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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Zeiss Binocular Design: A Personal Overview Part 2 (1 Viewer)

Gary, post 15,
Thank you a lot, I have an 8x20, made somewhere between 1984 and 1988 I think, since it does not have phasecoatings.
Gijs van Ginkel
 
Is that Terra just a cosmetic refresh or are there any substantive changes that are known? I missed this tidbit...
 
Love these posts Lee, great stuff.

BTW the SFs only have two hinges - the middle third is a faux hinge - but seems to be functional, protecting the focus from getting moved/knocked.
 
Love these posts Lee, great stuff.

BTW the SFs only have two hinges - the middle third is a faux hinge - but seems to be functional, protecting the focus from getting moved/knocked.
Thank you kindly. I am curious as to why you call the middle hinge a 'faux' hinge. It is attached to both optical tubes and it articulates in the middle when the IPD is changed. Not only that, on the SF32 I am looking at now, it is the middle bridge that provides the 'stop' which limits the extent of IPD adjustment, so it is a key component in the 3-bridge arrangement.

I am struggling to see anything 'faux' about this and I am reminded of that old saying 'if it looks like a duck and acts like a duck, it probably is a duck'.

Lee
 
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Thank you kindly. I am curious as to why you call the middle hinge a 'faux' hinge. It is attached to both optical tubes and it articulates in the middle when the IPD is changed. Not only that, on the SF32 I am looking at now, it is the middle bridge that provides the 'stop' which limits the extent of IPD adjustment, so it is a key component in the 3-bridge arrangement.

I am struggling to see anything 'faux' about this and I am reminded of that old saying 'if it looks like a duck and acts like a duck, it probably is a duck'.

Lee
Huh, I bought SF32's and returned them, so don't have them in front of me - when I looked very closely, the middle "hinge" was not actually connected between the tubes - but it sure looks like it is. Hard to imagine they would have changed that detail?
 
Also...mechanically, ensuring all three points are on a perfect axis is a recipe for unnecessary complication. A third hinge adds alignment challenges, and not sure what is gained.
 
B-lilja is correct.
Having checked an early grey SF42 and a current SF32, and I see what b-lilja means in that the two halves of the middle hinge aren't mechanically connected at what I took to be a central pivot.

My sincere apologies to b-lilja and thanks to Gary.
Lee
 
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Lee,

Thank you.

The centre "hinge" simply serves as a mounting point for the bottom of the focus shaft to make the focus wheel more stable and less prone to impact damage.

Gary.

Zeiss describe it as triple-link rather than triple-hinge.
 
No apologies necessary, we're all here to share and learn.

Gary, is the focus knob connected to the "link"? I don't remember it being connected on the 8x32 SF. But just going off memory.
 
[QUOTE="b-lilja, post: 4145162, member: 106206"

Gary, is the focus knob connected to the "link"? I don't remember it being connected on the 8x32 SF. But just going off memory.
[/QUOTE]

Hi,

Yes, there is a shaft running through the middle of the focus wheel which sits in a recess on the top of the "link".

Gary
 
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