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Vintage Binoculars (1 Viewer)

brentwood said:
Obviously with the weight of these things they must have been mounted by attaching something to the central bar. I have always been puzzled why they were designed to look just like a scaled up version of the 7x50 and 10x70 model.
Click to expand...

The eye relief on the 10X70 is terrible even without wearing glasses with the rubber faceshield on. Once removed, though, there's a lot and it's easy to use with or without glasses.

It looks very much like the Ross Binoprism No. 5 7X50 because both are Porro II with the field lens cemented to the prism for max light transmission. When it was designed in the 1930's the British were not coating binoculars and a Porro II system with field lens cemented gave the best light transmission.

I'd like to see how the 10X80 was mounted. Seeger (grey book page 364) shows one with the original tripod adapter but notes the base plate is not original. Then there is this picture from a 1966 Charles Frank catalog, but I don't think the tripod it's on is correct for it. Note the Ross gunsight bino is mounted on the same tripod which probably isn't original to it either: http://www.flickr.com/photos/binocwpg/9587263574/
 
£45 or £65 seems to be dirt cheap for those models back in 1966. However, looking back, I remember that I started working for Lloyds Bank in October 1965 and my salary was £395 a year, so maybe it wasn't that cheap! I think I am going to have to buy one one of those Seeger books if I can find one. Getting my wife to translate it for me is another challenge!
 
Seeger's grey book is expensive but well worth it if you're interested in military binoculars. There are a few chapters in English and the picture descriptions which can be lengthy are also translated. Europa.com has English translations of several chapters, and if everything else fails there's Google Translate. I've become fairly proficient at typing in German.
 
. In old movies about World War II you quite often see the 10 x 80 Ross binoculars.

They may be shown in the film Battle of the River Plate I think they are mounted here on the top deck of the British warships.
There are many other types of binocular shown in this movie and many other movies.
Also several varieties of ship telescopes.

My memory might be faulty but I think I paid £15 for the 10×70 monocular about 1965.
This was a nice instrument to use two-handed.
 
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Anyone else love Hartmann Binoculars?

I just bought another Hartmann Polerim, an 8x40 this time,superb optics yet again, I already have an 7x35 which is wonderful to use and a 6x30, both excellent, I am always impressed by Hartmann optics, considering they were pretty much a budget binocular of their time, far cheaper than Zeiss, Leica etc, but able to compare very favorably with the best. I would so love to get one of the compact series 7x35 or a bernina 7x50 or 8x60.
 

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If you're in Canada, keep an eye out for "Carl Wetzlar Imperial" Utrawide 7x35s.
That's an "erstaz zeiss" branding sold in Canadian K-Marts long ago.
Shaky branding, but they are my top wide 7x35s! Very high on my
contrast/focus test.
 
OPTIC_NUT said:
If you're in Canada, keep an eye out for "Carl Wetzlar Imperial" Utrawide 7x35s.
That's an "erstaz zeiss" branding sold in Canadian K-Marts long ago.
Shaky branding, but they are my top wide 7x35s! Very high on my
contrast/focus test.
Click to expand...

Thanks, i'm in the UK, but sometimes see carl wetzlar bins for sale, quite cheap, I didn't know anything about them, but always thought it unlikely they were a german "wetzlar" company.
 
Bencw,
Yes,I like the Hartmanns also. I have visited the company in Wetzlar quite a few times when they still produced binoculars. I also kept contact with mr. Hartmann and I have published the history of the company on Peter Abrahams WEB-site after giving a lecture about the company at a meeting of the Binocular History Society in Vancouver.
The Hartmanns are well made and their optical performance is outstanding, sometimes better then the contemporary Zeiss, Leica and Swarovski instruments as I could show from our investigation of the performance of these binoculars.
Gijs
 
Gijs van Ginkel said:
Bencw,
Yes,I like the Hartmanns also. I have visited the company in Wetzlar quite a few times when they still produced binoculars. I also kept contact with mr. Hartmann and I have published the history of the company on Peter Abrahams WEB-site after giving a lecture about the company at a meeting of the Binocular History Society in Vancouver.
The Hartmanns are well made and their optical performance is outstanding, sometimes better then the contemporary Zeiss, Leica and Swarovski instruments as I could show from our investigation of the performance of these binoculars.
Gijs
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Hi Gijs,
Thanks for info, I will look up the history you have published, I am very interested. It is such a shame Hartmann ceased production, I really believe they could compete with the best if still around.
 
