Binocollector
Well-known member
Hi there,
new member here from Germany, hello everyone. I thought I'd start out by posting a pic of my favourite (at the moment -- the collection keeps growing) birding binos (I mainly started buying binos for astronomy but find myself using them more and more during the day).
On the left is my "latest and greatest" DDoptics Lux HR 10x42. It has a field flattener lense and all the bells and whistles. I am not such a big fan of the center diopter however and the huge focus wheel is a bit too close to my face. The views are quite nice though.
Up on the right from top to bottom. First a vintage roof prism, Made in Japan, sold under the brand "BOB Optik". It's a 10x40. Despite the missing phase coatings and older coatings on the lenses it still delivers a nice, relatively color neutral (for a vintage bino) view. The FoV is a bit small but rather sharp. And one of the main reasons I like it is the handling. I can wrap both hands around it, right hand on the bridge, left hand on the left barrel and working the focuser with the left hand. I really like that "reverse focuser" configuration. And it is also very lightweight. Only the prism housing has a metal frame, the barrels are made from plastic.
One of my absolute favourite small porros is the "Bresser Everest Objecta" 8x30. For a vintage binos it is rather bright and it delivers the most razor sharp views across most of its large FoV. It also has a pretty fast focuser for a porro. I have kind of a soft spot for vintage 8x30 porros because of the ease of use and large FoV. And I compared a lot of them. The Bresser is the best in my collection. Interestingly -- it seems to have the exact same coatings as my vintage 12x45 Komz Baigish. So I suspect that despite the Japanese looks, this might actually be something that Bresser put together themselves with a body made in Japan and lenses from an 8x30 Komz. At least the front lenses. That might explain how super sharp it is. I even use it for astronomy as it delivers point like stars over much of the FoV. I like it so much that I bought a 2nd one (supposedly unused) on ebay which is still on its way. I hope it is as good as the first. It does have some weaknesses though as the prisms are not covered so it shows some false pupil.
And last but not least the little 8x30 Optolyth. It has a rather narrow FoV but still okay. The build quality is quite nice -- better than the average Japanese porro from that time. It has covered prisms and no false pupils like the Bresser.
At the moment I am contemplating the idea however, to get rid of a part of the collection (or maybe sell my astrophotography equipment that collects dust in the attic) and spend some big bucks on a Swaro NL Pure 10x32.
That's it for now. I will probably spend a lot of time in the equipment section of the forum. More pics and posts to follow.
cheers, Philipp
new member here from Germany, hello everyone. I thought I'd start out by posting a pic of my favourite (at the moment -- the collection keeps growing) birding binos (I mainly started buying binos for astronomy but find myself using them more and more during the day).
On the left is my "latest and greatest" DDoptics Lux HR 10x42. It has a field flattener lense and all the bells and whistles. I am not such a big fan of the center diopter however and the huge focus wheel is a bit too close to my face. The views are quite nice though.
Up on the right from top to bottom. First a vintage roof prism, Made in Japan, sold under the brand "BOB Optik". It's a 10x40. Despite the missing phase coatings and older coatings on the lenses it still delivers a nice, relatively color neutral (for a vintage bino) view. The FoV is a bit small but rather sharp. And one of the main reasons I like it is the handling. I can wrap both hands around it, right hand on the bridge, left hand on the left barrel and working the focuser with the left hand. I really like that "reverse focuser" configuration. And it is also very lightweight. Only the prism housing has a metal frame, the barrels are made from plastic.
One of my absolute favourite small porros is the "Bresser Everest Objecta" 8x30. For a vintage binos it is rather bright and it delivers the most razor sharp views across most of its large FoV. It also has a pretty fast focuser for a porro. I have kind of a soft spot for vintage 8x30 porros because of the ease of use and large FoV. And I compared a lot of them. The Bresser is the best in my collection. Interestingly -- it seems to have the exact same coatings as my vintage 12x45 Komz Baigish. So I suspect that despite the Japanese looks, this might actually be something that Bresser put together themselves with a body made in Japan and lenses from an 8x30 Komz. At least the front lenses. That might explain how super sharp it is. I even use it for astronomy as it delivers point like stars over much of the FoV. I like it so much that I bought a 2nd one (supposedly unused) on ebay which is still on its way. I hope it is as good as the first. It does have some weaknesses though as the prisms are not covered so it shows some false pupil.
And last but not least the little 8x30 Optolyth. It has a rather narrow FoV but still okay. The build quality is quite nice -- better than the average Japanese porro from that time. It has covered prisms and no false pupils like the Bresser.
At the moment I am contemplating the idea however, to get rid of a part of the collection (or maybe sell my astrophotography equipment that collects dust in the attic) and spend some big bucks on a Swaro NL Pure 10x32.
That's it for now. I will probably spend a lot of time in the equipment section of the forum. More pics and posts to follow.
cheers, Philipp
