Oregon Jim
Member
Kevin: Oops... now I see that you already mentioned the adequate eye relief in your first post. Sorry.
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The Monocular Thread (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Kevin Conville
- Start date
Kevin Conville
yardbirder
Jim,
I looked at that Vortex online and just from the specs can tell you it's huge compared the the Nikon. That may or may not matter to you, it does for me.
BTW, my only complaint as mentioned in the OP is that the Nikon isn't waterproof. A major detractor IMO but not a deal breaker. Truth is there are very few small monoculars to choose from. The Vixens (http://www.adorama.com/VX616M.html) looked interesting, on paper, maybe giving up some eye relief, but I'm pretty happy with this silver (titanium) bullet.
I looked at that Vortex online and just from the specs can tell you it's huge compared the the Nikon. That may or may not matter to you, it does for me.
BTW, my only complaint as mentioned in the OP is that the Nikon isn't waterproof. A major detractor IMO but not a deal breaker. Truth is there are very few small monoculars to choose from. The Vixens (http://www.adorama.com/VX616M.html) looked interesting, on paper, maybe giving up some eye relief, but I'm pretty happy with this silver (titanium) bullet.
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Oregon Jim
Member
Thanks, Kevin. Actually, I really don't know what it is I want, although I have the thought of further reducing the number of waking hours that I don't have some sort of optical device at the ready. My wife would roll her eyes and call that pathetic, but I know that most all the regulars of this forum would understand.
Interestingly, my son is only so-so on his Zeiss monocular (8x20 I think), and has talked about selling it and going with some compact bins. That surprises me a little, as he spends far more time backpacking than I do, and isn't a birder. I'd think a quality monocular would be ideal.
My next optical purchase is likely to be some 8x32 bins, but I haven't decided on exactly what. Still, thanks for starting this thread. Monoculars are definitely intriguing, and eventually I'll have to get something.
Interestingly, my son is only so-so on his Zeiss monocular (8x20 I think), and has talked about selling it and going with some compact bins. That surprises me a little, as he spends far more time backpacking than I do, and isn't a birder. I'd think a quality monocular would be ideal.
My next optical purchase is likely to be some 8x32 bins, but I haven't decided on exactly what. Still, thanks for starting this thread. Monoculars are definitely intriguing, and eventually I'll have to get something.
Kevin Purcell
Well-known member
Hmmm, did you cause a run on these? Adorama is now "temporarily out of stock".
http://www.adorama.com/NK515M.html
http://www.adorama.com/NK515M.html
Kevin Conville
yardbirder
The same notice was posted when I ordered. It took maybe 10 days to arrive to me and as it was some $40. less at Adorama than anywhere else I'd seen it, I figured a bit of a wait wouldn't hurt.
Adorama has the binocular version also
Just twice the price of the monocular. They are $430 to $460 everywhere else.
http://www.adorama.com/NK515.html
Just twice the price of the monocular. They are $430 to $460 everywhere else.
http://www.adorama.com/NK515.html
Kevin Conville
yardbirder
That's a killer price on that bin and though I am tempted, I'll resist. I'm really trying to not succumb to the mini bin lure which was mostly satiated with the monocular. Though truthfully, I probably would buy it if it were water proof!
I will reiterate my feelings on these titanium binoculars. I have had 8x20 swarovski and leica binos, and I still have zeiss 8x20 design selections (my "outdoor activity" -fly-fishing, hiking etc binos) and I prefer the view with these 5x15 over ALL of them. $300 is a great price!