Another nice charity shop buy, Chinon 7x35 porro

Picked another cheap charity shop bin up, I cant seem to pass them by. This is quite an attractive binocular, a vintage Chinon Countryman 7x35, made in Japan, in terrific condition except very slightly out of alignment, which I hope a tweak of the objectives should fix. Rubber eye cups, glass is all good, it is an unusual chocolate brown in color all over, has a good wide FOV and seems to have clear sharp image, slight alignment issue apart. It says in the leaflet that the lenses have molecular gold coatings.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/95019762@N07/
 

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. In the 60s and 70s there were many 7×35 extra wide-angle binoculars with 11° fields. The Japanese ones were often quite well made but the Korean ones were rather poor.

It is a great shame that there are no modern well-made 7 x 35 extra wide-angle binoculars with 11° fields with good glass and good modern multi-coatings.

Anyway that is a nice find. I think I've seen this model and may even have had one of those at one time.
 
Binastro said:
.
It is a great shame that there are no modern well-made 7 x 35 extra wide-angle binoculars with 11° fields with good glass and good modern multi-coatings.
Anyway that is a nice find. I think I've seen this model and may even have had one of those at one time.
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Cheers Binastro,
Yes, I would personally love to see one of the top 4 have the nerve to just divert their attention from roof's for a second and produce a new compact design Porro, ex wide 7x35 with ED glass and modern multi-coatings. Would be first in the line to buy but perhaps the line might be quite short, maybe a limited edition would sell well though.
 
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. If there were a new 7×35 extra wide-angle binocular with 11.0° field it probably would not be very compact as it would probably need large prisms.
But even so with good eyepiece design the performance could be much better than the older 7×35 extrawide angles and with modern good-quality glass and high-quality multi-coatings it would be very nice.
Personally, I would prefer a medium quality binocular rather than a very expensive top-quality. However, very good quality Porro prism binoculars seem to be a lot cheaper than the top-quality roof prisms so in this case I would be quite prepared to pay say £500 for a modern 7×35 extra wide-angle binocular if it was really good and may be £250 for one not quite so good.
 
Gijs van Ginkel said:
Bencw,
Yes,I like the Hartmanns also. I have visited the company in Wetzlar quite a few times when they still produced binoculars. I also kept contact with mr. Hartmann and I have published the history of the company on Peter Abrahams WEB-site after giving a lecture about the company at a meeting of the Binocular History Society in Vancouver.
The Hartmanns are well made and their optical performance is outstanding, sometimes better then the contemporary Zeiss, Leica and Swarovski instruments as I could show from our investigation of the performance of these binoculars.
Gijs
Click to expand...

I have two pair of Hartmann-Optik 8x30 bins and they are excellent. In a side by side comparison to the Zeiss Jena and Leitz Binuxit they compared favorably. They are indeed a bargin if you can find a pair in good condition under $100.
 
coolhand68 said:
I have two pair of Hartmann-Optik 8x30 bins and they are excellent. In a side by side comparison to the Zeiss Jena and Leitz Binuxit they compared favorably. They are indeed a bargain if you can find a pair in good condition under $100.
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Hi Coolhand,

I agree, I have Hartmanns, and a Binuxit and Jenoptems, and the Hartmanns compare very well, in fact I only rate my 8x30B Zeiss Oberkochen as being optically any better, mine are Polerims, and the 7x35 has superb fov ,it is the most easy and comfortable to use porro I have, and that's including the Oberkochen . Which models do you have?
 
