Carl Zeiss Jena 8x30 (1 Viewer)

Hi
New to this forum and to birdwatching, so any help would be appreciated. I have two pairs of old, but excellent condition binoculars, which I am giving to my wife and daughter. The first pair are Carl Zeiss Zena Porro 8x30 and were made in DDR in 1960's. The other pair are Swift Porro Grand Prix 8x40. Both pairs have served me well over many years and I have had no complaints as to their quality.

Can anyone tell me anything about the Zeiss bonoculars as they were my late father's. I do recall that he acquired them in the late 1960's and he used them for horse racing. They are quite heavy relative to new models and are made of metal. They are in excellent condition

Gray C said:

Hi
New to this forum and to birdwatching, so any help would be appreciated. I have two pairs of old, but excellent condition binoculars, which I am giving to my wife and daughter. The first pair are Carl Zeiss Zena Porro 8x30 and were made in DDR in 1960's. The other pair are Swift Porro Grand Prix 8x40. Both pairs have served me well over many years and I have had no complaints as to their quality.

Can anyone tell me anything about the Zeiss bonoculars as they were my late father's. I do recall that he acquired them in the late 1960's and he used them for horse racing. They are quite heavy relative to new models and are made of metal. They are in excellent condition

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They were made by East German Zeiss at the time of the cold war. Excellent quality, if not quite up, arguably, to the standards of the West, and quite cheap. I still use Zeiss Jena 10 X 50 Jenoptems, which are heavier but still acceptable. My uncle lent me a pair of the 8 X 30s to watch Kites in Wales with about 20 years ago. I found them superb. Very bright optically, light and of good build quality. Regrettably I had to give them back. The company was renamed Docter Optik after the re-unification I believe, and I don't know whether they still produce optical goods. To those of us with limited budgets in the late 60s early 70s, cheap reasonable quality optics and cameras e.g. Praktica, were a godsend. I still have slides made with my Praktica in 1979, and to be frank, they're as good as anything my brother took with his Canon F-1.

Thanks for the prompt reply and interesting information on these binoculars, or bins, as seems to be the common terminology

Gray C said:

Thanks for the prompt reply and interesting information on these binoculars, or bins, as seems to be the common terminology

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What is the eye-relief like on these older porros from Zeiss? Adequate for close-fitting glasses? (I need about 14mm for best view.)

Robert Ellis said:

What is the eye-relief like on these older porros from Zeiss? Adequate for close-fitting glasses? (I need about 14mm for best view.)

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How do you work that out? The eyecups were solid plastic, so would not be suitable for glasses I would have thought, although I prefer the solid eyepieces to rubber ones.

I have a pair of 8x30 DDR Jenoptems as well which I have had around 30+ years now and still as good as new with beautiful bright crisp optics.

You can use them with glasses on but it's not ideal as there are no eyecups as such giving a constricted view. When I use them I simply push up my glasses.

My wife mainly uses them now as she prefers them over the other far more expensive pairs we have.

I agree about the well made design but I have to disagree about the weight - they are far lighter than my 8x32 Leicas.