John Dracon
John Dracon
Yes Fugl, that is the monocular to which I was referring. The Zeiss 8x30B. It isn't bright like the current ones. I wish it could be coated with the modern stuff. I picked up one that had some slight haze to it. The prisms had some kind of deposit on them, but not fungus. I have learned how to disassemble optics over the years for cleaning. When one "breaks into" an older Zeiss. the precision of everything becomes readily apparent. I discovered with the the lids of the Zeiss monocular a flat neoprene gasket unlike any other which really seals things nicely. The prism recesses are so precise that after removing the individual prisms for cleaning, they can be reset easily. Of course a monocular with slight prism misalignment won't be the problem for colimation that a binocular would present. I do not recommend tearing into a quality piece of optics for cleaning unless one is prepared with the correct tools and know how. I am self taught and have made a number of mistakes (costly ones) until I gained enough experience to know my limits. But that is part of the fun of working with optics. John
Well, very interesting. Yes, it's such a little jewel externally, beautifully finished with silky smooth focus & a satisfyingly solid feeling in the hand, that I'm not at all surprised to hear that it's equally impressive inside. I don't know if mine would benefit from disassembly & cleaning or not (I have no skills in that direction & there is no way I'm going to take it apart to find out), but I have no particular reason to think so, since as far as I can tell it's only "dim" in relation to modern glasses with modern coatings. I bought it second-hand in Edinburgh (Scotland) over 30 years ago now where I paid 10 pounds for it, real money in those days--now it probably wouldn't buy a decent breakfast--but still a good deal. It ended up with 8-10 years of heavy use, first by me & then by my wife, but in the last couple of decades with very little since we both now find it very fiddly to use after graduation to (alpha) binoculars. Anyway, it's nice to learn that it has at least one other fan & that my specimen has not been the only one that's ever been used for birding [I've been a little surprised over the years that it appeared to be so completely unknown in birding circles].
John Dracon
John Dracon
If you look from the objective end of your monocular, you can easily detect haze if it is present. But yours may not have any. I have found that individual focus binoculars of quality manufacturing tend to be less contaminated by the movement of focusing than CF focusing which has a real bellows effect. A monocular of quality will allow some air movement but not much and normally is highly water resistant. Zeiss marketed most of their monoculars with an adaptor to fit cameras as a telephoto lens. They also included a lovely leather case with their monoculars. I seriously doubt that we will ever see such careful structural precision and finish as is evidenced by the older Zeiss optics. Your Zeiss prisms are of special design unlike any other that I have seen. The older ones are not glued in but held by compression with a flat spring. If the glass to metal mating is really precise, the glass will take on the strength of the metal. I have yet to find an old Zeiss with chipped prisms (of course that happens), but have run across many Japanese porro glasses with the prism chipped because of the less precise seats which hold the prisms. Those (probably now deceased) older German craftsmen were really good. My monocular sits in my car for handy use while traveling our Montana roads. John
Thanks for that--fascinating stuff. I just had a look from the objective end of my glass as you suggest and didn't see any obvious hazing, so that's good.
I've always wondered,by the way, if the 8 x30B monocular was the same optically as the contemporary 8 x30B Zeiss binoculars. As far as I can tell from photos (I never had a chance to handle the binoculars) the 2 instruments look much the same. Is this just a matter of styling, do you know? Have you had any experience with the old 8 x 30B porros & if so what do you think of them?
Zeiss made both a porro as well as a roof 8x30 monocular. The roof version also served as a long lens for the Contarex 35mm camera, I believe. The roof model was not related to the same size binoculars in my view, as it had rather different dimensions.
There was a Zeiss tradition of selling half binocular looking monoculars, including 7x50 and 10x50 along with the 8x30. They all had superb fitted cases, but I do not know if they were separately assembled or built on the same line as the binoculars.
The optical quality of these instruments was excellent, but I think they sold only modestly, probably because they were still big and because using a monocular is not as comfortable as using binoculars.
There was a Zeiss tradition of selling half binocular looking monoculars, including 7x50 and 10x50 along with the 8x30. They all had superb fitted cases, but I do not know if they were separately assembled or built on the same line as the binoculars.
The optical quality of these instruments was excellent, but I think they sold only modestly, probably because they were still big and because using a monocular is not as comfortable as using binoculars.
