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swarovski habicht yellow cast (1 Viewer)

bockos

bockos

Well-known member
Hi, I want to ask from which year of production of the habichts the yellow cast is gone, I recently saw a habicht for sale from 1995, and I wonder if they have the yellow cast. I haven't the option to look through the pair, that's why i wonder about the yellow cast. Thanks!
 
bockos said:
Hi, I want to ask from which year of production of the habichts the yellow cast is gone, I recently saw a habicht for sale from 1995, and I wonder if they have the yellow cast. I haven't the option to look through the pair, that's why i wonder about the yellow cast. Thanks!
Click to expand...

From my recollection here on BF, it was stated that Pre-1988 Habicht production optics had a slight yellow hue. After that time frame, coatings must have been changed and I can confirm that updated assemblies (8x30 W-2014 and 10x40 W GA-2015) have very neutral and natural colors! Hopefully that "year of change" can be confirmed\verified by others who really know!

Ted
 
Habichts with Swarovski's first multi-coating (a two layer coating called Transmax) were more than just slightly yellow. See the photo in the link below of an 8x30 Habicht from the late 1980s. I'm not sure when Transmax was dropped in the Habichts, but I believe it was well into the 1990s. My last unsuccessful effort to buy an 8x30 Habicht with reasonably neutral color bias was around 1995. Even the Swarovski EL and SLC models that used Swarotop coating were at least slightly yellow biased until sometime between 2005 and 2010. I'd also be interested to know the official Swaro date for color neutral transmission in the Habichts.

http://www.birdforum.net/showpost.php?p=1370001&postcount=14
 
Hy

First of all because I-am new on the forum I want to say hy to everyone .
I have a binocular Swarovski 10X40 Habicht from 1995 for sale on ebay.de . It has neutral colors . I have an Habict 8X30 from 1965 with has very good contrast but a little yellow image . I had a Habict 8X30 newer from 2012 with had neutrals colors very bright image but at very strong light because of the huge transimition of the light 95% the colors appeared sometimes a little washed out .
This Swarosvski from 1995 seems to have the best of the Swarosvski older and newer era . It has modern body neutral colors great transmision but because it doesn-t have the latest treataments Swarotop and Swarobright it have much better contrast at least for my eyes comparing from those made after 2010 .
Shortly an very intersting binocular .
 
binomaniac said:
Hy

First of all because I-am new on the forum I want to say hy to everyone .
I have a binocular Swarovski 10X40 Habicht from 1995 for sale on ebay.de . It has neutral colors . I have an Habict 8X30 from 1965 with has very good contrast but a little yellow image . I had a Habict 8X30 newer from 2012 with had neutrals colors very bright image but at very strong light because of the huge transimition of the light 95% the colors appeared sometimes a little washed out .
This Swarosvski from 1995 seems to have the best of the Swarosvski older and newer era . It has modern body neutral colors great transmision but because it doesn-t have the latest treataments Swarotop and Swarobright it have much better contrast at least for my eyes comparing from those made after 2010 .
Shortly an very intersting binocular .
Click to expand...

Hello and Welcome to BF! :hi:

Thanks for reporting your first hand observations on the Habicht. They do have a long and exemplary history in top optical glass instruments!

I have a call in to SONA (Swarovski Optik North America)...their Senior Tech Mng. is suppose to get back with me Monday 26th with details on the Habicht coating change era...will post back the findings as I get them!

Ted
 
I have a passion for binoculars from 40 years .i read the birdforum.net from aprox 6 years . i sold the bino from 5 years and i never ever feel the need to advertising my binoculars on this forum or in the other one.But this habicht made in the middle of the 90's is the intrigue one. The field of view is not 108 metres like swarovski specification claims ,but 110 meters. Resolution is like in every swarovski porro bin, very high, light transmission is over 90 % colours appears to be neutral and chromatic aberration very well suppressed which is not a surprise for a good porro prisms binoculars. Now, when someone look thru objective ist perceived a little yellow cast on a white paper , this yellow ist invisible when you look thru oculars ,but i think this contribute in some manner to enhance the contrast which at least for my eyes ist better den the contrast of 2010 habicht with swarotop and swarobright
 
And according to the allbinos.com the real magnification is 10,5x ,so we tolking about a bino verry light an reasonable small with great amount of magnification.
 
henry link said:
Habichts with Swarovski's first multi-coating (a two layer coating called Transmax) were more than just slightly yellow. See the photo in the link below of an 8x30 Habicht from the late 1980s. I'm not sure when Transmax was dropped in the Habichts, but I believe it was well into the 1990s. My last unsuccessful effort to buy an 8x30 Habicht with reasonably neutral color bias was around 1995. Even the Swarovski EL and SLC models that used Swarotop coating were at least slightly yellow biased until sometime between 2005 and 2010. I'd also be interested to know the official Swaro date for color neutral transmission in the Habichts.
Click to expand...

binomaniac said:
This Swarosvski from 1995 seems to have the best of the Swarosvski older and newer era . It has modern body neutral colors great transmision but because it doesn-t have the latest treataments Swarotop and Swarobright it have much better contrast at least for my eyes comparing from those made after 2010. Shortly an very intersting binocular .
Click to expand...

