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What model leitz is this? (1 Viewer)

Hello! I was pointed here by a few good folks from another forum. I was given this binocular but know nothing of it. All I know is that it has a green rubber armour, the serial on the eyelet and Portugal. Looks like a trin but doesn't say a zoom either. Hoping you guys can shed some light on this guy.
fd6025be89cea8fd5516aad36d4737ff.jpg
 
Hello! I was pointed here by a few good folks from another forum. I was given this binocular but know nothing of it. All I know is that it has a green rubber armour, the serial on the eyelet and Portugal. Looks like a trin but doesn't say a zoom either. Hoping you guys can shed some light on this guy.
fd6025be89cea8fd5516aad36d4737ff.jpg

Looks a little like a 7x35 Trinovid. The actual specifics are on the collar, either next to the Portugal or on the other side, under the turned down eye cup. Whatever the details, this is a beautiful glass and a very nice gift. Somebody really likes you.
 
There are actually no specs on the body or eye pieces. It looks old and I see a few small cracks in the armour. Would love to get a date too if possible
 
There are actually no specs on the body or eye pieces. It looks old and I see a few small cracks in the armour. Would love to get a date too if possible

Peter Abrahams excellent site lists all the Leitz binoculars made here:
http://home.europa.com/~telscope/leitzbin.txt

It seems only the 7x35, 7x42 and 8x40 models were produced with green armor. They are all post 1980 vintage.
To get more specifics, contact Leica, they can tell from your serial number.
 
Per etudiant's post #5 above you could measure the width of the objective lenses and determine which one it is. I have the 7x42. It is a long binocular; measured with its eye cups open it is 7 inches long. The objective barrels exterior width is two inches wide at their end. Comparing it with the one you picture the eyepieces on mine are quite a bit longer and your binocular appears to be shorter overall.

Bob
 
It might be the 7x35 then. I'll try to contact leica. It seems like the rubber eye relief pieces were either ripped off or old and might have came off. Is this replaceable?
 
After looking at photos in a 1989 Leitz catalogue I'm pretty certain this is the 10x40 BA. The objective tubes are too long and wide for the 7x35, but not long enough for the 7x42. The 10x40 can be distinguished from the 8x40 by its shorter eyepieces with narrower metal bands that carry the Trinovid model designation and FOV on the left eyepiece and the serial number and possibly "Portugal" or "Ernst Leitz Wetzlar" or both on the right eyepiece.

As etudiant mentioned earlier, I think all you need to do is roll up the rubber eyecup on the left eyepeice to expose the band with the relevant information.

The eyecups screw on and are easily replaced if Leica still has them.
 
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Booostedprozac,
A very simple method to find out which Leitz model it is from the 7x42, 8x40 or 10x40 is to measure the size of the exit pupil, gives you the correct answer immediately.
Gijs
 
Hello! I was pointed here by a few good folks from another forum. I was given this binocular but know nothing of it. All I know is that it has a green rubber armour, the serial on the eyelet and Portugal. Looks like a trin but doesn't say a zoom either. Hoping you guys can shed some light on this guy.
fd6025be89cea8fd5516aad36d4737ff.jpg

If it said ZOOM, you would be wise the throw it back. Some inexperienced folks take the Duovid to be a "zoom." Even IT is not--hence the "Duo."

Bill

PS for sometime that bino was made in Portugal--and made well, there!
 
.....Some inexperienced folks take the Duovid to be a "zoom." Even IT is not--hence the "Duo.".....

Agreed, and the "either/or" is the intention of the design. It is possible though to eyeball the movement to a mid point between the 8 and the 12 to arrive at 10 times, or around. There is little upside from doing so--rarely do it, and I stick to either 8 or 12 times. It is a wonderful pair and despite of the increased weight, a pleasure to use.

Back to the Trinovid model in question, I heard that the older Trinovid series is still very usable, well balanced, lighter in weight and offers superior diopter setting mechanism. Enjoy in good health.
 
Back to the Trinovid model in question, I heard that the older Trinovid series is still very usable, well balanced, lighter in weight and offers superior diopter setting mechanism.

