I saw elsewhere the contract value was £6,000,000. If that was the final price it would make them £400 each.
David
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modern military binoculars (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter smurf.for.mark
- Start date
I saw elsewhere the contract value was £6,000,000. If that was the final price it would make them £400 each.
David
You whetted my appetite Mark, I have just bought my first ex soviet bloc military style binocular, a Zeiss Jenna DF 7x40 B/GA , i'm not sure, but I think it may be a civilian version of the East German NVA 7x40, it looks the same. I will post some photo's when it arrives. I'm supposed to be downsizing my collection, oh well !!!
The press release makes no mention of servicing.
"The new ergonomic binoculars are made by Steiner and imported by
Hampshire company GMK in a contract worth £5.5 million. The initial 14,500
pairs are being distributed across the Army, with a further smaller number
set to go to the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force in due course."
In the tender document I posted above it (page 30 onward) basically states they should only need a five minute clean with a cloth!
"The new ergonomic binoculars are made by Steiner and imported by
Hampshire company GMK in a contract worth £5.5 million. The initial 14,500
pairs are being distributed across the Army, with a further smaller number
set to go to the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force in due course."
In the tender document I posted above it (page 30 onward) basically states they should only need a five minute clean with a cloth!
You'll be pleasantly surprised by this glass.
It has exceptional ease of view, very good eye relief and is razor sharp.
Even though its transmission is low by modern standards, it is still quite bright enough thanks to its generously sized objectives.
The only glitch is that it is an IF design, which is the norm for military use, but a deal breaker for birding.
I've done a pdf version of the tender specification. There is no mention of on going servicing, but in mentions the need for it to be need no more maintenance than cleaning.
When the new Army optics contract was announced it was a selection of things including laser optics separate from the Steiners. I have attached the press piece.
When the new Army optics contract was announced it was a selection of things including laser optics separate from the Steiners. I have attached the press piece.
Thank you Mono. That was very kind.
The XP machine had problems, but I just read it with the somewhat newer W7 machine.
Very interesting, but some odd concepts.
It is clear that the Steiner 8x30 must be pretty tough.
Regarding the strap, I would have thought leather better.
My Minolta plastic strap and case became totally brittle at minus 34C. The Kodak film just fell to pieces, although Konica film was fine.
There must be different plastics, but for real cold I think leather is advisable.
It says that a man should be recognised at 2300 plus metres. What does that mean? Could it be a woman?
It might be tough in certain environments to see if it is a human or not.
The XP machine had problems, but I just read it with the somewhat newer W7 machine.
Very interesting, but some odd concepts.
It is clear that the Steiner 8x30 must be pretty tough.
Regarding the strap, I would have thought leather better.
My Minolta plastic strap and case became totally brittle at minus 34C. The Kodak film just fell to pieces, although Konica film was fine.
There must be different plastics, but for real cold I think leather is advisable.
It says that a man should be recognised at 2300 plus metres. What does that mean? Could it be a woman?
It might be tough in certain environments to see if it is a human or not.
Thanks etudiant, nice to know, I looked at holgers comments on the military 7x40, but I couldnt find much about this specific one, although it appears very similar, but without reticle and illumination etc. I have a fondness for individual 6x or 7x EP glasses, they usually give a relaxed view, although as you say, not for birding, my 8x32 is most used for that. I am guessing it will be fairly weighty.
Ben
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It may be that the strap is neoprene. I don't know what this actually is, but some of the Steiner 8x30 have a working range of minus 40 degrees to maybe plus 80C.
So I suppose this includes the strap and other accessories.
Neoprene comes in many guises. I asked a supplier I happened to meet for neoprene for a back support, and what I got for free was a thin immensely strong sheet quite unlike the material for neoprene back supports.
So I suppose this includes the strap and other accessories.
Neoprene comes in many guises. I asked a supplier I happened to meet for neoprene for a back support, and what I got for free was a thin immensely strong sheet quite unlike the material for neoprene back supports.
I would be surprised if they (the Steiner 8x30) were not laser and nuclear flash protected.
With the use of much, much smaller and inexpensive drones it seems 7x40, 7x50 and 8x30 binoculars are not being used or issued as much.
I had a chance to watch some US Army National Guard training from a road thru my Leica 7x42 HD and only saw one NCO use binoculars, everyone else appeared to watching small cell phone sized or lap top computer screens as a bunch of small electric hand launched drones flew over hill and dale.
I left when one of the drones flew over me and a Bradley APC headed my way.