Henry and Binomaniac comments are confirmed! This morning I spoke to Mike and received an e-mail from Brandon, both with tech services at SONA. Their Service Mng (long seniority time with Swaro NA) told their technicians that Habicht porro coatings started to change to portray a neutral color transmission between the late 80's and mid 90's production time frame! By 2004, Swarobright was added to their porros and roofs, increasing the light transmission % for all models.

Thus, Habicht pre-1988's should display warm color hue FOV's, neutral color hues after that time era of 88' to 95' and highest % of transmission and brightness FOV's since 2004! Models in question, especially in that late century transition period, should be glassed with to confirm "what you Want is what you Get"! :t:

Hope this helps,

Ted
 
Thanks for the information, Ted. I tracked down a few of my old Habicht sales receipts. The 8x30 in the photo I posted was bought in November of 1987. Then I bought an 8x30 GA in Februrary of 1988 which was just as yellow. Then I bought a 10x40 in May of 1991. It and a 8x30 GA I tried about the same time on hopes it would be less yellow than my 87/88 8x30s were just as yellow as the earlier ones. I couldn't find a receipt for my last Habicht purchase, which was at least two years later and that one was just as yellow. Unfortunately I don't know when any of these were actually manufactured since the current date code imbedded in Swaro serial numbers wasn't used then.

I have a 1991 catalogue, which specifically mentions Swarotop being used in the SLs and SLCs, but the Habichts are described only as having a "high quality coating" which I take to mean Transmax. A ca. 2000 catalogue does specifically state that Swarotop is used in the Habichts at that point. For my tastes the Swarotop of 2000 was still a bit too yellow, but a big improvement over Transmax.

BTW, Swarobright is a di-electric mirror coating that's only applied to the one surface in a Schmidt-Pechan roof prism that doesn't achieve total internal reflection. It isn't used in Porros or Abbe-Koning roof prisms.

Henry
 
henry link said:
Thanks for the information, Ted. I tracked down a few of my old Habicht sales receipts. The 8x30 in the photo I posted was bought in November of 1987. Then I bought an 8x30 GA in Februrary of 1988 which was just as yellow. Then I bought a 10x40 in May of 1991. It and a 8x30 GA I tried about the same time on hopes it would be less yellow than my 87/88 8x30s were just as yellow as the earlier ones. I couldn't find a receipt for my last Habicht purchase, which was at least two years later and that one was just as yellow. Unfortunately I don't know when any of these were actually manufactured since the current date code imbedded in Swaro serial numbers wasn't used then.

I have a 1991 catalogue, which specifically mentions Swarotop being used in the SLs and SLCs, but the Habichts are described only as having a "high quality coating" which I take to mean Transmax. A ca. 2000 catalogue does specifically state that Swarotop is used in the Habichts at that point. For my tastes the Swarotop of 2000 was still a bit too yellow, but a big improvement over Transmax.

BTW, Swarobright is a di-electric mirror coating that's only applied to the one surface in a Schmidt-Pechan roof prism that doesn't achieve total internal reflection. It isn't used in Porros or Abbe-Koning roof prisms.

Henry
Click to expand...

Great investigative info, Henry...Thanks! :king:

Ted
 
binomaniac said:
Hy

First of all because I-am new on the forum I want to say hy to everyone .
I have a binocular Swarovski 10X40 Habicht from 1995 for sale on ebay.de . It has neutral colors . I have an Habict 8X30 from 1965 with has very good contrast but a little yellow image . I had a Habict 8X30 newer from 2012 with had neutrals colors very bright image but at very strong light because of the huge transimition of the light 95% the colors appeared sometimes a little washed out .
This Swarosvski from 1995 seems to have the best of the Swarosvski older and newer era . It has modern body neutral colors great transmision but because it doesn-t have the latest treataments Swarotop and Swarobright it have much better contrast at least for my eyes comparing from those made after 2010 .
Shortly an very intersting binocular .
Click to expand...

