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Leica 10x50BA -Lens Blemish (1 Viewer)

The saga of my Leica 10 x 50BA continues.
After five weeks I have been told that the lens have been in contact with something that has taken the coating off, however Leica will not and do not supply the spares to rectify this and I am told that I now have to send them to Leica - Portugal. This will obviously be at great cost and presumably for a substantial time, given my age I just might still be alive upon their return and if they are in working order.
Therefore I will probably buy a new pair of ZEISS or SWAROVSKY's at the Birdfair, I might also take my sandwich board and parade up and down by the Leica stand in the Optics tent just advising attendees of my Leica experience.

regards
Merlin
 
Hi Merlin,
It might be a bit hot parading in the sandwich board.
Sometimes one just has to cut ones losses.
A new binocular seems in order.

My cousin bought a Lancia car decades ago. It was rubbish. The dealer refused to deal with it.
So he listed all the faults on a board on the roof and left the car parked in good locations throughout the town.
The dealer was so ashamed he fixed the car.

However, it is not Leica's fault if something disolved the coating.
If it was just this, the binocular should work without coating, so something else has happened, perhaps even the glass eaten away?
Aerosol propellant shouldn't do this.

When spares are no longer available it is a shame, but any top quality objective might be suitable if it is a regular doublet and the focal distance known.
As you say, if they have a spare objective and charge for it, it will be very expensive, possibly more than the binocular is worth.

Does your household insurance cover this?
One could lose a no claim bonus, if a claim is made.
 
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Why not send it to Leica Portugal, as they likely have a spare lens, (that is where they were produced), then go to bird fair and get another glass. Upon the return of the Leicas, you can sell either, try to get something for your time.
Seems like Leica Repair is going in the wrong direction, almost like that other company that only makes low and mid range optics now and just wants to replace instead of repair, this way they can crank out cheap glass only, not high end glass that needs knowledgeable staff to repair. The new era business model.

Andy W.
 
I don't know if Leica makes its own optical glass or not like Zeiss does.

As far as their binoculars go, none of them I have seen or had experience with, and that includes an old 8x20 Trinovid I own, is cheaply made. I also have an 8x42 Ultravid Blackline binocular made in Portugal which does not have the Ultravid's up to date optics in it but it can hardly be described as cheap. In fact, I think it is one of the classiest looking Binoculars ever made. Under Leica's policy this binocular had to be classified as a Demo by Camera Land because they took it to a Show even though the box was never opened. It still has an 11 year warranty from Leica.

I purchased all of them new and had them all registered with Leica after I bought them in the unlikely event that they needed to be serviced under warranty. I know from contacting Leica about my old Leitz 7x42 Trinovid BA that they have a record of all of them that I own.

Bob
 
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dries1 said:
Why not send it to Leica Portugal, as they likely have a spare lens, (that is where they were produced), then go to bird fair and get another glass. Upon the return of the Leicas, you can sell either, try to get something for your time.
Seems like Leica Repair is going in the wrong direction, almost like that other company that only makes low and mid range optics now and just wants to replace instead of repair, this way they can crank out cheap glass only, not high end glass that needs knowledgeable staff to repair. The new era business model.

Andy W.
Click to expand...
Earlier this year, Leica completely refurbished my 7X42 Ultrvid BR (purchased 2004) due to a problem with internal glass in both scopes. I gladly paid shipping both ways. It was returned to me in better condition than when it was new.
 
Pileatus,

Well then it appears that Leica USA is more efficient than Leica Europe? I live in the US so that is encouraging.

And Bob, I never said Leica was cheaply made, I own four of their glass, use them often, great views and I respect the workmanship, I was talking about another manufacturer not Leica.

Andy W.
 
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dries1 said:
Pileatus,

Well then it appears that Leica USA is more efficient than Leica Europe? I live in the US so that is encouraging.

And Bob, I never said Leica was cheaply made, I own four of their glass, use them often, great views and I respect the workmanship, I was talking about another manufacturer not Leica.

Andy W.
Click to expand...

Sorry for the confusion Andy. I misunderstood your comment.

Bob
 
No rain here for about 6 weeks.
Beginning to look like the Sahara. Expecting to see camels, although the two clip clops I heard this morning were probably police horses.

If the Leica repair of the 10x50BA is less than £250 in Portugal, it must be worth having it done.
 
Binastro,

No astro all week, and too wet to go out. This has to get better soon.
How is the viewing of birds/stars over there.

Yes that would be a very fair price, that is a nice glass and well worth it.


Andy W.
 
