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Optics author offers 10 binoculars, some rare, all excellent working order, cheap!. Condition is “Used”. Dispatched with Royal Mail Special Delivery.
All working well with clean optics and smooth focussing – only one of the Minolta 7x35s & the Zeiss 8×30 Deltrentis have an intrusion on the very edge of the field, as detailed below, not interfering with normal viewing.
I have written articles and books on binoculars and monoculars and I buy optics because I enjoy using them to view wildlife while assessing the performance for my own interests and for my writing. I have to sell because otherwise I would have c. 1000 optics to accommodate – not because they are faulty! I will describe each in turn, stating its virtues. I normally list only one binocular, but I need to have a rapid clear-out so I am offering these as a “job lot” at well below the sum of the prices of each if sold separately.
1. Carl Zeiss Jena 2.5x Galan (fixed eye-width of 67mm. These were produced in 61, 64 & 67mm eye-widths). From the serial number this was produced in 1900. It is in quite remarkable condition with hardly any sign of use. It is very bright, although uncoated, because of its Galilean construction with few optical elements but nevertheless a very wide field of 200 mils (i.e. 200m at 1000m). The case has signs of use on the leather and corrosion of the metal forming the catch, but it still has its original box shape, with no shape distortion after 120 years. I would not want to be the first person to make a mark on this binocular after its unmarked life of 120 yrs! In true collectors condition.
2. Russian 4×36 with coated optics. Very bright, also of Galilean construction. Several places where the paint has rubbed
3. Carl Zeiss Jena 7×50 “Jenautic” multi-coated. Excellent condition and I rate it among the very best 7x50s I have ever looked through – certainly superior to any Binoctem or Jenoptem multi-coated that I have owned. The case has scratches and rub marks mainly on the lid, but no structural damage, this comes complete with the carrying strap. It is the first and only Jenautic that I have ever come across in over 60 years of looking for optics.
4. Zeiss 8×30 Deltrentis from 1927. This has paint rubbed away on prism plate edges and objective rings, but the leather body covering is intact, undamaged and an example for the post-WW2 Leitz models of how to make enduring coverings. The eyepieces turn perfectly smoothly, the collimation is perfect. If you move your left eye off centre so as to view the edge of the field at 2 o’clock you can see a small wavy line, which may be dust, thread or a spot where the cement has deteriorated? I used the binocular for some time before I saw this, so it does not affect normal viewing. A good example from the finest quality period of Zeiss construction.
5. Zeiss 8×30 Deltrintem multi-coated, with silver paint metal and red body covering. The image quality is very good and I rate it equal to the Nikon E11 which I sold recently.
6 and 7. Minolta 7×35 Standard multi-coated with 192 mil field. These have the same extraordinarily-wide field as the pre-WW2 Deltar/Deltarem, although, of course, that was an 8x. Two examples – the one showing more signs of use has a small piece of dust or thread at the very edge of the field when viewing through one eyepiece at an angle. I used the binocular for a time without detecting this, so it does not affect normal viewing, I suggest this is kept for, as Major H C Maydon suggested in “Big Game Hunting in Africa” giving to “a sheikh or sirdar who has done you well”, who admires your other example of this glass. I am very impressed with this model with its wide field which is of the greatest use when trying to find wildlife. Both come with the usual Minolta soft case.
8. Minolta 8×40 Standard multi-coated with 166 mil field. This is not as wide a view as a Deltarem, but, of course, brighter with modern multi-coatings, also rubber-armoured and lighter. Comes with usual lightweight Minolta case.
9. Bushnell 7×32 Xtra-wide has a field of 233.3 mils (700ft at 1000yards). Even wider than the Minoltas. This is the glass I took to Scotland seeking roe deer to photograph – I also had my 10×42 Zeiss SF and 10×56 Conquest HD – I took all three out the first day but left the two Zeiss behind on future days because they did not have the wide field which was so useful. Eric Hosking and Cyril Newberry wrote in “Intimate Sketches from Bird Life” “we demand before all else, a large field of view, since this facilitates the observation of birds in rapid flight”, and when wanting to keep both birds of a pair in view. With original Bushnell case & neck strap.
10. Vesper 10×40 wide-angle with a field of 125 mils – nearly as wide view as the Zeiss 10×50 Dekarem which have a field of 128 mils – but this glass is only half the weight of the Zeiss and much more compact, also benefitting from a lightweight but very strong case. The image quality is remarkably good.
ALL THESE 10 BINOCULARS ARE OFFERED FOR ONLY 350 BUY IT NOW!
(For those who do not count mathematics as one of their prime accomplishments in life & do not have a calculator to hand, this is, on average, only 35 for each binocular!)
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Category: Cameras and Photography:Telescopes and Binoculars:Binoculars and Monoculars
Location: Herts