Gijs van Ginkel
Well-known member
Joe H.
It is a pleasure and I glad that you like it.
Gijs van Ginkel
It is a pleasure and I glad that you like it.
Gijs van Ginkel
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Show us your "vintage" and classic binos (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Binocollector
- Start date
Turns out your collection isn't as big as you think it is 
petapixel.com
Couple Finds Trove of 2,000 Cameras and Lenses in Storage Unit
A couple in Massachussetts has found a treasure trove of over 2,000 vintage cameras and lenses while cleaning out a storage unit.
That is actually a rather small collection compared to the Spira collection and the Naylor museum that I visited in 1989 near Boston.
I also visited a lens museum, much larger than the collection noted in the article above.
The Naylor collection had about 30,000 cameras and lenses etc, some unique.
Today it would be in the tens of million dollars.
In the small collection noted above, the Minolta 135mm f/2 may contain thorium glass, I cannot remember.
The Zunow lenses are valuable, as are maybe the Miranda Ts.
The collection is typical of 1980s collections.
Regards,
B.
P.S.
The prices being asked for on their store are correct.
The Minolta 100mm f/2 lens contains thorium glass, but maybe the later 135mm f/2 doesn't.
Minolta, and Zeiss avoided thorium glass. There are several Leica and Nikon lenses that contain thorium.
Soviet lenses avoided thorium although maybe some special lenses might contain thorium.
The Miranda Ts seem to have lost some value, as they were very sought after and expensive.
Zunow lenses may not have kept up their very high prices, I am not sure.
There may have been a rare Zunow camera also.
I also visited a lens museum, much larger than the collection noted in the article above.
The Naylor collection had about 30,000 cameras and lenses etc, some unique.
Today it would be in the tens of million dollars.
In the small collection noted above, the Minolta 135mm f/2 may contain thorium glass, I cannot remember.
The Zunow lenses are valuable, as are maybe the Miranda Ts.
The collection is typical of 1980s collections.
Regards,
B.
P.S.
The prices being asked for on their store are correct.
The Minolta 100mm f/2 lens contains thorium glass, but maybe the later 135mm f/2 doesn't.
Minolta, and Zeiss avoided thorium glass. There are several Leica and Nikon lenses that contain thorium.
Soviet lenses avoided thorium although maybe some special lenses might contain thorium.
The Miranda Ts seem to have lost some value, as they were very sought after and expensive.
Zunow lenses may not have kept up their very high prices, I am not sure.
There may have been a rare Zunow camera also.
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Paultricounty
Well-known member
Here’s a Sans and Steiffe ultra wide field 7x35. You almost cant see a field stop. The image circle allows looking around , a little like a Nagler telescope eyepiece, like a window. Because of how separated the barrels are the 3D effect is more enhanced than the smaller porros many of us are used to, like Nikon E’s and SE’s.
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Paultricounty
Well-known member
Not at all , unless someone has a huge shnoz. 😆
Boogieshrew
Well-known member
Do any of these lovely old porros have enough eye relief for glasses wearers?
I remember having to take off my glasses to use binoculars in the 80s and 90s or put up with a very restricted view. A pain in the backside whichever way you choose to use.
If there are any classics with long eye relief, I would be tempted to start a collection.
(I already have and love some Nikon SEs)
I remember having to take off my glasses to use binoculars in the 80s and 90s or put up with a very restricted view. A pain in the backside whichever way you choose to use.
If there are any classics with long eye relief, I would be tempted to start a collection.
(I already have and love some Nikon SEs)
Binocollector
Well-known member
Rarely if ever. Maybe a 7x50 when removing the eye cups might work.
I have an old 7x50 with AK-prisms (no porro obviously) that has a ton of eye relief -- even better than some modern binos. Eye relief is almost too long when not using glasses with that particular model.
The larger the FoV the better, so even if it gets slightly truncated, it might still be usable.
There are some people on cloudy nights who simply screw off the plastic eyecups on some models that have those, and replace them with rubber o-rings to not scratch the glasses of your spectacles.
Just tried my vintage "Scope" 7x50 EWA (11° FoV) -- and the FoV is so large on that one that with the eye cups rolled down (they are still nice and flexible on that one despite beeing 40 yrs old) -- the FoV is as large as on my Fuji FMTR 7x50 with the eye-cups rolled down.
