Dialyt 7x42B TP has arrived - first impressions (2 Viewers)

SeldomPerched · Jun 8, 2018

Just to say my eBay purchase from the USA arrived today in the school office. Am over the moon: the Dialyt was securely packed, is clean and sturdy, the glass is pristine, the Gummi Armierung still firm and strong, and only slight paint-wear marks are there to suggest careful but actual use. Managed to improvise a pile of large Latin dictionaries and Greek lexicons to deputize for a tripod, then lined up focus and the dioptre correction against a wall chart with various sizes of print on the other side of the classroom. Set up within a couple of minutes.

Preliminary use at home, looking at household birds coming down to check out the newly dug back garden for insects and worms, was a revelation: with the sun low and then going into dusk the binoculars gave a much clearer view than I've experienced with anything other than my recently borrowed (and now returned) 8x42 Victory SF. And I'm won over by the 7x magnification already.

Things that can be improved if we're being fussy: the focus is good but not uniformly so after -- I'm guessing -- about 15+ years. So a service and cosmetic clean up should make them pretty much perfect. These binoculars weren't cheap even before import duties but as a poster here said: with a good item the cost will be forgotten while the purchase continues to last.

Tom

Grimnir · Jun 8, 2018

Glad you like them Tom - the Dialyt 7x42 is indeed a classic glass. Which year was yours made?

Graham

Pinewood · Jun 8, 2018

Grimnir said:
Glad you like them Tom - the Dialyt 7x42 is indeed a classic glass. ...
Graham

Hello Tom and Graham,

I thoroughly agree.

Happy bird watching,
Arthur Pinewood :hi:

SeldomPerched · Jun 8, 2018

Pinewood said:
Hello Tom and Graham,

I thoroughly agree.

Happy bird watching,
Arthur Pinewood :hi:

Thank you, Arthur. And I love the colours!

Tom

SeldomPerched · Jun 8, 2018

Grimnir said:
Glad you like them Tom - the Dialyt 7x42 is indeed a classic glass. Which year was yours made?

Graham

Not sure, Graham. Thank you; I already love them. Did I read somewhere here that Zeiss s/nos are not always in chronological order? I will try to find out. If it helps the no. is 2332888. It is a late example as it's marked T*P*.

Tom

Grimnir · Jun 8, 2018

Hi Tom,

Gary at ECBR or Zeiss Germany can tell you immediately - just drop them a line. I think yours is a relatively late sample - maybe 2001 or 2002 but that's a wild guess.

Yeah it's a wonderful glass with superb transparency, contrast and colour rendition.

As you say, it's a glass to love - not merely like.

Graham

garymh · Jun 10, 2018

SeldomPerched said:
Did I read somewhere here that Zeiss s/nos are not always in chronological order? I will try to find out. If it helps the no. is 2332888. It is a late example as it's marked T*P*.

Tom

Hi Tom,

Check your serial number again - you have 1 digit too many.

Gary.

SeldomPerched · Jun 10, 2018

garymh said:
Hi Tom,

Check your serial number again - you have 1 digit too many.

Gary.

Hi Gary,

Just checked: definitely says Made in Germany T*P* 2332888.

(If it's a fake it's a good one!)

Tom

Grimnir · Jun 11, 2018

garymh said:
Hi Tom,

Check your serial number again - you have 1 digit too many.

Gary.

Hi Gary,

I was under the impression that all the 7x42B Dialyts marked T*P* (i.e. the later ones) had 7-digit serial numbers of the form 2XXXXXX.

Is this not correct?

Graham

Troubador · Jun 12, 2018

Year of manufacture is 1999.
Info from Zeiss Germany.

Lee

SeldomPerched · Jun 12, 2018

Troubador said:
Year of manufacture is 1999.
Info from Zeiss Germany.

Lee

Haha, thanks, Lee. I independently got the same answer and was just about to post when I saw yours! So here it is again anyway...:t:

Sehr geehrter Herr Hooley,
vielen Dank für Ihre Anfrage an ZEISS.
Das Fernglas ist aus dem Herstelljahr 1999.
Haben Sie noch Fragen?
Wir helfen gerne weiter.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen
Carl Zeiss Sports Optics Service Team

Troubador · Jun 12, 2018

LOL. 1999 it is then!

Lee

SeldomPerched · Jun 12, 2018

Grimnir said:
Glad you like them Tom - the Dialyt 7x42 is indeed a classic glass. Which year was yours made?

Graham

Hello Graham, posted earlier today but just to say Zeiss has confirmed 1999 as the date of manufacture.

