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Leica BA-BN phase coating ? (1 Viewer)

DHB

Well-known member
I have a pair of 10x42BA's manufactured in 1990 or so according to Leica. Would these be phase coated? I assume yes. Does anyone know if Leica changed thier coatings between this vintage and say a pair of 10x42BN's manufactured 2-3 years ago?
Thanks Much in advance.
Dave
 
DHB said:
I have a pair of 10x42BA's manufactured in 1990 or so according to Leica. Would these be phase coated? I assume yes. Does anyone know if Leica changed thier coatings between this vintage and say a pair of 10x42BN's manufactured 2-3 years ago?
Thanks Much in advance.
Dave

My guess would be no as phase coating was first used by Zeiss (I think they invented it) in about 1990. So I doubt Leica would have had the time to realise that it was something special, figure out how it worked, and finally introduce it to products. I read that Nikon did not figure it out until the mid-nineties, and used it in the HG/LX range, though I don't know if the source is reliable.

You could always ask the Leica USA service department. I have found them to be extremely helpful.
 
Leica USA said they are phase coated. Not that he was overly confident sounding but he thought all in the Ultra series trinovid (BA-BN) were phase coated. I knew they were awful sharp to be not phase coated so I believe him. I likely will be selling these and wanted to ensure the buyer gets a good product. For being that old these are like new.
Thanks Leif.
Dave
 
DHB said:
Leica USA said they are phase coated. Not that he was overly confident sounding but he thought all in the Ultra series trinovid (BA-BN) were phase coated. I knew they were awful sharp to be not phase coated so I believe him. I likely will be selling these and wanted to ensure the buyer gets a good product. For being that old these are like new.
Thanks Leif.
Dave

I have a brochure for the Trinovid Ultra series dated 1991 which says they are phase corrected. I'm virtually certain they were from the start.

FWIW I have a Zeiss brochure with a list of "Carl Zeiss Milestones". It dates the invention phase correction coatings as 1980. If so it certainly took a long time to get out of the lab and into binoculars. I seem to remember that Bausch & Lomb introduced phase coating in the Elites almost simultaneously with Zeiss' introduction in the Dialyts.
 
henry link said:
I have a brochure for the Trinovid Ultra series dated 1991 which says they are phase corrected. I'm virtually certain they were from the start.

FWIW I have a Zeiss brochure with a list of "Carl Zeiss Milestones". It dates the invention phase correction coatings as 1980. If so it certainly took a long time to get out of the lab and into binoculars. I seem to remember that Bausch & Lomb introduced phase coating in the Elites almost simultaneously with Zeiss' introduction in the Dialyts.

Henry: I stand corrected about the date of invention. Does the brochure say when Zeiss first marketed a phase coated binocular? The date I gave comes from an unreliable source.
 
http://www.zeiss.de/C12568CF00206298/EmbedTitelIntern/CarlZeissMilestones.pdf/$File/Carl+Zeiss+Milestones.pdf

Quoted from the above Zeiss document:

"1988: P* coating is invented by Zeiss and used on all roof prism binoculars".
 
Leif said:
Henry: I stand corrected about the date of invention. Does the brochure say when Zeiss first marketed a phase coated binocular? The date I gave comes from an unreliable source.

I have a German brochure from Zeiss. 1988 was the year they invented P-coatings with their roof binos which mean phase coated. BTW T* coatings was invented in 1979. But I guess also that Leica BA Trinovids had phase coatings from the beginning.

Steve
 
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