Show us your "vintage" and classic binos (1 Viewer)

[Thotmosis]

Thotmosis, post 79,
On the WEB-site of House of Outdoor you can find a history of Hartmann with an overview of its production programme and performance compared with binoculars produced by other companies.
Gijs van Ginkel

Thank you Gijs, i always read your articles with great interest!

All the best,
T

 

[Paultricounty]

They look cool, you are getting quite a vintage collection

Nice pocket knives also btw

Thank you.

In New York behind the wall we have to call them gentleman folders 🤪😩. Certainly don’t want to do 2-5 in an upstate penitentiary 😟

 

[Paultricounty]

Those rangemasters look beautiful! I am prone to liking these vintage instruments. Something has been lost in modern designs, these sculpted, rubbery low-cost porro designs do nothing for me.

There is a solid built feeling to them, very dense and heavy for 35mm. But no rubber or plastic on these , that’s why after 50 to over 60 years and still working perfectly. There is an art to the design and materials used as apposed to the utilitarian materials and design of modern bins.

Paul

 

[Paultricounty]

I want to present my newest gem, a Hartmann Wetzlar Bernina 7x42 from probably 1964. Bernina was the 2nd, more advanced product line after the Porlerim with double coated optic elements.

7x42 is a rare configuration for Berninas which usually had magnifcations of ten and higher next to the tourist config 8x30 and military/hunter config 7x50. In 1966 with introduction of the 3rd product line the Compact, 7x42 become a standard config for them and I belive no 7x42 Berninas have been built anymore.

Optical it has a bright image with neutral colors and incredible sharpness over about 70-80%. I have seen such a sharpness already at my 8x30 Porlerim at good light conditions but it loses contrast with low light. This Bernina keeps the contrast even at cloudy days and beginning dusk. With all the details you can recogince in the image, it feels that it has higher magnifcation than 7x.
Only CA is much more prononced than other Hartmanns I own, especially at the boarders.

Nice clean ones. They have that old Zeiss reddish coatings like Jenoptems. What’s the FOV on those?

 

[Richard D]

Charity shop find - Noctovist Mk11



Clearly made for the export market - Ruhnke

On the positive side they're nicely made with a smooth focus (reverse direction to Carl Zeiss) and are centrally decently sharp, but there it ends. Wide Angle is a bit of an exaggeration to say the least, the coatings are very basic leading to a much duller view and slightly yellower view than CZJ's 8x30s and once you get beyond the very centre the view falls apart much more quickly. I'm guessing these were much cheaper than the CZJ Deltrintims/Jenoptem.

 

[Thotmosis]

Charity shop find - Noctovist Mk11

View attachment 1501038View attachment 1501039View attachment 1501040View attachment 1501041

Clearly made for the export market - Ruhnke

On the positive side they're nicely made with a smooth focus (reverse direction to Carl Zeiss) and are centrally decently sharp, but there it ends. Wide Angle is a bit of an exaggeration to say the least, the coatings are very basic leading to a much duller view and slightly yellower view than CZJ's 8x30s and once you get beyond the very centre the view falls apart much more quickly. I'm guessing these were much cheaper than the CZJ Deltrintims/Jenoptem.

But they have that beautiful name: Noctovist!!

 

[Wasabrot]

Nice clean ones. They have that old Zeiss reddish coatings like Jenoptems. What’s the FOV on those?

I have to measure it out since the 7x42 configuration is not mentioned in the known catalogues. But in comparison to my 7x35 wideangle Porlerim with 150m@1000m (8,6°) I would guess something between 130m and 140m@1000m, so around 7,5° to 8°.

 

[Scott98]

But they have that beautiful name: Noctovist!!

Noctovist? Do I sense copyright infringement (Leica?).....

 

[Paultricounty]

Early version Bushnell FPO Rangemaster, prior to silver line.

 

[Richard D]

Noctovist? Do I sense copyright infringement (Leica?).....

Ruhnke Optik produced the original Noctovist 8x30's in the inter-war years.

 

[Wasabrot]

I have to measure it out since the 7x42 configuration is not mentioned in the known catalogues. But in comparison to my 7x35 wideangle Porlerim with 150m@1000m (8,6°) I would guess something between 130m and 140m@1000m, so around 7,5° to 8°.

After a first measurement I can say FOV is only about 120m@1000m or ~6,9°. Similar to Swarovski Habicht with same configuration.

 

[jring]

Noctovist? Do I sense copyright infringement (Leica?).....

Hi,

not sure if Synoptik GmbH, the successor company to Ruhnke Optik Rathenow still holds a trademark for Noctovist... and even if they did, whether they actually want to take Leica to court...

Here is a little history of the company (in german) - albeit without any reference to binoculars - it seems glasses were and are their main business...

Das Ende einer Berliner Marke

Berlin - «Sind's die Augen, geh zu Ruhnke» - dieser Werbespruch begleitet Brillenträger seit 106 Jahren. Am Donnerstag wird der Name des alteingesessenen Berliner Familienbetriebes aber endgültig getilgt. Mit dem neuen dänischen Eigner kommt auch ein anderer Name: Synoptik.

www.morgenpost.de

Joachim

 

[Foss]

Charity shop find - Noctovist Mk11

Love the name!!! It evokes someone keen on nighttime viewing.

