How old are your binoculars? Mark Felton (relatively famous YouTuber) and his WW2 binoculars that he uses on the daily! (1 Viewer)

[LeadLenses]

I came across this new video of Mark Felton discussing his well used WW2 binoculars. It's worth a watch.

American, British, and German binoculars are in his rotation. Needless to say, they are all porros!

 

[Gumball]

I have a small collection of WW2 era binoculars, British, Canadian, American and German.
I agree with what he said- the optics (even though they are 80 years old) are still better than many manufacturers of the modern era.
And, in comparison to the best of the current binoculars available, most items in my collection are much more inexpensive.
Additionally, several have become "collectors items", and as such, not only are they increasing in value, they are unique and interesting to today's public.
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[Dennis Mau]

The porro design was perfected 80 years ago, so the older porros can be quite good. The porro design is simple and much easier than a roof to make perfectly. The problem is a lot of the older coatings were not as good as they are now, so transmission can be lower than modern binoculars. One exception is the Swarovski Habicht which has updated coatings and almost 95% transmission. Also, when buying a binocular that is 80 years you have to make there is no mold, fungus or haze inside the binocular especially if they are unsealed like for example the Nikon E2 8x30 which actually draws dust inside like an accordion every time you focus it.

 

[Pinewood]

I came across this new video of Mark Felton discussing his well used WW2 binoculars. It's worth a watch.

American, British, and German binoculars are in his rotation. Needless to say, they are all porros!

Hello,

I note that Felton's characterisation of the Binocular, Prismatic, no. 2, as being from WWII, is incorrect. I believe that model may have been from WWI.
I own British, American and German binoculars from WWI and as well as from WWII. The difference between uncoated binoculars and early coated ones is quite striking. His U-boat binocular, which may be coated, is quite likely superior to the roof prism binoculars of the 1960's and 1970's but outclassed by a well made modern multi-coated binocular. Nevertheless, even a century old binocular beats the naked eye but military binoculars with IF are not really suited for bird watching.

Happy bird watching,
Arthur

 

[Patudo]

My oldest are a Leitz Binuxit probably from the early 50s. Still enjoyable to use, but they are really a nostalgia piece. I only really take them out on nice summer days when the 1950s era coatings are at their least disadvantaged, and only for casual viewing. There was a time and place their 150m field of view really worked well (and the birds were at ranges for which 8x was perfectly adequate), but alas that has gone.