Zeiss Victory Housing

[Hogjaws]

Can some give me information on the type of plastic used in Zeiss bino housings in the Victory and Conquest lines. If it has been discussed: strnegth ,etc., can you just post the link please?

Thanks,

Hogjaws

[Curtis Croulet]

Zeiss's website says "Housing made from high performance Polyamide, fibre glass reinforced (60 %) for robustness and low weight." Though some here have complained about it and derided it as "plastic," I have no issues with it. I don't know how widely this material is used in industry, but I know a company that manufactures large structures for satellites out of this stuff.

[Robert Ellis]

One word, plastics. There are cheap plastics and ther eare high tech high strength lightweight plastics. I doubt the polyamide used by Zeiss has much in common with the basic plastic used in toys and cheapie binoculars. "Plastic" is a term like "metal" in that it can mean anything, from cheap cast zinc to titanium or magnesium alloys, its all metal but with very different attributes.

[xenophobe]

It's a fiberglass/polymer blend, basically fiberglass+plastic, though plastic is generally a simple term describing any number of polymers. Polymers are a combination of natural and synthetic large chain molecules. Used for all sorts of applications, very strong and robust, and relatively cheap to manufacture. Its used in a lot of applications to reduce cost and weight. It is much cheaper to use polymer than other formed/milled metals.

[Leif]

Can some give me information on the type of plastic used in Zeiss bino housings in the Victory and Conquest lines. If it has been discussed: strnegth ,etc., can you just post the link please?

Thanks,

Hogjaws

Others have answered your question. Some components such as the lens cells are made from machined metal. The housing, eye tubes etc are made from composites, which are widely used in camera lenses, fishing rods etc. They are more shock resistant than metal, warmer to the touch, more thermally stable at temperatures that the user can endure, and durable. The only negative aspect, for me anyway, is aesthetic. I consider exposed plastic/composite to be less attractive than machined metal.

There is an article by Stephen Ingraham on body housings. It's in his forum.

Leif

[Hogjaws]

Thanks for the information everyone!

Hogjaws