Recon and sniper units are the exception.
I sold a pair of Swarovski Habicht 10x40's to a friends son who is now a USMC Scout/Sniper.
They were not laser and nuclear flash proof.
He has been issued an pair of Leupold 10x50 that are GI spec with laser and nuclear flash protection.
I wonder if the latest Hensoldt (?) are laser and nuclear flash protected?
Really would like a pair of the aus Jena 7x40's just because, don't think the Docter Optic ones are laser and nuclear flash proof, my old ones were.
Art
With the use of much, much smaller and inexpensive drones it seems 7x40, 7x50 and 8x30 binoculars are not being used or issued as much.
I had a chance to watch some US Army National Guard training from a road thru my Leica 7x42 HD and only saw one NCO use binoculars, everyone else appeared to watching small cell phone sized or lap top computer screens as a bunch of small electric hand launched drones flew over hill and dale.
I left when one of the drones flew over me and a Bradley APC headed my way.
Recon and sniper units are the exception.
I sold a pair of Swarovski Habicht 10x40's to a friends son who is now a USMC Scout/Sniper.
They were not laser and nuclear flash proof.
He has been issued an pair of Leupold 10x50 that are GI spec with laser and nuclear flash protection.
I wonder if the latest Hensoldt (?) are laser and nuclear flash protected?
Really would like a pair of the aus Jena 7x40's just because, don't think the Docter Optic ones are laser and nuclear flash proof, my old ones were.
Art
Sadly, nothing is nuclear flash protected, not even you eyeballs....
The laser hardening of glasses is only filtered against specific wavelengths that are easy to generate. A more resourceful foe could deploy a green laser to blind everybody.
These gimmicks only make the binocs less bright, but it is difficult to envisage a real world benefit from them. Their main utility is to protect the user from friendly fire, reflections from lasers used by others in the squad.
The nuclear protection delusion stems from the recognition that some of the optics glass mixes turned dark when irradiated. Different formulations solved that problem.
smurf.for.mark
Well-known member
received my ior's back from optrep after sending them for a full strip/service, this is what i got back. have been offered a refund but think i will be taking this further as they are worse now than when i sent them... im gutted as absolutely loved these. the right sides now worse as has some fogging which im noticing as lost contrast/sharpness that side and there are fibers and dust on every surface
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I would be astonished if there was a civilian version of the old DF 7x40 (which is a porro IF design). There certainly is one of the EDF 7x40 (roof design) which is still being sold by Docter as the 7x40 B/GA and might have been sold under the CZJ label in the time after the german reunification. The military versions have a bad case of eastern bloc yellow tint, but the Docter version is nice and very rugged.
Holger Merlitz has written a lot on both models on his page.
http://www.holgermerlitz.de/binoculars_english.html
Have fun!
Joachim
Hi Joachim, Thanks, the binocular has Zeiss Jenna DF 7X40 B GA on it and it is roof. It actually looks identical to the Docter version, black rubber armour but green metal like the EDF, but it appears slightly different to that, hard to say for certain now, but I will post photo's when it arrives and will be grateful for any info.
Ben
That's a real shame Mark, I think I have seen on here optrep has had some bad feedback lately, the guy who seemed to be most recommended was Glasgow Optical, but sadly I hear he has departed to the heavenly repair shop in the sky. I feel for you, I would be gutted as well, I know there are worse things, we could have been born in aleppo, but it is really annoying when you trust someone to improve something and it ends up worse.
Hi Ben,
I'll keep my fingers crossed that you get one w/o the yellow tint - I tried an EDF once from a fellow birder and it was quite pronounced there, other than that and the IF - very nice glass.
Plus it's nearly indestructible, there's a description of the required torture tests after depot service somewhere online - quite shocking.
Joachim
14Goudvink
Well-known member
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Hi,
interesting... the usual source has the Septarem as a pre WW2 7x50 model - but there are indeed some references found to a rare 7x40 post-war CF model of the same name elsewhere on the web...
http://home.europa.com/~telscope/zeissbn2.txt
http://www.fernglasmuseum.at/museum/zeiss_septarem_7mal40w/zeiss_septarem_7mal40w.html
Thanks for mentioning it!
Joachim
Very interesting information about a really rare glass.
I'd have bought one immediately, as the ease of view of the military DF 7x40 really excels, but that version is IF and that is the killer.
Separately, I'm surprised to see a late 1960s Zeiss Jena product labeled 'Made in Germany' rather than DDR.