Bencw said:
I agree, I have Hartmanns, and a Binuxit and Jenoptems, and the Hartmanns compare very well, in fact I only rate my 8x30B Zeiss Oberkochen as being optically any better, mine are Polerims, and the 7x35 has superb fov ,it is the most easy and comfortable to use porro I have, and that's including the Oberkochen . Which models do you have?
Click to expand...

The Polerims were the "cheap" bins Hartmann produced. Good, but not their top range. If you ever have a chance to buy one of the late Berninas (especially the 8x30 and the 7x42), do it. The Berninas were really excellent binoculars.

Hermann
 
Dear Hermann,
Hartmann made three series of binoculars.
-1- Porlerim 6x30, 8x30, 8x30 WW, 8x40 and 10x40WW

-2- Compact (very beautiful) 6x30WW, 8X30WW, 7X35WW, 8X40WW, 10X40WW and 7x42WW

-3- BERNINA (also very beautiful) 7x50, 10x50, 8X60WW, 10x50WW, 10X60WW, 12X60WW, 16X60WW, 25X80WW and a monocular 30x80WW

WW=weitwinkel (wide-angle)
Different models from the three series were also made as monoculars. The Compact and Bernina's were made with high eyerelief for spectacle users.
Gijs
 
Gijs van Ginkel said:
Dear Hermann,
Hartmann made three series of binoculars.
-1- Porlerim 6x30, 8x30, 8x30 WW, 8x40 and 10x40WW

-2- Compact (very beautiful) 6x30WW, 8X30WW, 7X35WW, 8X40WW, 10X40WW and 7x42WW

-3- BERNINA (also very beautiful) 7x50, 10x50, 8X60WW, 10x50WW, 10X60WW, 12X60WW, 16X60WW, 25X80WW and a monocular 30x80WW

WW=weitwinkel (wide-angle)
Different models from the three series were also made as monoculars. The Compact and Bernina's were made with high eyerelief for spectacle users.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Gijs. You're right, of course. I mixed up the Compacts and the Berninas. It's quite a few years ago that I last used one of the Hartmanns. I know two of the Compacts (8x30WW and 7x42WW) and two of the Berninas (8x60WW and 12x60WW), all very fine binoculars. I could kick myself that I didn't get the 7x42 after I tried it back in the 1980s. One of the nicest 7x42s I ever tried.

Hermann
 
Dear Hermann,
I bought a 7x42 Compact and is a really a very fine binocular, but the 7x35 Compact was my favorite for some time . I regret not to have bought the 8x60WW Bernina, but one can not have everything in life.
Gijs
 
Gijs van Ginkel said:
Dear Hermann,
Hartmann made three series of binoculars.
-1- Porlerim 6x30, 8x30, 8x30 WW, 8x40 and 10x40WW

-2- Compact (very beautiful) 6x30WW, 8X30WW, 7X35WW, 8X40WW, 10X40WW and 7x42WW

-3- BERNINA (also very beautiful) 7x50, 10x50, 8X60WW, 10x50WW, 10X60WW, 12X60WW, 16X60WW, 25X80WW and a monocular 30x80WW

WW=weitwinkel (wide-angle)
Different models from the three series were also made as monoculars. The Compact and Bernina's were made with high eyerelief for spectacle users.
Gijs
Click to expand...


Hartmann made 8x30's and 8x40's in the Bernina line as well, see pics. Note that the 8x30 is ww, the 8x40 is not.

Something I've noticed is some variety in appearance in the Bernina's. Notably in the diameter of the eye lens and in the knurling of the diopter ring. Were the Bernina's possibly updated at some point in time?

With respect to (high) eye relief, I don't experience anything unusual in my Bernina 8x30 specimen, it's like all older porro's from the 1950's and '60's. However what's unusual is the strong yellow cast in the image, almost in the order of the infamous KOMZ 7x30. Could be a design trait, but also outgassing. Any idea Gijs?

Renze
 

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