8 x 32 BA's (1 Viewer)

Gaz Shilton · Mar 19, 2004

Just enquiring to see if anyone has an e-mail address/contact number for Leica as I would like to get my bins sorted out AGAIN?
Bought the 8 x 32 BA's in Dec '99. Around Sept '01 I found that some of the inside coating had flaked off and stuck to the inside of the objective lenses. Took them back to the RSPB shop where I bought them from and they sent them away. They came back within 2 weeks sorted. A few weeks ago I found that some of the coating has come off again. This gets annoying when I look at birds against a light background as I can see the little black flakes as opposed to a dark background when it is not so bad (but I know they are still there).
Apologies for a long winded thread. Just thought I would get it off my chest. Apart from this the bins are perfect.
Any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated.
P.S. Would take them back to the same place I got them from but unfortunately I now live in Germany. ( The home of Leica I know but can't find a leica shop).

william j clive · Mar 19, 2004

Gaz Shilton said:
Just enquiring to see if anyone has an e-mail address/contact number for Leica as I would like to get my bins sorted out AGAIN?
Bought the 8 x 32 BA's in Dec '99. Around Sept '01 I found that some of the inside coating had flaked off and stuck to the inside of the objective lenses. Took them back to the RSPB shop where I bought them from and they sent them away. They came back within 2 weeks sorted. A few weeks ago I found that some of the coating has come off again. This gets annoying when I look at birds against a light background as I can see the little black flakes as opposed to a dark background when it is not so bad (but I know they are still there).
Apologies for a long winded thread. Just thought I would get it off my chest. Apart from this the bins are perfect.
Any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated.
P.S. Would take them back to the same place I got them from but unfortunately I now live in Germany. ( The home of Leica I know but can't find a leica shop).

Two things sprang to mind when I read your post. Two years ago in Rome I could not find a retailer that sold Manfrotto tripods. Plenty of other tripods not made in Italy could be found. Strange or what? The other was that I know at least three people who had coatings come off the objective lens of their Leica Televid scopes. Sorry cant help with your request. Try www.leica.co.uk

Clive

Leif · Mar 19, 2004

william j clive said:
Two things sprang to mind ... The other was that I know at least three people who had coatings come off the objective lens of their Leica Televid scopes. [/url]

Clive

How do you mean coatings come off? Do you know how old these scopes were and whether or not they were 'well used'?

henry link · Mar 19, 2004

Gaz Shilton said:
Just enquiring to see if anyone has an e-mail address/contact number for Leica as I would like to get my bins sorted out AGAIN?
Bought the 8 x 32 BA's in Dec '99. Around Sept '01 I found that some of the inside coating had flaked off and stuck to the inside of the objective lenses. Took them back to the RSPB shop where I bought them from and they sent them away. They came back within 2 weeks sorted. A few weeks ago I found that some of the coating has come off again. This gets annoying when I look at birds against a light background as I can see the little black flakes as opposed to a dark background when it is not so bad (but I know they are still there).
Apologies for a long winded thread. Just thought I would get it off my chest. Apart from this the bins are perfect.
Any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated.
P.S. Would take them back to the same place I got them from but unfortunately I now live in Germany. ( The home of Leica I know but can't find a leica shop).

If you can actually see "little black flakes" those would be occuring at the eyepiece, either inside on one of the elements or (I know I'm the suggesting the obvious) dirt stuck to the outside of the eyelens. Debris on the inside of the objective is too far out of focus to look like flakes. It would just reduce the brightness and contrast.
If,looking at the front, you can see debris on the inside of the objective it must be all through the interior, perhaps flat black paint that has seperated from the metal. I don't think the lens coating would be responsible for the sort of thing you've described. It's much too thin.

scampo · Mar 19, 2004

This has been said before and it surprised me then - but if that's what has happened then it must be so. My old Optolyth have a tiny spot on the outer coating and, if they were a more expensive paiur, I'd be cross and have it fixed. But, in truth, it makes no difference whatever.

I have seen marks on the inner surface of both objective lenses and the same on eyepieces to my dismay.

Leif · Mar 19, 2004

scampo said:
This has been said before and it surprised me then - but if that's what has happened then it must be so. My old Optolyth have a tiny spot on the outer coating and, if they were a more expensive paiur, I'd be cross and have it fixed. But, in truth, it makes no difference whatever.

I have seen marks on the inner surface of both objective lenses and the same on eyepieces to my dismay.

One of the less often mentioned advantages of a sealed binocular is that dirt does not get inside. (The emphasis seems to be on water-proofing and fog-proofing. I have never had a binocular fog, though my glasses often do.) Focussing a non-sealed non internal focussing porro prism repeatedly sucks dirt and dust into the insides. When cleaning my porros, I noticed a small speck of dirt on the insides, and visible when viewing. Fortunately it is not visible unless I make an effort to see it, which of course I don't. In normal use the lack of sealing does not seem to be a problem, but in dirty or dusty environments it might matter a great deal.

Not that the above answers the original question!

bubbles · Mar 19, 2004

Leica service: 01908 256400, ask for customer services for cameras and binoculars.
email: [email protected]

They are very courteous and will provide an estimate of repair or if they think their is a manufacturing problem they will repair or replace for free - you should send them back via special delivery with appropriate insurance and a covering letter describing the problem and such stuff like how you store them etc. They are quick to reply and do care about their reputation.

