BN Coating improvement? (1 Viewer)

I owned an early Leica 7x42 BN but never got the 'wow' factor from it. I tried a brand new one last week and it was very nice. The coatings on my 'old' pair were predominantly straw coloured. The new ones are deep green on the objectives with faint deep purple/magenta reflections from internal surfaces. Does anyone know anything about this ? Perhaps the coatings have been upgraded at some point but I've never heard anything official from Leica.
Tell me I'm not imagining things!
John

John,

I could be wrong but I think there was a thread in this forum that mentioned this issue some time within the last 6 months. I will see if I can find it.

I have a 1990's Green Rubber Armored 7 x 42 Leitz BN Trinovid. The coatings show a slightly yellowish or straw colored caste along with a dominant magenta color on both the oculars and the objectives. The overall view through them has a slight yellow caste which I am told is purposely put there to sharpen the view on foggy mornings. Leica's best customers in those days and earlier were hunters. I recently replaced them (at a good price) with the newly discontinued Leica 7 x 42 BN Trinovid. The new 7 x 42's with their phase coating, overall different lens and prism coatings and new prism design (Schmidt/Pechan, I believe---the older ones had Uppendahl prisms) are clearly superior even though the ER and FOV are identical. The difference is so obvious it is surprising, even though you are expecting it. It is expecially noticable in comparing the views of their respective "sweet spots." You would swear the newer model had a wider FOV although both have the same 420.'

In the old days there were only Porros and Zeiss's Dialyts to compare them to so it would be hard to find a "Wow" factor there. I liked them because of their ER, FOV and Brightness. I wore glasses then and that was "Wow" enough for me.

Cordially,
Bob

Cordially,
Bob B

ceasar said:

I don't know how you missed the "Wow Factor" when comparing them! It's positively "jaw dropping."

Cordially,
Bob

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Hi Bob
I think I wasn't clear in my post. What I meant was the old BN didn't have a wow factor but the new one did and it took me by surprise. I agree the newer one is a clear improvement.
Best wishes
John

solentbirder said:

Hi Bob
I think I wasn't clear in my post. What I meant was the old BN didn't have a wow factor but the new one did and it took me by surprise. I agree the newer one is a clear improvement.
Best wishes
John

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Yea, my fault, I missed it and corrected it while you were replying. Sorry about that. My replacement 7 x 42 BNs are one grand binocular!

Bob