Kowa TS2 (1 Viewer)

[Colin]

I have just acquired a TS2 (not a TSN2). I have been doing some searching to try to find the years of manufacture. It seems that they were made from 1952 for 8 years and in 1960 was replaced with the TS3. These dates seem a little early but if correct it would mean my scope is a minimum of 52 years old. Does anyone have any data on the date range when these were manufactured? Thanks in advance.

 

[henry link]

Colin,

Here's part of a 1984 Kowa brochure that shows all of the TS models 1-8 (except the TS-5) were still available at that point. I don't think they continued for very long after that.

Henry

 

[Colin]

Thanks Henry,
My dates came from a pdf file. I cannot seem to upload this from my computer. It is mostly in Japanese and is a pictorial list of the older models of Kowa which I got from Kowa Japan. Maybe I have interpreted it wrongly because my Japanese is zero or maybe production stopped in 1960 but units were available for some years after that.

 

[Colin]

Ok, I have done a bit of wizardry with Paint and now there should be an attachment. Any Japanese readers would like to give me a translation and I would be most appreciative.

 

[rockfowl]

Hi Colin,

For what its worth, I don't think they were made quite so early. I remember them coming onto the British scene in the early eighties when the only other good scope was the draw tube Optolyth, and that had its problems in wet weather. I've still got one, the kowa that is.

 

[normjackson]

There are a couple of guys based in Japan on this forum who might be worth sending a pm.

Avoid this guy :
http://i.imgur.com/gtXgp.jpg

 

[Colin]

Mark and Norm,
Thanks for the comments. I have put a post in the Information Wanted thread for a translation but I will try to find a Japanese speaker via a pm.

I think that they are about 30 years old but excellent quality for the age.

This afternoon I have cleaned them up (yes I have two). They were being thrown out by someone I know and his brother. Then I put a base plate on them one at a time and had a proper look from a tripod(hand held before). One is slightly better than the other. The better one I compared with my Nikon ED82 with the 30x eyepiece which is not really a fair comparison because of the 82mm v 60mm and the 30x v 20x fixed and especially as I and many others regard the Nikon 30x eyepiece as one of the best ever made. Nevertheless, the TS2 was very good nay excellent for the age. Very sharp in the centre of the FOV and a bit blurry around the edges but that does not matter. FOV is narrow and eye relief poor but so what. Also seemed a bit yellow in the overall view but hey, they cost me nothing and I am very happy. I can go retro now complete with my Zeiss 10x40 T*P bins from 1990. I will bring out the ED82 and HG bins when things get serious

 

[normjackson]

This afternoon I have cleaned them up (yes I have two).

Cool. I vote we volunteer you for a project to turn them into a binocular ||

I can well understand how there could be confusion about their age. Just me perhaps, but the angled versions shown in Henry's attachment always put me in mind of a crudely carved ancient fertility symbol........

 

[Colin]

Cool. I vote we volunteer you for a project to turn them into a binocular ||

I can well understand how there could be confusion about their age. Just me perhaps, but the angled versions shown in Henry's attachment always put me in mind of a crudely carved ancient fertility symbol........

Yes - a pair of bins. I could do the Crocodile Dundee thing - "Call that a knife, this is a knife". So when someone with some incredibly expensive Swarovski bins appears, I could say " Call them bins, these are bins"!!!

Yes, the fertility symbol. They are 17 inches long with the lens hood extended. Size does matter!!

 

[johnf3f]

I used to have one of these scopes (with a 25x eyepiece) for target shooting and found it to be an excellent scope for the purpose. I also tried it on Jupiter and could clearly see 4 of the moons.
No they are not comparable to the latest top Kowas but they are still perfectly serviceable spotting scopes.
I currently use a Kowa TSN 4 with an Opticron SDL V2 eyepiece - which makes a surprisingly good setup, especially when compared to the current TOP scopes - though it does loose out when the light fades - still it cost me less than the tripod that it stands on!

 

[Colin]

John,
It was a dull day yesterday when I gave them a test and was very pleased with them. Great idea to look at the moons of Jupiter - when this rain stops and the sky clears - maybe next year