The old Trinovids are nice, no doubt, but they're without phase-correction. That's *very* obvious then you compare them to any decent phase-corrected roof: They're a lot softer, with less contrast.

I wouldn't really want to use one nowadays in the field.

Hermann
 
The old Trinovids are nice, no doubt, but they're without phase-correction. That's *very* obvious then you compare them to any decent phase-corrected roof: They're a lot softer, with less contrast.

I wouldn't really want to use one nowadays in the field.

Hermann

Herman

There was some discussion here not too long ago that some late model Leitz Trinovids, circa late 80s to early 90s did have phase coatings. GaryMH at Zeiss might have more information about that. I used my Leitz 7x42, which does not have phase coatings, for years through the late 1980s and well into to the 90s quite happily. I still have it and take it out for use now and then. It will still do the job.

Also in a thread a couple of years ago it was revealed that later model Bausch and Lomb Elite binoculars with Uppendahl prisms also had phase coatings. I believe that Renze De Vries was active in the discussion in that thread.

Bob
 
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Herman

I used my Leitz 7x42, which does not have phase coatings, for years through the late 1980s and well into to the 90s quite happily. I still have it and take it out for use now and then. It will still do the job.

Bob

Bob and Herman

My wife recently took her 1976 Leitz 8x40Bs out when we visited a waterfowl nature reserve. While you would hardly call the view 'state of the art' it was still very pleasant and very usable.

She spotted a Pintail in the distance amongst hundreds of Wigeon so her old Trinnies certainly did the business on that day.

Lee
 
My wife recently took her 1976 Leitz 8x40Bs out when we visited a waterfowl nature reserve. While you would hardly call the view 'state of the art' it was still very pleasant and very usable.

She spotted a Pintail in the distance amongst hundreds of Wigeon so her old Trinnies certainly did the business on that day.

I don't doubt you can see birds through a Trinovid without phase-coatings. I also don't doubt the old Trinovids are "pleasant and usable".

But the optical quality isn't anywhere near that of a modern phase-coated roof, in no department. There are certainly some differences between the different models: The 7x35 and the 7x42 are undoubtedly the best of the lot, simply the detrimental effects of the missing phase-correction isn't quite so obvious at lowish magnification.

I know the Trinovid 10x40 and the old Zeiss 10x40BGA, both without phase-coatings, very well, and I wouldn't really use them for any serious birding anymore.

Hermann
 
I mostly have to agree with Hermann about the old Trinovids. I briefly owned two of them (7x35, 8x40) in my innocent early days of binocular buying. Around 1986 they were described in an Audubon Magazine review as "the best birding binoculars in the world", so I couldn't understand why to my eyes they were obviously inferior to my inexpensive Nikon Action Porros. We consumers weren't told anything about destructive interference in roof prisms until after the problem was solved. A friend still has an 8x40, which I see occasionally. It hasn't improved with age.

However, I think the Trinovids would be very attractive today if they were as beautifully made as the old ones, phase corrected and supplied with modern dielectric mirror and multi layer AR coatings. They only need a few o-rings in the right spots to be made fully waterproof and they are true feather weights. The 8x40 weighs 590 g.

Henry
 
............I couldn't understand why to my eyes they were obviously inferior to my inexpensive Nikon Action Porros. .....................
Henry

It was the same with me, only a few years before that. I had a 10x40 Trinovid bought somewhere between 1974 and 77, and my wife still had her 8x40 Fujinon porro that we had bought for her several years earlier. Yet when I compared the views, it always struck me how much clearer/crisper the view was through those porros. And I found it strange that this should only be due to the lower magnification.
 
Wow my phone didn't update me on the newer posts! I'm not knowledgeable about the binoculars so I would not know what to measure. There is a metal ring under after you screw off the eye piece. I would have to compare it to my other pieces. I'm not sure what to do with this binocular really. I was thinking about using it for hunting but the view does seem a bit soft. I'll get more pictures but there seem to be oxidation or a slight color glare on the looking Glass side. Is that the coating everyone is talking about?
 
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