Inside several old Zeiss binoculars (1 Viewer)

I have found a Japanese page showing several cuts of old binoculars. Here is the translation in English :
http://translate.google.fr/translat...p-z06obk_opt03.htm&sl=ja&tl=en&hl=fr&ie=UTF-8

Without surprise, the first cut shows a very basic design, for the 1883 binocular. I suppose that the eyepiece is a Kellner.

The 8x30 model of 1954 had already a rather complex design, with an air-spaced doublet for the objective, and a 6 lens element for the eyepiece.

The next binocular made in 1964 is in fact the 8x30 Dialyt. I have a Zeiss brochure made in 1985 that shows the optical design of this binocular : cemented doublet, Schmidt-Pechan prism, and 4-lens eyepiece. The design remained probably identical over the years.

The last cut is the Nobilem 12x50. I don't know if it's the "Nobilem Spezial". An interesting feature is that the first prism is bigger than the second one.
The same difference in the size of prims can be seen in the Nobilem 8x50 Super :
http://www.holgermerlitz.de/zeiss8x50.html

Jean-Charles

Jean-Charles,

Very interesting, particularly the air-spaced objective in 1954. I'm always curious about the eye relief of these old specimens, and, of course, the FOV. Any mention of it?

Ed

elkcub said:

Very interesting, particularly the air-spaced objective in 1954. I'm always curious about the eye relief of these old specimens, and, of course, the FOV. Any mention of it?

Click to expand...

The eyepiece is an Erfle design (6 lenses in 4 groups) with short eye relief. FOV is 150m/1000m. The 10x50 (introduced in 1957) had what Zeiss called a "semi-apochromatic" objective. FOV is 130m/1000m. Excellent center sharpness with a large sweet spot, fairly soft towards the edges, contrast predictably quite a lot lower than in modern binoculars.

I wish the 10x50 in particular was still available with modern coatings. It would run circles around most modern roofs.

Hermann