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

8x30 Green Rubber Armor Porro on eBay (1 Viewer)

proudpapa56

proudpapa56

Where'd you go, stay put!
United States
Morning all,
With five days left and currently at $250, there is a pair of the elusive Green Rubber Armor 8x30 Porros listed on eBay here in the States.
Timing is everything, I'd love to bid on these but my reserves are committed to new ATX Modular inventory.
Hope I didn't blow it for someone trying to keep it under the radar.
Have a great day.
 
Last edited:
proudpapa56 said:
Morning all,
With five days left and currently at $250, there is a pair of the elusive Green Rubber Armor 8x30 Porros listed on eBay here in the States.
Timing is everything, I'd love to bid on these but my reserves are committed to new ATX Modular inventory.
Hope I didn't blow it for someone trying to keep it under the radar.
Have a great day.
Click to expand...

PP,

Just what I wanted for Christmas except with the latest coatings. The blue reflections off the objectives suggest this unit is not MC, let alone FMC.

Nikon's last iteration of single blue MgF coatings were very good, but I noticed flaring on most models I've had with the single coatings.

Wish Swaro had kept the rubber armoring and softer eyecups on the 8x30, not just the other two models.

Have you tried the green rubber armored model yourself? What did you think? Were the coatings also blue? Did they ever make a rubber armored 8x30 CF model with MC or FMC?

<B>
 
The coating reflection looks like the early two layer Swarovski multi-coating called Transmax. It continued to be used in the Habicht Traditional Porros well into the 90's long after it had been replaced by Swarotop multi-coating in the SL Porros and SLC roofs. Transmax coating produces an image with a very strong yellow color bias, about like looking through a yellow filter. Apparently hunters liked that.
 
henry link said:
The coating reflection looks like the early two layer Swarovski multi-coating called Transmax. It continued to be used in the Habicht Traditional Porros well into the 90's long after it had been replaced by Swarotop multi-coating in the SL Porros and SLC roofs. Transmax coating produces an image with a very strong yellow color bias, about like looking through a yellow filter. Apparently hunters liked that.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Henry. Not my of cup o' (lemon) tea. ;)

<B>
 
We stock the current Green Rubber porros and for me they're to big and ugly as sin. That being said, others tell me how beautiful they are and one gentleman duck hunter from Oregon called to tell me how impressed he was that they are able to make the Green 10x40s were so small.
And that's what makes the world go round.
Don't know much about previous models, have been with these guys about 6 years.
Most of the stuff I learn about older models comes from folks on this sight.
 
proudpapa56 said:
We stock the current Green Rubber porros and for me they're to big and ugly as sin. That being said, others tell me how beautiful they are and one gentleman duck hunter from Oregon called to tell me how impressed he was that they are able to make the Green 10x40s were so small.
And that's what makes the world go round.
Don't know much about previous models, have been with these guys about 6 years.
Most of the stuff I learn about older models comes from folks on this sight.
Click to expand...

I agree that the leatherette versions are more attractive, but in the winter, when you're wearing gloves, I'd bet that bulky armoring and ribs come in handy, literally.

I think I would also prefer the softer, flexible rubber eyecups on the green version. But that's theoretical. I will have to try both versions and find out which I like better.

As far as what makes the world go round, I think it's because of the law of conservation of angular momentum. ;)

<B>
 
henry link said:
The coating reflection looks like the early two layer Swarovski multi-coating called Transmax. It continued to be used in the Habicht Traditional Porros well into the 90's long after it had been replaced by Swarotop multi-coating in the SL Porros and SLC roofs. Transmax coating produces an image with a very strong yellow color bias, about like looking through a yellow filter. Apparently hunters liked that.
Click to expand...

For what ever it is worth I have a pair of 6x30 Habicht bins that date to about 1991 that do not exhibit any of the yellowish coloring you mention. The color rendition is essentially neutral. I have read that earlier models with Habicht written in script on the prism cover do exhibit that yellow coloring.
 
Roadbike,

I suspect your 6x30 has the same coating as my 8x30. My 1991 Swaro catalogue shows no coatings change for the Habicht Traditional Porros. Everything else in that catalogue specifies Swarotop coatings, which in those days was itself somewhat yellowish by current standards, though not as strongly biased as Transmax. The really old Swarovskis used single layer MgF, which was actually less yellow than the Transmax multi-coating.