The wash out look in the modern 8x30 could be glare at certain angles or times of day. It is possible that the yellow tints weren't as prone to this in the 8x30...a good experiment, I'll have to try that for myself.

Otherwise, imo, the newer 8x30 and the 10x40 Habicht have possibly the most stunning and ruthless contrast of any bino ive ever looked through. All new 10x40 Habicht will have far far less glare than the new 8x30 in challenging conditions, so make sure you are comparing like with like re specs, not just dates of manufacture.

Cheers
Rathaus
 
binomaniac said:
And according to the allbinos.com the real magnification is 10,5x ,so we tolking about a bino verry light an reasonable small with great amount of magnification.
Click to expand...

Binomaniac,

Before you accept Allbino's figure of 10.5x you should read this article about their methods:

http://www.allbinos.com/2.1-article-How_do_we_test_binoculars_.html

What you'll find is that Allbinos doesn't actually measure magnification. They measure exit pupil and even that may not be completely accurate since they don't specify where the calipers are positioned behind the eyepiece (they should be placed precisely at the eye relief distance).

If we accept Allbino's 3.8mm exit pupil measurement for the Habicht 10x40 then there are two equally possible explanations. One is that the magnification is 10.5x and the other is that the clear aperture is reduced to 38mm by an internal obstruction. Without directly measuring the clear aperture and/or the magnification it's impossible to know which explanation is correct.

Rathaus last post contains a hint that the edge of the objective may be obstructed (most likely by the first prism shelf aperture). That would neatly explain both the 3.8mm exit pupil and the reportedly higher glare resistance of the 10x40 compared to the 8x30. The 8x30's glare problem comes from the objective lens cell, which can be seen from the eyepiece just inside the prism shelf aperture. If the 10x40's objective lens cell is hidden behind the prism shelf aperture then any glare from it would be effectively baffled by the prism shelf.

Henry
 
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Hello,

I missed this thread...I have had 4 Habichts 10x40 before the 5th and newest I have now. Plus 2 8x30s. The first 2 ones were from the 70s. GREAT optics, sourprisingly PERFECT colimation, and AMAZING resolution and sharpness, at least equal to ANY present binocular. Period. But yes, yellow cast. But I adapted very well to it because all the other virtues. The other two, from mid 90's, one a GA and the other one of the first sealed, had also a yellow cast althought not so strong as the first. And, yes, both also perfect in every other way!
The last and present one is the best of the bunch!
The 8x30 were not as new, but also share all the quality, optics and mechanics of the 10x40s. I sold them because, I thought...., I didn't needed a 8x...! Anyway 5 years ago I realized I need, and use a lot, a 8x30/32, so I jump at a opportunity and buy a nice Meopta Meostar 8x32. Also a great 8x32 binocular!!!!

PHA
 
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Hi Rathaus . I must agree with you , could be glare at certain angles or times of day in my former habicht 8x30 new edition. Anyway i never had an 10x40 habicht made in 2010-2015 but i wish to have one GA model in the future.
 
Henry , thank you very much for clarification ,unfortunately i get the bino in the package in order to send him to the buyer in New York ,so i dont have the possibility to make some detailed research. Maybe on the next one which i hope to bee one of the last model and GA . Best regards !
 
binomaniac said:
Hi Rathaus . I must agree with you , could be glare at certain angles or times of day in my former habicht 8x30 new edition. Anyway i never had an 10x40 habicht made in 2010-2015 but i wish to have one GA model in the future.
Click to expand...

Yes, certain times of day for the 8x30 give it the glares...otherwise it's resolution and contrast are monstrous. Too good for most human eyes perhaps...so for me the 10x end up revealing even more of the inate quality of these.

I've wondered about the mystery of the Habicht...why is it so good? I don't know. Sometimes, very rarely, a design just clicks, or lucks out somehow - on top of already brilliant industrial and technical design. That's the Habicht. Especially the 10x40.

Snap the GA up while you can. The 8x30 is no longer GA.
 
The 8x30 habicht GA would be my almost perfect cup of tea , i always like the binoculars with military design. My former habicht 8x30 was impressive in resolution, neutral colour, and even very small amount of chromatic aberration , unfortunately too much glare at certain angles. I almost buy a 8x30 GA from the ebay at an extraordinary price 500 dollars buy in now, not in pristine condition but decent one , but when i saw him i started to calculate the taxes for import in Romania and in this time someone buy him instantly !!
 
Recently I have seen habicht 10x40 wga for sale, but thereis no information about the year, is it possible for this wga model to be with yellow cast, when wga models were started to being produced?
 
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