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Steiner problems (1 Viewer)

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Bataleon

Active member
Has anyone else experienced focusing or figure eight problems with any of the Steiner military models or their related rubber armor porro models? I have a pair of brand new military 8x30s and an older 12x40 Firebird which is essentially the same thing but with longer objectives. They both give me hellacious figure eight and it doesn't matter how I adjust the ocular focus or IPD. They just won't get right and I feel like I'm going cross-eyed every time I look through them. Steiner customer service doesn't seem to have any suggestions for me and I've ruled out collimation problems. It's just extremely frustrating to be having this with what's supposed to be higher end binoculars.

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Bataleon said:
Has anyone else experienced focusing or figure eight problems with any of the Steiner military models or their related rubber armor porro models? I have a pair of brand new military 8x30s and an older 12x40 Firebird which is essentially the same thing but with longer objectives. They both give me hellacious figure eight and it doesn't matter how I adjust the ocular focus or IPD. They just won't get right and I feel like I'm going cross-eyed every time I look through them. Steiner customer service doesn't seem to have any suggestions for me and I've ruled out collimation problems. It's just extremely frustrating to be having this with what's supposed to be higher end binoculars.

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You are describing a massive collimation problem. If you concentrate on a distant target and still have the problem, it IS related to alignment. If, as some suggest, you look for the fields not to “overlap,” you have fallen victim to an urban legend that has no foothold in reality. Why? Because you are crossing your eyes to focus on the edges of the field stops inside the bino ~2.5 to 4 inches from your eyes, which will ALWAYS give a double image.

Solution: take the bino outside and concentrate SOLELY on a target a mile away. If you still see the problem, send it back. :cat:

Cheers,

Bill
 
I was doing that just tonight. I was trying to focus in on a barn silo about half a mile away and both pairs give me figure 8. Does this just happen or what? I'm extremely gentle with all my binoculars and so far the Steiners are the only ones to become annoying to look through. That's why it puzzles me because they were wonderful just a few weeks ago.

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Bataleon said:
I was doing that just tonight. I was trying to focus in on a barn silo about half a mile away and both pairs give me figure 8. Does this just happen or what? I'm extremely gentle with all my binoculars and so far the Steiners are the only ones to become annoying to look through. That's why it puzzles me because they were wonderful just a few weeks ago.

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No, the only time this "just happens" is when the observer's eye muscles are very weak, or when the instrument has been dropped. Give it to a friend WITHOUT giving them a heads up on what they are looking for. Then, ask if there was anything wrong with their view. :cat:

Bill
 
Hmm yeah, my girlfriend said she noticed it too and was wondering if it was supposed to be that way but didn't know as she's not familiar with binoculars. I don't think it would be my eyes because as I said my other binoculars are fine and all I own is porros. Guess I'm gonna chalk it up to bad collimation in the steinies

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Bataleon said:
Hmm yeah, my girlfriend said she noticed it too and was wondering if it was supposed to be that way but didn't know as she's not familiar with binoculars. I don't think it would be my eyes because as I said my other binoculars are fine and all I own is porros. Guess I'm gonna chalk it up to bad collimation in the steinies

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It costs more to make roof prism binoculars as good as Porros of equal overall quality. Send 'em back. :cat:

Bill
 
The best way I have found to test collimation is to properly try to focus on a distant object, as
Bill mentioned try 1/2 to 1 mile away, a large tower or power line pole is nice.

When you have found best focus, then close your eyes for a moment, then back from the binocular
around 4" or so. This allows your eyes to relax, then quickly look at the same subject, and if you find the subject off, it is out of collimation.

With slight mis collimation, your eyes will accommodate to some extent, but that quickly brings fatigue, etc.

Good luck, and keep trying to see what is wrong.

Jerry
 
I got em both working OK. They just have horrible eye relief and clumsy eyecups which makes viewing a lot more difficult. Admittedly, I haven't been using these particular binos for long. The Firebirds were my dad's and I had them packed away for years. The military ones are new but virtually identical to the Steiners I remember seeing as a kid, so not much has changed. It just sucks because it's good glass wasted on very cumbersome eyepieces. I end up grabbing my Nikons 9/10 times. 😔
 
Last edited:
Bataleon said:
I got em both working OK. They just have horrible eye relief and clumsy eyecups which makes viewing a lot more difficult. Admittedly, I haven't been using these particular binos for long. The Firebirds were my dad's and I had them packed away for years. The military ones are new but virtually identical to the Steiners I remember seeing as a kid, so not much has changed. It just sucks because it's good glass wasted on very cumbersome eyepieces. I end up grabbing my Nikons 9/10 times. 😔
Click to expand...

One thing is certain, if you’ve gotten “both of them working okay,” your problem was not a collimation issue. Enjoy and have a great day. :cat:

Bill
 
Yuppers. Think I just jumped the gun on them since I'm still not super acquainted with them. Maybe my next project is looking into a way to modify them into more Nikon or Vortex-esque eyecups. 🤔

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Welp, sent both binos off to Steiner to check for collimation issues and they tell me the P830s are fine but the Firebird 12x40s have a loose prism and can't be fixed because the binoculars were designed to be permanently sealed...... I find this extremely questionable because they look exactly the same when looking through them. The images are clear, just got a little figure 8. How can one be fine and the other has a loose prism if I'm seeing the exact same thing through both? Doesn't make sense to me...

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