Good luck!

bubbles · Mar 19, 2004

Gaz Shilton said:
Just enquiring to see if anyone has an e-mail address/contact number for Leica as I would like to get my bins sorted out AGAIN?
Bought the 8 x 32 BA's in Dec '99. Around Sept '01 I found that some of the inside coating had flaked off and stuck to the inside of the objective lenses. Took them back to the RSPB shop where I bought them from and they sent them away. They came back within 2 weeks sorted. A few weeks ago I found that some of the coating has come off again. This gets annoying when I look at birds against a light background as I can see the little black flakes as opposed to a dark background when it is not so bad (but I know they are still there).
Apologies for a long winded thread. Just thought I would get it off my chest. Apart from this the bins are perfect.
Any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated.
P.S. Would take them back to the same place I got them from but unfortunately I now live in Germany. ( The home of Leica I know but can't find a leica shop).

Ah, did not spot your location - look at www.leica.com or drop an email to the UK email address and I'm sure they will help - they do have a place in germany you can just drop into... noit sure where, but it is mentioned on their website

gorank · Mar 19, 2004

I tried some new Leica Ultravids in the store this week (again),
In the first pair I could see a BIG black flake inside,
it was not just dust, it was a big flake...!
The shop personnel didn't seem to be very surprised...
I got a new pair to try immediately...

In another pair (earlier testing) the eye cups were bad centered...
dont know if this was a feature or bug...but it looked odd..

I think this can be an issue concerning new models comming out...new production plants...big demad...

Anyway, the optical quality was quite ok in the ultravids,

Nevertheless I will wait for the Zeiss Victory FL...

scampo · Mar 20, 2004

Leif said:
One of the less often mentioned advantages of a sealed binocular is that dirt does not get inside. (The emphasis seems to be on water-proofing and fog-proofing. I have never had a binocular fog, though my glasses often do.) Focussing a non-sealed non internal focussing porro prism repeatedly sucks dirt and dust into the insides. When cleaning my porros, I noticed a small speck of dirt on the insides, and visible when viewing. Fortunately it is not visible unless I make an effort to see it, which of course I don't. In normal use the lack of sealing does not seem to be a problem, but in dirty or dusty environments it might matter a great deal.

Not that the above answers the original question!

Those specks have the same effect on me as CA on you, Leif. They drive me silly and have to be got rid of! You haven't reported much recently on your Televid viewings - anything of interest?

Leif · Mar 20, 2004

scampo said:
Those specks have the same effect on me as CA on you, Leif. They drive me silly and have to be got rid of! You haven't reported much recently on your Televid viewings - anything of interest?

I was in Devon last weekend, and saw quite a bit. Near Powderham Castle I saw three Little Egrets, Greenshank, Redshank, and loads of Shelduck and Curlew. At the Exeter RSPB reserve I saw Ruff (I was told where to look which kind of spoils the enjoyment), a Little Egret, a Peregrine, Avocet, Lapwing, Curlew and so on. Most of those are unusual for me. The scope certainly does make it easier to see distant objects that's for sure. I have also tried it on Jupiter, and seen several bands (North and South Equatorial Belts) and the moons of course. Problem is, we have not had one decent sky since I bought the beast. The optics certainly are rather nice.

I presume that you will you be comparing your Zeiss to the Nikon in the near future? (The Swaro is not really a fair test due to the smaller objective.) One interesting feature of the Zeiss is that you could probably use your son's Swaro eyepieces on it. I believe that Swaro supply an adaptor to allow their eyepieces to be used in 1.25" focus mounts. Zeiss do an adaptor to accept 1.25" astro eyepieces. Of course in practice the focus travel might be too restricted. You could also use Leica eyepieces though I'm not sure there would be a point. There might be a point to using astro eyepieces though. Pentax ones are a mere £300 each. Bargain!

scampo · Mar 20, 2004

I didn't know that about the eyepieces. Yes - a comparison will be interesting but, alas, Nikon are letting me down over the repairs to my scope. They are out of stock of the lens hood and I have to await a delivery from Japan. Just my luck!

While you were in Exeter, didn't you have a chance to visit the commons? There's a fine RSPB reserve at Aylesbeare, quite close to Exeter and superb for Dartford Warbler - and glow worms, too when I was there! I should think lots of fungi, too?

william j clive · Mar 20, 2004

Leif said:
How do you mean coatings come off? Do you know how old these scopes were and whether or not they were 'well used'?

Hi Leif

The coating lift I referred to on the Leca Televid objective lens manifested itself as small pinhead sized shiny areas on the objective lens. One of my friends had it occur twice in 18 months on a scope he had bought new. Leica, under pressure gave him a filter worth £70 on the second occasion to protect the lens surface. Another friend had the same thing happen on his one year old scope, but he had to pay for his filter. The third one was a three year old scope, the owner of which had not noticed the fault until it was pointed out to him, though his coatings were in a particularly bad state. Obviously the fault did not hinder the view or he would have noticed this earlier. He did not clean the objective too often, it seems. All of them were quickly rectified for free by Leica.

Clive

scampo · Mar 20, 2004

That's exactly the way my Optolyth bins have been affected, but the area is more than a pinhead - maybe 1-2mm across. It's good to know that - even with pressure - Leica gave a free filter, but the experience must have been upsetting considering the price of the Leica in the first place.

flykitty · Jun 6, 2004

flakey!

i thought i was the only one who had this problem, given the kind of skepticism which leica projected when I told them about the black spot problem a few years ago. There were about 2-3 speck and could be seen easily without my eye glasses on. They were however kind enough to replace the 8x32 ba?s I had. I was asked to examine the replacement pair (in Singapore) . it looked pretty much ok then (it was a dim lit conference room) When I took the replacement pair home and looked more carefully, it had the same problem! This time it was one spot at 2 o?clock. Im still living with it. not something you would expect from leica.

8 x 32 BA's (1 Viewer)

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