I periodically called Swaovski to complain about the yellow tint up until the mid 90's. My last effort to get a non-yellow biased 8x30 Porro was around 1995 when I was told that "most" of the yellow was gone. It was still too yellow for me and I gave up after that.

Try looking through your binocular backwards at a white piece of paper as in the first post of this thread.

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=131853

A similar photo made through your binocular would be demonstrate the color bias or lack of it for the rest of us.

Henry
 
Roadbike said:
For what ever it is worth I have a pair of 6x30 Habicht bins that date to about 1991 that do not exhibit any of the yellowish coloring you mention. The color rendition is essentially neutral. I have read that earlier models with Habicht written in script on the prism cover do exhibit that yellow coloring.
Click to expand...

NOW you tell me? ;) They be gone! They be outta here!

Curiously, there are SIX Swaro 8x30 Habicht SLC roofs for sale right now on the bay. All "Alt" style. Are all these sellers "upgrading" to CLs? I wonder.

Well, I wanted the 6x30s anway, said the Fox. Let me know when you want to sell yours and upgrade to 8x30 SV ELs after you decide whether you want to sacrifice an arm or a leg. ;)

<B>
 
Here's a little more information about the early Swarovski multi-coatings, partly from old catalogues and pamphlets and partly from memory.

When I first encountered Swarovski binoculars about 1985 they had already moved from MgF to multi-coating. The Habicht Traditional Porros used something called Transmax, which was described as a "dual layer coating" and the flagship SL Porros used Swarotop, which was described as "super broad-band coating".

My recollection is that the first version of Swarotop had three layers compared to the two layer Transmax. Both coatings were supposed to have the same peak transmission (99.8% per surface), but the third layer allowed Swarotop to have peak transmission over a broader bandwidth which gave it a more neutral and brighter appearing image. I doubt that it would be considered "super broad-band" now as it still had a yellow bias compared to the more neutral Fujinon SX and Nikon multi-coatings available in in the mid 80's.

In a 1986 brochure Transmax is said to "provide optimal viewing under unfavourable light conditions", which I take to mean that it was supposed to act as a mild yellow filter for foggy or hazy conditions.
 
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brocknroller said:
NOW you tell me? ;) They be gone! They be outta here!

Curiously, there are SIX Swaro 8x30 Habicht SLC roofs for sale right now on the bay. All "Alt" style. Are all these sellers "upgrading" to CLs? I wonder.

Well, I wanted the 6x30s anway, said the Fox. Let me know when you want to sell yours and upgrade to 8x30 SV ELs after you decide whether you want to sacrifice an arm or a leg. ;)

<B>
Click to expand...

The 6x30 porro bins do show up on Ebay every once in a while. More of the earlier design presumably with yellow optics than the later ones. Yes I think any of. the 1990+ Swarovski porros are quite a deal. Didn't they make a 10x40? Love to have one.
 
henry link said:
Roadbike,

I suspect your 6x30 has the same coating as my 8x30. My 1991 Swaro catalogue shows no coatings change for the Habicht Traditional Porros. Everything else in that catalogue specifies Swarotop coatings, which in those days was itself somewhat yellowish by current standards, though not as strongly biased as Transmax. The really old Swarovskis used single layer MgF, which was actually less yellow than the Transmax multi-coating.

I periodically called Swaovski to complain about the yellow tint up until the mid 90's. My last effort to get a non-yellow biased 8x30 Porro was around 1995 when I was told that "most" of the yellow was gone. It was still too yellow for me and I gave up after that.

Try looking through your binocular backwards at a white piece of paper as in the first post of this thread.


http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=131853

A similar photo made through your binocular would be demonstrate the color bias or lack of it for the rest of us.

Henry
Click to expand...

Thank you for the information and method for testing color bias. I did test the Swarovski bins as well as several others. What I noted was a subtle color difference that I would call slughtly warmer. The subtle color difference was present on the Swarovski, Nikon and Unitron (Vixen) bins that were not fully multicoated. The difference is not apparent when viewing and is noticable in the white paper test only if one is looking for it. Fully multicoated bins from Nikon and Celestron (Vixen) did not exhibit a detectable color difference in the test.
 
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