Am sending off to Gary shortly; they are absolutely great except there are a few stiff points when turning the focus wheel, usually just where I am trying to fine tune it! Apart from that all I really need is a full-sized strap and a carrying-case.

Grimnir · Jun 12, 2018

Hi Tom, Alas, nothing is perfect in this world and in the case of my 1993 7x42 Dialyt, it's also the focus which is imperfect - the optics are absolutely wonderful.

Some reviews I've read also identified the focus as a weak feature.

Best, Graham

NDhunter · Jun 13, 2018

I have some experience with the 10x40 Dialyt, and the focuser. This is an area of common problems.

One thing you will observe is the objective lens is the open lens that moves up and down to accomplish
focus, just look and you will see. That means dirt, and the distance involved make the focuser work hard.
Most binoculars have a fixed lens on the objective end.

If you have lots of play, the best thing is fix it yourself. If you look closely to the focuser knob, the knurled
part, there are 3 very small screws. You need to take the top off and tighten the focuser. You need some
experience and a precision set of screwdrivers and more.

I found this out myself after sending in a 10x40 Dialyt for service for the play. Zeiss USA did not do anything
at all to fix the problem, just sent it back to me. I sent it back again, and this time they gave up and sent
me a new Conquest HD 10x42. That was not my desire. A poor mark for Zeiss service there.

After that happened I purchased a more cherry 10x40, and now I am happy, this binocular will not be sent back
to Zeiss again.

Jerry

Pinewood · Jun 13, 2018

NDhunter said:
...
One thing you will observe is the objective lens is the open lens that moves up and down to accomplish
focus, just look and you will see. That means dirt, and the distance involved make the focuser work hard.
Most binoculars have a fixed lens on the objective end.

Jerry

Hello,

You are describing the 8x30 and your 10x40 classiCs. The 7x42 has a moving bridge just like a traditional Porro.

Happy bird watching,
Arthur :hi:

NDhunter · Jun 13, 2018

Arthur:

Thanks for that, I assumed they were all constructed the same. I have not seen the 7x42.

Jerry

Pinewood · Jun 13, 2018

NDhunter said:
Arthur:

Thanks for that, I assumed they were all constructed the same. I have not seen the 7x42.

Jerry

Hello Jerry,

I have owned both the 8x30 and the 10x40 Dialyts or Classics, as the later models were called. The latter never worked for me. They are both Schmidt-Pechan roof glasses, lacking internal focussing and work as you described. I still own the 7x42T*P*, which is built along the same lines as the 8x56 ClassiC, both using Abbe-König prisms, and providing some stereopsis. The latter was the last Classic to be manufactured, outlasting the others by many years and was favourite of European hunters.

I find that the 8x30 and the 7x42 Zeiss ClassiCs still have great utility, Of course, there have been improvements over the last dozen years but I find those changes to be marginal rather than revolutionary. Yes, I like my 8x32 FL more than the 8x30 ClassiC, if only because it is more rugged and avoid the issues which you described, but I am not unhappy using the older glasses.

In my experience, the Zeiss 7x42 T*P* is superior to the Leica 7x42 BA, and probably the 7x42BN. However, I have not tried the Meopta Meostar 7x42, which has been praised and is a current model.

Happy bird watching,
Arthur :hi:

elkcub · Jun 13, 2018

Because of its 18mm eye relief, I've fallen back on the 7x42 B/GAT*P as one of my three binoculars of choice. The other two are a Swaro 8x42 SLC-HD (first issue) and a 7x26 Bushnell Custom. All three are vintage, like their owner.

Ed

SeldomPerched · Jun 13, 2018

I already love my BGAT*P*. Perhaps its imperfections are part of it; just as a face with a distinctive 'odd' feature can seem more beautiful than a perfectly blank canvas!

Obviously I have issues if after only a month on this forum I am already thinking of binoculars in those terms...

About the focusing, there's nothing loose. Most of the rotation feels spot on; it's just there is a tight spot that - Sod's Law - always seem to be right where I am working.

About my seeing things well or badly: I realized it only happens to me in sterile comparative tests. Out on a walk or standing under a tree waiting for something to appear everything seems pretty good. I just get on with it and then neither eyes nor gear nor nature let me down. It's as if doing what the kit is designed for banishes some sort of obsessional search for technical perfection that out of working context is never satisfied.

Dialyt 7x42B T*P* has arrived - first impressions (2 Viewers)

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Dialyt 7x42B TP has arrived - first impressions (2 Viewers)