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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Zeiss 8X30B (1 Viewer)

dries1

Member
I have been looking for a while for a mint 8X30 from Zeiss Oberkochen or Wetzlar. I found the early models from the 50s and 60s had insufficient eye relief around 10mm I think, but a 8+ degree FOV. They also made a 8X30B with rubber eye cups but with a FOV of 6.4 degrees.
Well by chance I found these at a decent price, but I was blown away of how they were kept all these years. They were purchased from an individual whose father was serving in the US military as a doctor in Germany and who purchased them there.
They are the later 8X30 B and have a 7.4 degree FOV with 18-19 MM eye relief and were the last porros Zeiss made in Wetzlar in 1978. Production spanned about 10 years.

I hope to have some time to show more pics. They are smaller in size than the Nikon 8X30 E produced in the 1990s, but very similar in stature, a bit behind the later coatings, but great German glass, the resolution was surprising to me.
The case is a bold forest Green.

Andy W.
 

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I have been looking for a while for a mint 8X30 from Zeiss Oberkochen or Wetzlar. I found the early models from the 50s and 60s had insufficient eye relief around 10mm I think, but a 8+ degree FOV. They also made a 8X30B with rubber eye cups but with a FOV of 6.4 degrees.
Well by chance I found these at a decent price, but I was blown away of how they were kept all these years. They were purchased from an individual whose father was serving in the US military as a doctor in Germany and who purchased them there.
They are the later 8X30 B and have a 7.4 degree FOV with 18-19 MM eye relief and were the last porros Zeiss made in Wetzlar in 1978. Production spanned about 10 years.

Nice. Very nice, actually. I've got one of those as well, unfortunately on mine the coatings on the eyepieces is damaged, on both eyepieces, so it isn't mint at all. I've also got the model with the short eyerelief which I quite like, despite the short eyerelief. BTW, the 8x50B is also very nice - I sometimes think it would beat lots of modern roofs if it had modern coatings.

Check your 8x30B to make sure there isn't any internal haze - these porros often tend to have some internal haze, usually on the prisms. If yours aren't clean, have them cleaned. They're worth it. Unfortunately Zeiss doesn't service them any more, so you'd have to find someone who knows how to do the job.

Hermann
 
Hermann,

They are crystal clear and in alignment. I would say that apart from the Dialyt 8X56 I obtained in the past, these have to be the next best glass purchase from West Germany, as far as physical condition/function. Any porro prism that needs work I usually send to Suddarth Optical Repair here in the US.
And yes you are right about the 8X50B.

Andy W.
 
I will try to send some pics tomorrow, these are collector quality, I was quite surprised. I did get the seller to send more detailed pics of both the oculars and objectives after viewing a few initial pics prior to purchase, I was sold then.

Andy W.
 
Andy,

Thought you might be interested in this x-ray view of your 8x30B compared to a cutaway of the original 8x30B it replaced.

The big surprise is that Zeiss abandoned the wide air-spaced tele-objective design that had been used in all the earlier Oberkochen Porros.

Henry
 

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Thanks for the photos Henry, informative and very telling - It looks like a good transitional direction and made easier to manufacturer.

Andy W.
 
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