 

[Binocollector]

I am currently in a little "reverse porro phase" so two of these cute little things arrived today. Both in absolute pristine condition, apart from some slight dust and one slightly hazy prism.

One is a 7x20 made by "Campbell Hamburg" (Made in Germany and "Est. 1816" on the prism covers) -- though I don't know if that was the actual maker or just a reseller. It seems to be from the 50's or maybe even earlier and it looks like it has rarely been used. It even has BaK4 prisms -- exit pupils look perfectly round.

The other is a "Tasco" labeled skeleton bino in 8x20 -- rather narrow 262ft/1,000yds but still very nice (I am over my EWA-phase as I have enough of them already) optically -- and no stuck diopter or stiff focuser. It works like it was made yesterday except for some slight haze on one side which doesn't affect the view so much that I would open it. Everything else is just in perfect condition. It even still has the rubber rings around the metal eyecups which seem to be missing on many of these. "JTII"-sticker still attached. I just love those reverse porros. People often just seemed to have bought them as a "novelty item" and then never used them judging by the fact that all 4 of the ones I have are almost pristine.

The "Campbell" is even nicer optically and super clean on the inside. Razor sharp views and quite a bit wider than the Tasco.

But when looking through these, I kind of wonder how much actual progress there was in the last 70 odd years apart from the coatings and field flattening? And why did I spend all that money on new roof prism binos? Just kidding. Of course a new roof like my Fuji HC 8x42 is better -- but not by as much as one would expect.

The Tasco has an almost completely flat field -- I don't see any degradation towards the field stop at all. And in contrast to my 7x18 skeleton, where the ocular bridge hits my nose, I can see the field stop in the Tasco as the ocular bridge is just straight across and flat. On the 7x18 J-B93 it is arched upwards (kind of a flaw in design).

The 7x20 is brighter and even slightly sharper on axis but shows more field curvature. Both have a bit of pincushion distortion -- the Tasco slightly less so.

I paid 50€ for the Tasco and a measly 35 for the "Campbell" -- a fantastic price considering the condition and quality.

I am just completely smitten with these little reverse porros at the moment. And especially the skeleton binos are for me as much an optical instrument as they are pieces of art that look lovely on display in a book shelf.

The Tasco has no J-B or J-E numbers anywhere, only a little symbol stamped in the body and "Japan" on one of the prism covers.

 

[Binastro]

Campbell, Hamburg seit 1816.
Principal Dietrich Paulick.

Healthcare, sunglasses.

May be an opticians.

Binocular was not made in 1816.
But could be made in Germany?

The binocular looks very nice, as does the Tasco.

Regards,
B.

 

[Binocollector]

May be an opticians.

Binocular was not made in 1816.
But could be made in Germany?

Quite possible an optician (I also have a reverse porro labeled "Rodenstock" who also made glasses and still exist to this day).
They are stamped "Made in Germany" on the objective side of the prism cage:

The company was "Est. 1816". No, the bino certainly wasn't made in 1816. I suspect it was made in the 50s maybe.

 

[Binocollector]

May be an opticians.

Binocular was not made in 1816.
But could be made in Germany?

Quite possible an optician (I also have a reverse porro labeled "Rodenstock" who also made glasses and still exist to this day).
They are stamped "Made in Germany" on the objective side of the prism cage -- the "Germany" writing is visible in the pic I took from the front.
The company was "Est. 1816". No, the bino certainly wasn't made in 1816. I suspect it was made in the 50s maybe.
Edit: should have done some googling -- the store still exists. It was founded by a Scotsman.

Campbell, Optiker seit 1816 GmbH & Co. KG | Neuer-Wall Hamburg

Campbell wurde 1816 von William Campbell, einem Schotten, in Hamburg gegründet und zählt heute zu den ältesten und renommiertesten Brillenfachgeschäften der Welt. Unsere Kollektionen aus eigener Produktion werden höchsten Ansprüchen gerecht und werden in unseren Geschäften in Hamburg Berlin und...

neuerwall-hamburg.de

 

[Binastro]

James Finlayson was a Scottish Quaker who founded Finlayson in Tampere in 1820 in Finland.

In effect he brought the industrial revolution there and the factory was the largest employer locally.

I think Finlayson still exists.

Tampere has rapids or a waterfall, and I think this provided power.

I think some cameras were made in Finland, but I am not sure if I found any locally made binoculars, although Finland's astro telescopes are amongst the very best in the world.

Sweden made both cameras and binoculars.

Regards,
B.

 

[Pinewood]

Hello,

Here is a very vintage and perhaps classic binocular. A 6x30 Zeiss Silvarem, probably from 1924 but it had a long production run, from 1910 to 1975, but the later ones had lens coatings. It was probably a very prized bird watching binocular in its day. It is not eyeglass wearer friendly but I can just bring it to infinity without my specs. In daylight, my own astigmatism is not too pronounced, so it has some use for this eyeglass wearer. Before coatings, this configuration would have been favored for its brightness.


Stay safe,
Arthur

 

[Binocollector]

@Pinewood
Really nice! I had quite a few 6x30 Silvarems on my eBay-watchlist but never pulled the trigger so far. I think I might have to get one. I like the lower magnifications like the APM 6x30 and a couple of older 6x binos I own.