John Dracon
John Dracon
Fugi - Your Zeiss porro 8x30 B monocular is just half of the Zeiss 8x30 B Porro binocular. Zeiss made both a roof and porro 8x30 B in binocular and monocular configuration. Now I am talking about the West German product, not the Jena Zeiss. The German & West German Zeiss which preceded the 8x30 B model was in the old classic style with smaller eyepieces which didn't accommodate the eye glass wearer. It was an excellent glass. Zeiss started to push the roof prism models to the point that gradually the 6x30, 8x30, 7x50, 10x50, and 15x60 porros were phased out. They all evolved to B models before that happened. I'm not sure the porros are made anymore. The roofs reign supreme in Zeiss land today. I have a pair of Zeiss 7x50 porros IF made in the 1930s that are of course without coatings and heavily used. But they still have excellent resolution and are very comfortable to my eyes. John
henry link
Well-known member
The 8x30 monocular was based on the first Zeiss West 8x30B Porro. Both were made from 1958 to 1968. There was a second Zeiss 8x30B Porro with a 60 degree AFOV which replaced the earlier model in 1968 and was made until 1978. The Peter Abrahams website has a complete listing of Zeiss models and production dates here:
http://home.europa.com/~telscope/zeissbn2.txt
I bought an 8x30B with some internal hazing about 6 years ago. I sent it to Zeiss in Virginia and it come back clean as a whistle inside, no charge. I would suggest checking for hazing by shining a flashlight through the eyepiece and examining the beam from the objective end. That will reveal hazing that's invisible from just looking inside.
Thanks all for the replies. I took your advice Henry re shining a flashlight from the eye end, but still came up clean (at least as far as I could tell). Pretty good for an instrument that old (I bought it second-hand in 1972 or 1973). Unfortunately, it was sans the "superb fitted case"--which I didn't even know about--& in the end I had a case made by a local saddler (in those days there were still such people about who would undertake off-the-wall projects of this kind for reasonable prices) .
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Just found this monocular thread, I've got a couple of these handy little things myself!
I've got a Zeiss Turmon 8x20 monocular (Not sure of date as no serial no. but has the pre-T3M 'blue' lens coatings so probably 1960s?) which has excellent, sharp optics though I find it's eye relief a bit small for me as I wear glasses. This has been living in my pocket whilst at work, but have been a bit worried about it getting damaged so I've just bought one of those old Russian 8x30 monoculars off Ebay (£14.99 - may have paid a little too much?). The Turmon will go with me when I go out and about whilst not at work and binoculars would be a bit big to take. I know it'll be a bit big but I have big pockets in my nurse's uniform, and we do get some interesting birds in the gardens there sometimes!
Anyone had much experience with these? I've read that a lot of these Russian optics have a yellow colour cast to them, but I can live with that, and that otherwise the optics in these are very sharp. It looks like this monocular dates from about 1975 judging by the serial number in the picture btw.
I've got a Zeiss Turmon 8x20 monocular (Not sure of date as no serial no. but has the pre-T3M 'blue' lens coatings so probably 1960s?) which has excellent, sharp optics though I find it's eye relief a bit small for me as I wear glasses. This has been living in my pocket whilst at work, but have been a bit worried about it getting damaged so I've just bought one of those old Russian 8x30 monoculars off Ebay (£14.99 - may have paid a little too much?). The Turmon will go with me when I go out and about whilst not at work and binoculars would be a bit big to take. I know it'll be a bit big but I have big pockets in my nurse's uniform, and we do get some interesting birds in the gardens there sometimes!
Anyone had much experience with these? I've read that a lot of these Russian optics have a yellow colour cast to them, but I can live with that, and that otherwise the optics in these are very sharp. It looks like this monocular dates from about 1975 judging by the serial number in the picture btw.
The Zeiss 5x10 Miniquick mentioned earlier in this thread is pretty much the only alternative afaik, plus the eye relief is a bit better, according to Zeiss.
Zeiss also has 4x12 and 6x18 monoculars, both with similar eye relief to the Nikon, for $300 plus.
The 8x20s from Zeiss and even more that from Leica are noticeably bigger, so they may no longer be 'small' as you specified.
Minox used to sell an interesting 6x16, compact but with limited eye relief.
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