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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Zeiss (W. Germany) Serial numbers - just got 2ndhand Dialyt 8x30b bins! (1 Viewer)

That Zeiss would benefit from a spruce-up/TLC, using toothbrushes and cotton buds, at first dampened, to wipe away accumulated grime in hard to reach places; apply WD-40 (sparingly: use a cotton bud) to hinges or areas with surface rust, dry with clean cloth; any painted parts needing refurbishing can be treated with black gloss/satin/matt (as appropriate) car touch-up kit (fine brush), usually dry within 15 mins; black shoe polish (paste/tube) can be applied to leatherette with toothbrush, then polished off; for the finishing touch, wipe whole binocular (excluding lenses!) with silicone shoe-shine sponge and wipe dry with clean cloth. With a bit of luck your Zeiss will look as neiss as new...
 
I a bit earlier gave them a good going over with some shoe/leather cleaning paste which has bought the leather up nicely, wiped the surface dust/grime beforehand. Will do some 'after' pictures later if anyone's interested :) I haven't applied any WD-40 yet but will do later, though everything seems to be moving OK, apart from a smallish issue with the focusser.

When focussing, the focussing wheel turns but instead of stopping at either end of the focus range, the wheel keeps turning! Focus seems to work fine still though - are they supposed to do this or is this a bit of a fault? Might mention it when I contact Zeiss after the weekend about eye cups, see what they say also.

The
 
Now given the Dialyts a going over with some WD-40, they look much much better now! The focussing seems to be working better now too, I've found that putting a bit more pressure on the wheel whilst focussing improves matters, and it stops at both ends of the focussing spectrum whilst doing this! Still not right, will mention it when I phone Zeiss tomorow about the eyecups.

I've done a little comparative test between these, my Barska X-Trail 8x40 WA (Yes, I know! :p They were bought for £11.50 ex-demo from a local garden centre, not bad for the price!) and my near-mint Carl Zeiss Jena Jenoptem 10x50s (The multicoated version, s/no dates them to about 1979).

Perhaps unsurprisingly the Dialyts were better than the Barskas. The Zeiss were sharper, had better contrast and colour and despite all not being well with the Dialyt's focussing mechanism they were easier and quicker to focus. Try as I might, I just can't quite seem to get the Barskas to focus properly or sharply - not sure if this is the focussing/dioptre adjustment or cheap optics. Or both!

Against the comparatively new Jenoptems the Dialyts won out again. The CZJ's focussing was sharp and precise, just as the day they left the factory! Clearer, sharper and more contrasty view than the Barskas, but the Dialyts had the edge again, not to mention a wider field of view, and better depth of focus.

I was saving to buy a new pair of Zeiss or some secondhand Leicas but they were beyond me financially, so I've plumped for a pair of Pentax 8x36 DCF HS roofs (new, £83 inc p & p from Ebay) with phase coating. These should provide more of a challenge for the veteran Dialyts, I'll do a little comparison between these two then the Pentax bins arrive!
 
sammyboy: Glad to hear the Zeiss is coming along nicely. As to the Pentax 8x36 DCF HS you are going to love it: ergonomically superb ("just hold a Pentax"), excellent optics & pleasant focusing, and at a bargain price! I've had lots of binoculars, all shapes & sizes, and if I had to have just the Pentax 8x36 HS, I'd be quite content, it's that good. 8x36 is a fair compromise between 8x30/32 and 8x42, the Pentax is quite compact, and has a 'comfortable' view; I bet you'll feel at home with it straight away, I did.
 
Thanks, look forward to getting them! Also on bit of an impulse got a pair of 'Visionary Wetland' waterproof bins for the car for £35 Inc post.

Zeiss look much improved, and a stunning view out of them too, seeing birds with a new level of clarity!
 
James Bean said:
Googling appears to indicate the Zeiss 8x30B Dialyt was produced from April 1964; the rubber-armoured version (GA) from June 1968; the T* from August 1983; P* added in 1988. Seems yours is from the late 1960s.
Click to expand...

James,

Sorry, I see I overlooked your earlier post where we seem to disagree. Notably about the introduction of the short, still non-armoured version, and the armoured version. The former was produced (introduced) from June 1968 (1969), the latter much later, in 1979.
Of course we agree on the production year of sammyboy's specimen, between 1964 and 1969.

Renze
 
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Renze, I'm sorry, I hadn't realised there was a disagreement. I obtained my information from http://www.europa.com/~telscope/czpstwr.txt where the list shows 8x30 B Dialyt= April 1964; 8x30 B/GA Dialyt= June 1968; 8x30 Dialyt kurz (short)= June 1969; and 8x30 B/GA Dialyt= April 1979. Is the reference to 8x30 B/GA Dialyt in June 1969 a mistake, or have I misunderstood the listing? I do find it quite confusing at times: for example, there is an 8x30 B (and B/GA) Dialyt shown further down as introduced in March 1983, only a few months before both T* versions came out in August 1983. Anyway, I'll now discard my anorak and return to relative normality... why can't they all be like the Swift range, where the first two numbers denote the year of production? Or would that be too easy?
 
