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

Any Zeiss 7x50 B owners here? (2 Viewers)

tpcollins

Well-known member
I was looking at some vintage Zeiss 7x50 B porro prism binocs online and as an eyeglass wearer, I was wondering what the eye relief is on these?
 
Hello TP,

The current iteration of the 7x50B is described here.

Why not 'phone Zeiss USA and ask them if it has the same specs as the older model. I believe that the only difference may be the rubber armour. I do not know if all the older 7x50 B units had T* coatings.
Beware of 7x50 which were not B, as the B means useful for those who wear eyeglasses.

Happy bird watching,
Arthur Pinewood :hi:
 
TP - I've had both models and believe the specs are the same. I don't remember the traditiional model (without armour) being T coated. Interestingly, I always assumed they were waterproof, but the current literature says spray proof. John
 
T coating has been a Zeiss standard since the 1930s, although the specifics have evolved greatly over the decades.
The 7x50B is a post WW2 design, from Zeiss West Germany. As Zeiss has pretty much ceased developing new porro configuration binoculars, there would be no reason to expect any changes in the 7x50B during its production life apart from coatings and external packaging.
 
Zeiss 7x50 bgat*

Had a look through one of these today, and got vertigo :-O, only for a few seconds.
The brightness and 3D effect are incredible !...
 
Had a look through one of these today, and got vertigo :-O, only for a few seconds.
The brightness and 3D effect are incredible !...

Hello Ingle1970,

Yes, indeed. Wearing it makes one feel able to skipper a tanker through the Channel.

Happy bird watching,
Arthur Pinewood
 
Since you have had the opportunity to actually look through a pair of the 7x50 I would like to ask your opinion on the IF-individual focus feature. Does it really work?
I have heard that it relies on the eye-ball changing shape slightly to adjust to various distances and wonder as the eye ages past 50+ years if eyes could adjust to it.
 
Since you have had the opportunity to actually look through a pair of the 7x50 I would like to ask your opinion on the IF-individual focus feature. Does it really work?
I have heard that it relies on the eye-ball changing shape slightly to adjust to various distances and wonder as the eye ages past 50+ years if eyes could adjust to it.

Statestat

All i can say is yes they work, once you have set them to your own dioptre requirement you dont need to touch them again, but as to the second part of your question as to whether a 50 year old pair of eyes can adjust to the varying distances i will have to get back to you in 10+ years :t:
 
Since you have had the opportunity to actually look through a pair of the 7x50 I would like to ask your opinion on the IF-individual focus feature. Does it really work?
I have heard that it relies on the eye-ball changing shape slightly to adjust to various distances and wonder as the eye ages past 50+ years if eyes could adjust to it.

IF works by setting the focus of each eye seperately such that you can see ate a sharp image at infinity. You can see closer objects bythe lens in the eye changing shape and adding power. Something it does less well as one ages.

It works well enough if you have large distant targets (at say 100m and further away with perhaps 1m tall and larger targets) e.g. military, hunters, boating and naval use.

It does not work for birding with small, close (< 40m) targets that move back and forth.

You can simulate IF with CF bins: just focus them at something on 100m or bit further away and leave them there. Can you see stuff at infinity and a bit closer than 100m?

No magic involved. Just a way of sealing porros well against water and dust. And never accidently "knocking" the focus when you pick up the bins. They're always at infinity when you need them.
 
I read somewhere, a while back, that forward observers in WW2 would often drill pinholes through the sides of the IF rings and wire them permanently into position so they could save time when using them rather than having to reset their focus.
Bob
 
Although close in birding with an IF 7x50 is for lunatics (don't ask me how I know), a small IF binocular can be managed with just a little practice. I'm having fun with my 6x30 Fujinon. It is a bit slow, compared to a Zeiss FL say, and I still have a hard time keeping a flying bird in focus as it passes overhead. But I'm doing it, and getting better at it.
Ron
 
IF making me dizzy

What a cool way to test the use of IF, I have been using it and can see how it would work at sea but around here I can not stop from looking at close-in things that makes me feel a little sea-sick.
 
Although close in birding with an IF 7x50 is for lunatics (don't ask me how I know), a small IF binocular can be managed with just a little practice. I'm having fun with my 6x30 Fujinon. It is a bit slow, compared to a Zeiss FL say, and I still have a hard time keeping a flying bird in focus as it passes overhead. But I'm doing it, and getting better at it.
Ron


I had a Biology Professor long ago in the days before Roof Prisms who refused to use IF Porro's. He insisted on Center Focus.
Bob
 
Been using the IF Zeiss 7x50 again today, no vertigo this time.

Obviously they are not intended for birding, but sat in the garden with clearing blue sky, looking high at passing gulls, the experience was just so relaxing.
It felt like you had more time to take in everything that was going on and enjoy the details of the gulls, or just about anything else which may be going past.
Wonderful...i may be keeping these.
 
Although close in birding with an IF 7x50 is for lunatics (don't ask me how I know), a small IF binocular can be managed with just a little practice. I'm having fun with my 6x30 Fujinon. It is a bit slow, compared to a Zeiss FL say, and I still have a hard time keeping a flying bird in focus as it passes overhead. But I'm doing it, and getting better at it.
Ron

Ron

just read your post, i'm a lunatic :D
 
Ingle,
If only they weren't so big and heavy and unwieldy to look through and focus at the same time, I would use nothing but my IF 7x50, which happens to be a Fujinon. I want no finer view. But it's just too much.

Your Zeiss is lighter, and shorter, and the grippy rubber cover would help with handling. There may be hope there. Good luck, and enjoy the delicious centers of those exit pupils!
Ron
 
Ron

You sound like your a big fan of Fujinon optics, let me know if you ever get bored of your superb 6x30 FMTR-SX though ;)
 
Hard to break old habits, I keep trying to simulate the IF as Kevin suggested but seem to always look for a crispier view and succoumb to old habits and use the CF wheel. Maybe a good compromise is the 7x42 with CF.
 
Ingle,
Fujinon is just what I have wandered into is all, and they are priced right and good. But it's not like brand loyalty.

I had a hard day's birding today, with my IF 6x30. We got up at 4 am and hit four wildlife areas in southern Colorado. It was pretty furious action. I even saw a muskrat (sort of a wet stinky hedgehog). I missed one hummingbird I could probably have gotten with the FL, due to the slower focus adjustment.
Ron
 
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