And I have to add that my eyes are deep set and the rims of my glasses rather thick. I often have problems seeing the hard field stop even without glasses on modern binos.
But you won't know unless you try.
Paultricounty
Well-known member
The Bushnell Rangemasters have about the most eye relief at 14mm. Some guys unscrew the eyecups and put rubber rings on to use with eye glasses.
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Paultricounty
Well-known member
My two new acquisitions , the holy grail and pinnacle of the 7x35 super wide field genre.
The Bushnell Kowa Rangemaster and the Bushnell FPO Silver line Rangemaster.
The Bushnell Kowa Rangemaster and the Bushnell FPO Silver line Rangemaster.
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Boogieshrew
Well-known member
Interesting. Thanks Pau
I don't see any in the UK on the bay. I wonder if they went under a different name here? There are a few other 7x35s on there now but none look much like the Rangemasters.
Some more googling is in order.
Paultricounty
Well-known member
There are a few FPO versions on the US bay site, but are not in the best shape and very expensive. Most finds will most likely need some service. The Kowa, forget about it. I haven’t seen one of those come up for sale anywhere. There is another version called the custom and that one is the Bushnell made by Tamron , which some have called the ugly duckling, but I see the beauty in the design. It’s also an 11° FOV but eye relief is very tight and the edges are not quite as good as the 10° FPO (Fuji Photo Optical) version. The Tamron version seems to be available on and off, and are very reasonable in price for the performance, that’s the one that got me started.
Here is Fan Tao’s site with lost of info on the Rangmasters , as well as many of the other of the genre.
Rangemaster.
Also can look up Fan Tao archive.
There is also a lot of discussions on cloudy nts about vintage binos, that’s where I got a lot of my info and made a few very helpful friends who also enjoy our hobby.
First 2 photos Bushnell Tamron Rangemaster.
Bay ad showing the Tamron and the FPO versions for sale.
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Thotmosis
Well-known member
They look cool, you are getting quite a vintage collection
Nice pocket knives also btw
Wasabrot
Well-known member
I want to present my newest gem, a Hartmann Wetzlar Bernina 7x42 from probably 1964. Bernina was the 2nd, more advanced product line after the Porlerim with double coated optic elements.
7x42 is a rare configuration for Berninas which usually had magnifcations of ten and higher next to the tourist config 8x30 and military/hunter config 7x50. In 1966 with introduction of the 3rd product line the Compact, 7x42 become a standard config for them and I belive no 7x42 Berninas have been built anymore.
Optical it has a bright image with neutral colors and incredible sharpness over about 70-80%. I have seen such a sharpness already at my 8x30 Porlerim at good light conditions but it loses contrast with low light. This Bernina keeps the contrast even at cloudy days and beginning dusk. With all the details you can recogince in the image, it feels that it has higher magnifcation than 7x.
Only CA is much more prononced than other Hartmanns I own, especially at the boarders.
7x42 is a rare configuration for Berninas which usually had magnifcations of ten and higher next to the tourist config 8x30 and military/hunter config 7x50. In 1966 with introduction of the 3rd product line the Compact, 7x42 become a standard config for them and I belive no 7x42 Berninas have been built anymore.
Optical it has a bright image with neutral colors and incredible sharpness over about 70-80%. I have seen such a sharpness already at my 8x30 Porlerim at good light conditions but it loses contrast with low light. This Bernina keeps the contrast even at cloudy days and beginning dusk. With all the details you can recogince in the image, it feels that it has higher magnifcation than 7x.
Only CA is much more prononced than other Hartmanns I own, especially at the boarders.
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Thotmosis
Well-known member
Very nice! Some background information in an article by dr. Gijs van Ginkel:
Gijs van Ginkel
Well-known member
Thotmosis, post 79,
On the WEB-site of House of Outdoor you can find a history of Hartmann with an overview of its production programme and performance compared with binoculars produced by other companies.
Gijs van Ginkel
On the WEB-site of House of Outdoor you can find a history of Hartmann with an overview of its production programme and performance compared with binoculars produced by other companies.
Gijs van Ginkel
