they don,t seem to affect performance I was just wondering how they got their in the first place. thanks.

[Andrew Rowlands]

I've just 'retired' my (secondhand) 10x50's that I'd used for ten or twelve years; they were bought new about 1988. They were rough when I first had them, broken eyecups, slight scratches to the glass, a 'growth' between the glass layers in the right eyepiece and the right barrel already collecting dust!

Yes, they too, leaked like a sieve but were very sharp (at least on the left side they were!), very lightweight but only middling f.o.v. Just looked through them for the first time in three months and the left side is probably very close to factory spec. still, the left is scattered with debris and the 'growth' is still there!

If I came across a decent pair tomorrow, I would buy them!

I've no idea what your 'bubbles' might be Henry, unless they are the start of a growth or fungus like mine have been plagued with.

Andy.

[willusa]

Can anyone offer advice? I have the 10x40 classics.I have noticed {some time ago} that thier is what looks to be small white bubbles in one of thebarrels,they don,t seem to affect performance I was just wondering how they got their in the first place. thanks.


Hi
Many German lenses were made buy gluing two glass elements together and if there was the smallest amount of air trapped between the two glass lenses then you will get a fudges growth after 10 or 20 years that will sometimes look like bubbles. This was very conmen in old German camera lenses from the 1927 to 1950 the. Now it is something that we do not see as often but we do see once in a blue moon.

Willusa

Thank you

[Henry B]

Hi
Many German lenses were made buy gluing two glass elements together and if there was the smallest amount of air trapped between the two glass lenses then you will get a fudges growth after 10 or 20 years that will sometimes look like bubbles. This was very conmen in old German camera lenses from the 1927 to 1950 the. Now it is something that we do not see as often but we do see once in a blue moon.

Willusa

Thank you
THe bubbles are on one of the barrels not the glass,would that still be the same thing..?

[black52bird]

Listen guys,
I bought my 10x40s from the only person selling them in the midlands at that time - famous birder down around Droitwich - haven't got the paper to hand. They replaced my MILSTONE-ROUND-THE-NECK lovely Sift 7x50s which I'd had since 14 years old, courtesy of mum and dad...and birdwatching suddenlt became fun.
Now, 20 years on, they are still with me, a little scraped of their original black, but, unlike one of the writers, I have only once had leakage problems - and that was watching Peregrines whilst looking for Ibisbill (see my notes under that species in the database) at 2000 meteres in the Tien Shan mountains in a blizzard, when they got snowed on...and 12 hours later, after being in front of a 1950 Russian 2-bar electric fire, they (like me!) were dried out.
Listen...I don't know what the revisions have done to them, but this was the buy of my life. And they've been to India, Hong Kong, Chile, Barbados, Singapore, Kazakhstan, everywhere in Europe.....and have shown me so many lovely birds so clearly.....
And Optolyth can quote me on that!!
Best

David

[Henry B]

David,glad to hear your bins have stood up to the rigours of your travels, mine so far have never given any problem other than that mentioned.