Hi Andy,
Last night the transparency was exceptional, but I can't see Mars because of buildings. It is too low.
32C, 90F, yesterday and around that every day for a long time. No hose pipe ban yet. not sure if the moorland is still burning.

I use the Leica 8x32BA for noctilucent cloud observation. season ends about August 4th.

Apparently in Finland they have very good forest management with roads through the forest for quick fire engine access and also large breaks to stop flames jumping.
Each village also has volunteer firefighters.
It seems Sweden has not planned so well and about 80 fires are burning, with help from Poland, Italy, Norway etc.

The trees outside in the street here are distressed with the bark falling off. I have not seen this before.
I suppose the birds are struggling to find water.
I suppose there are some streams and reservoirs.
The foxes look O.K.
 
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dries1 said:
Bob,

No worries. Enjoy the rain, we are being pounded in Se Pa.

Andy W.
Click to expand...

Heavy squalls are coming through here every couple of hours. Creeks are high and the Susquehanna is rising but no flooding is expected here. Central PA around the Harrisburg area got more rain.

Bob
 
Binastro,

The exact opposite here, had to re-attach a gutter, too much sheet-flow off the roof.

Bob,

I have not seen clouds this low and fast moving for this duration, in a long while, almost directly North.
The winds were gusting up to 35 MPH today, It must be different up where you are, I am only at around 260 feet AMSL.

Andy W.
 
Hi,

Leica does not melt optical glass - neither does Zeiss btw, although Zeiss belongs to the Carl Zeiss Foundation which also owns Schott - and those guys actually make optical glass.

Regarding the blemished objective - the explanation seems fairly odd - normally the way to remove MgF based AR coatings involves a lot of polishing - preferably without altering the figure too much.

On CN some scientist needed to modify a Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain for far IR and the coatings on the corrector plate were opaque for the the desired wavelengths.
He then tried quite some nasty chemicals (he had a lab at hand plus some staff) - iirc the coatings didn't care and he got an uncoated corrector made.

On second thoughts... wasn't there some series of early Leica Televids which didn't like sea water too much and got opaque? Maybe the 10x50 has the same coatings?

Joachim
 
Hello Merlin,

I also own the Leica 10 x 50 BA Trinovid binoculars and I really love them. (Owned since mid 1990's.) So I'm curious how this all turned out for you. Did you send them back to Leica for repair or not?

-Bill
 
Binastro said:
To me, a possible explanation may be that there is stubborn grease on the front surface of the objective.
Baader Optical Wonder fluid might help.
I had this problem with the used Samyang 85mm f/1.4 lens, which otherwise looked as new. At first I made it worse, but the next day the fluid/grease had gone.

Or some oil on the internal rear surface.

A separated objective where the balsam has failed might have happened, but I am not sure this would be visible in normal use.

The coating layer is so thin, if it separated I think it would have to trap oil or water underneath, but I have never seen this.

Photos may help us see a likely cause.
Click to expand...

May I ask a question about Baader Optical Wonder Fluid please.

I've never used it before and regretfully I have limited knowledge in this area. Is the multi coating protection on the lenses affected by the fluid at all, I'm just a little anxious about buying some for my new Minox BL binoculars. I'm just looking for some reassurance that infrequent and a small amount of fluid and gentle application will not affect the coatings. Thanks very much folks...
 
Hi Peaky-B
My new Trinovid HDs surprisingly came with a warning not to clean the lenses with alcohol, my go to lens cleaner for years. In this day and age I'd defer to the manufacturer for specific model cleaning instructions, in your case Minox BL.
Good luck,
Jack
 
Peaky-B
If one is at all worried then I would not use anything without consulting the maker.

However, Minox might not know themselves as I think the firm has changed hands and maybe don't make any binoculars themselves.
If they do still manufacture then ask the head of optics.

Leica should know as they make binoculars themselves.
So would Zeiss or Swarovski.

I always try to go straight to the top when asking these questions as sales personnel may not know.

Modern coatings are supposedly harder than the glass that is coated.
Usually the outer glasses are harder than inner glass elements.
However, the modern extra coatings that repel water may not be so forgiving.
It may be this is why alcohol is suspect.
I don't know what nanocoating is, so cannot comment.
 
Foss said:
Hi Peaky-B
My new Trinovid HDs surprisingly came with a warning not to clean the lenses with alcohol, my go to lens cleaner for years. In this day and age I'd defer to the manufacturer for specific model cleaning instructions, in your case Minox BL.
Good luck,
Jack
Click to expand...

Thanks Foss
 
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