Zeiss 8x50 (1 Viewer)

Hello,

A friend of mine is offering to me a MINT, really MINT, Zeiss 8x50. Not a B (AFAIK) because it has a hard ocular.
I would be glad to know their optics specifications and what would be a fair price por both. He is asking U$ 800....
The pictures he sent to me are very small but they are of the actual binocular, not an example.

Thank you very much!

PHA

Check Holger's website, he did a comparative review of the Zeiss 8x50 some years ago:

http://www.holgermerlitz.de/zeiss8x50.html

I've got the 8x50B which I use quite a bit in the field. The optics are good to very good, although modern binoculars with modern coatings have better transmission and better contrast. Excellent resolution in the centre, fading gradually towards the edge. The mechanical quality of these old Zeiss West porros is, however, second to none. They're just beautiful, even better than the Swarovski Habicht.

The field of view is 130m/1000m. The 8x50B is basically the same as the binocular in the pictures, just with rubber eyecups. These eyecups are probably still available from Zeiss, so you can change the hard eyecups. Eye relief is 16mm, just about enough if you wear glasses.

Even if this pair is mint it is something like 50 to 60 years old and can probably do with a thorough cleaning and so on. Quite a few of these old porros have a distinct haze on the lenses and prisms and really neeed to be dismantled and cleaned. This is *not* an easy job with the Zeiss due to the airspaced objective lenses. This has to be borne in mind. I had my pair serviced in Wetzlar, so it's as good as new.

The price ... Well, I think the 8x50B is more of a collector's item (that can still be used and enjoyed in the field). I personally believe US $ 800 is too much unless the bins were serviced recently in Wetzlar. Even if they're clean I don't think I'd pay much more than about $500 to 600 for it, less if it's not clean.

If you've got any more questions feel free to ask.

Hermann

PHA said:

Hello,

A friend of mine is offering to me a MINT, really MINT, Zeiss 8x50. Not a B (AFAIK) because it has a hard ocular.
I would be glad to know their optics specifications and what would be a fair price por both. He is asking U$ 800....
The pictures he sent to me are very small but they are of the actual binocular, not an example.

Thank you very much!

PHA

Click to expand...

They look great! Are they multi-coated?

Not sure what the specs are. I had an "aus Jena" 8x50 Octarem with a 7.4* FOV. Really liked it, but I ended up selling it to a friend. These look shorter than the Octarem, which was a monster, similar to the Docter Nobilem series.

Zeiss Jena Octarems sell for betwn $500-$600 in VG to excellent condition. Does it have "Jena" written on the prism housing? DDR Zeiss bins sell for less than Zeiss West, but I don't know how much more (the short answer is "as much as the market will bear"). Meaning, how much you are willing to pay for them. I'd certainly take a look through them before I plucked down $800. I'm sure the view is great, but they might have a slight "tinge" of green to the image with the older coatings. I only noticed it in low light with the Octarem.

Brock

Thank you Hermann!! In a week I will meet my friend and take a look at the binoculars.
I think, also, U$ 800 is a bit too much. Will see...

Thank you again!

PHA

brocknroller said:

They look great! Are they multi-coated?

Not sure what the specs are. I had an "aus Jena" 8x50 Octarem with a 7.4* FOV. Really liked it, but I ended up selling it to a friend. These look shorter than the Octarem, which was a monster, similar to the Docter Nobilem series.

Zeiss Jena Octarems sell for betwn $500-$600 in VG to excellent condition. Does it have "Jena" written on the prism housing? DDR Zeiss bins sell for less than Zeiss West, but I don't know how much more (the short answer is "as much as the market will bear"). Meaning, how much you are willing to pay for them. I'd certainly take a look through them before I plucked down $800. I'm sure the view is great, but they might have a slight "tinge" of green to the image with the older coatings. I only noticed it in low light with the Octarem.

Brock

Click to expand...

Brock, this is a Zeiss [West] Oberkochen.

As Hermann said, $800.00 is at the very highest end of prices for this model. E-bay prices seem to be around $400-$600 for a non ''B'' and ''B'' models go for more.

I would do some bargaining, but [if it's mint] I would go for it for a reasonable sum - it should be superb and bound to increase in value over time.

Hello Brock,

This is a West German Zeiss Binocular. When I see them, I will say some more about...

Thank you.

PHA

Hello James,

You posted your answer just before mine!

I agree 800 is a bit high...

Thank you.

PHA

PHA said:

Hello James,

You posted your answer just before mine!

I agree 800 is a bit high...

Thank you.

PHA

Click to expand...

Same thing happened to me. I was still writing when Hermann posted three minutes earlier. I didn't see his post until after I posted my reply.

Even though it's Zeiss West (not sure if they are actually better optically than their Jena counterparts, but collectors seem to be willing to pay more for "West" bins), I'd try to haggle a better price.

Brock

james holdsworth said:

As Hermann said, $800.00 is at the very highest end of prices for this model. E-bay prices seem to be around $400-$600 for a non ''B'' and ''B'' models go for more.

Click to expand...

Over here they fetch about $ 300 to $ 600, depending on their condition. The Zeiss West 10x50 goes for a bit more, unless it's one of the 1000 produced in the 1980s.

james holdsworth said:

I would do some bargaining, but [if it's mint] I would go for it for a reasonable sum - it should be superb and bound to increase in value over time.

Click to expand...

The 8x50B is like an 8x30B on steroids. Optically it's quite similar to the 8x30B, even though the last 8x30B's may have *slightly* better transmission because of better coatings. My 8x50B dates back to 1961, and my 8x30B (1972) is *a bit* brighter.

Hermann

brocknroller said:

They look great! Are they multi-coated?

Click to expand...

Brock

The objective lenses *look* as though they're multicoated, don't they? My 8x50B looks the same, and it's from 1961. I believe it's an early type of multicoating (or an advanced single-layer coating).

In any event, it's quite different from the much more "traditional" single-layer coating Zeiss used in the 10x50 porro of the same period, even in those 1000 they produced in the 1980s as a special edition. Apparently they used a type of glass in the 10x50s (that were described as "semi-apochromatic" at the time) that could only be coated with simple single-layer coatings. And the difference shows in the field: The 8x50B has better contrast and transmission than the 10x50. But the 10x50 has a much wider field of view and *no* CA ...

Hermann

Hello,

Yesterday, at Buenos Aires, I take a look at the 8x50 Zeiss. Amazing binoculars!!!! They are really mint and perfectly colimated!! In spite was at noon (I would like to take a look at dusk or late evening...), the view was very relaxed, the so-called sweet spot very large, the center view free of CA and the resolution superb!!! I know at noon I was using the center of the objective but, anyway, I fell in love with that Zeiss. Even the leather case was mint...!!! I ALMOST bought them but really, I am not a collector and the final price end at 700. So, I passed....The actual use of the binocular, for me, would be as a night hunting binocular. For other uses I have others, better for me...If it was a 10x50 or, better yet, a 15x60 (more $$$ but....) I did not pass....
A very nice and extremely well made binocular this 8x50...!!

PHA