Kevin, Thanks for that 'Welcome to Carl Zeiss' page, which is not without mistakes too. Note that the picture of the tiny pocket model like mine is credited with being an 8x56, and the 1990 entry appears twice (apart from verbiage like "giving special consideration to fashion aspects"). Prestige companies ought not to commit errors of this kind. Leica used to do it regularly, with grammatical or printing mistakes in their brochures, such as a model 'complimenting' (sic) (complementing) their range, or words missing/repeated. It happens all the time these days. My grandchildren call me 'Grumps'; I don't know why...
 
Phoned Zeiss yesterday, and I've ordered some replacement eyecups. Just realised though I forgot to ask them about the age of my Dialyts - I'm sure they could've told me exactly when they were manufactured!

I got my Pentax DCF HS bins today! Done a quick comparison with the Dialyts, and despite the phase coating on the Pentax there was little to separate the two to my eyes. The Pentax I think just had the edge but it's a close run thing!

Interesting to read your posts on the evolution of the Dialyts everyone, surprising though about the grammatical errors on Zeiss's website, you'd have thought a big company like that would have better proofreading :)
 
I bet they are as well Kevin! :p

Got my replacement eyecups today, and sadly they didn't fit! Called Zeiss back, who agreed to take the cups back, and asked me to send the old ones in so they can match it, so will hopefully have some nice new eyecups soon!

Whilst I was on to them though, I asked them if they could date my Dialyts from the serial number, which they said they could. It turns out my Dialyts were made in 1970, official and straight from the horse's mouth lol!

So far I'm impressed by the service, friendly and helpful, no messing. They said as well if I wanted the bins servicing, they'd look them over and get me a quote on servicing/repair, and if I decided against having it done they'd send the Dialyts back with no charge. Despite them saying there's only a 30 year warranty, they said as well they'd check to see if the repairs/service can be done under warranty!
 
sammyboy said:
I asked them if they could date my Dialyts from the serial number, which they said they could. It turns out my Dialyts were made in 1970, official and straight from the horse's mouth lol!
Click to expand...

As implied in an earlier post, I'm not too impressed by Zeiss' accuracy in supplying years of manufacturing (linked to serial numbers). See this:
Sammyboy's Dialyt (serial number 745125) is an early long type manufactured from 1964 through 1969, yet according to Zeiss it's from 1970.
Dalats Dialyt (serial number 897889) is from 1972 according to Zeiss.
I have a record of a Dialyt short type special edition 125 year Zeiss (serial number 898391) which is from 1971 (the year of the anniversary).

Now I think Zeiss could very well be right with Dalats specimen, but in Sammyboy's case they're a long, long way off the mark.
Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Renze
 
I have to admit that despite the 'official' date being 1970 I do have my doubts, especially after the comments in here about other people's Dialyts and their experience of serial numbers.

Perhaps the Zeiss West serial numbers were non-sequential, though it doesn't make sense for them to do it that way. I was expecting Zeiss to say that my Dialyts dated from the mid '60s, especially as the 'short' version and the rubber armoured versions appeared before 1970 - unless these were a pair that were gathering dust in a shop for a few years before being sold?
 
sammyboy,

Zeiss serial numbers are continuous. I think there can differences between models as I expect serial numbers were assigned to batches of production, but these differences should be small and of no great consequence. Also, the year of production is necessarily different from the year the binoculars were issued but I expect these to be no more than about a year.
BTW, the earliest serial number I have for a long type 8x30 Dialyt is 649892, the last long type record I have is 798863. The earliest serial number I have for a short type 8x30 Dialyt is 888993.
Unfortunately there's quite a gap in my chart between the two types' serial numbers so I have to guess where the transition should be located: round about 860000 I'd say.

Renze
 
Thought I'd give you an update and some 'after' pictures, now that the correct-sized eyecups have finally arrived from Zeiss!

Though not perfect the Dialyts look a lot better for a bit of a clean and some new eyecups! I've also actually managed to fix the focussing mechanism without taking the bins apart, all that needed doing was the small screws holding the focus wheel in place needed tightening, it now stops at either end of the focus range and feels a bit more firm though I don't think it's 100% (still smooth and precise focussing though).

The only issue now is the objective lens separation, though that doesn't seem to affect image quality at all. I'm hoping that won't get any worse though!
 

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I inherited an old pair of Zeiss 8x30 and when I looked up the serial number it said they were from 1916! They spend some time down in the tropics and you can smell a musty smell like mold or something. The internal coatings seem to have cracked a bit if you look down the objective but they still work just fine. Dim by todays standards but plenty usable.

How is the image through your pair Sammyboy?
 
Indeed, if you have a pair of Dialyts like mine the serial numbering system is completely different, I think you'd have to phone Zeiss themselves to date the bins. Any pics of them at all Nessus?

Still very pleased with mine, as I say pretty close to my phase-coated Pentax DCF-HS 8x36s - and the Dialyts have had more use than the Pentaxes so far too!
 
Renze de Vries said:
Nessus,

Linking Zeiss Jena serial numbers to Zeiss Oberkochen binoculars perhaps? This will set set you back some decades indeed.

Renze
Click to expand...


Yeah that's probably what I did. After reading through this thread I would assume they are from the 60's. They are leather porro prism 8x30b's with serial number 702969. Unfortunately the have some mildew and internal cracking on the coatings but still work very well despite that. I even have the original leather case and strap.

And if you want to get an idea what the difference is between the old coatings and modern coatings I took comparison pics of light reflected in the objectives here. http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=143478
 

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