Anyone into binoculars?

I've liked glass for a while now and am getting into the need for zeiss, hansoldt or other quality binocs. I'm getting a zeiss monocular soon. That will settle the monocular issue for me.
I'll be getting zeiss binocs probably early mods <1980. I like the look of hansoldt cold war binocs also.
Presently I have the common types, compact nikon and bushnell. These are great for light carry. I always wanted superior glass like the zeiss or leica though. This is fast becoming a holic for me like lights are.

Being a boater and in the marine supply business, I have owned numerous pairs of Steiner, Leica and Leitz binoc's through the years. Always trading them away for new toys........ I currently have a pair of the new Leica 8x42 as well s a 12 year old pair of Leitz 8x20. The new Leica 8x42 are incredibly sharp and the light gathering is awesome! Short of a multi thousand dollar gyro stabilized pair, I found that the 8x magnification was as high as I could go and still have a steady image; expecially on a boat.

If you are looking for quality glass from yesteryear, have you looked at deutscheoptik ?

- Don

I agree on the bright vs power feeling. I enjoy 8x40 and one of my favorite hiking is 6x30. the more light the heavier the case, I think. 7x50 is the ideal config except for size, for me.
I do want to get a "checkpoint Charlie" pair of edf which is lighter than the df.
Good luck to your son.
Tom

McGizmo, Wow the trinovid's must be awesome. Thanks for the lead to deutscheoptik. I've lurked there for a while now on their bulletin board. My interest in the older mnodels is strictly financial. I think I can get the most glass for the buck with used older glasses. Someday the trinovids will be mine. I understand they stack up against any other glasses and surpass most.
ps I like your site.
Tom

I am not "into" glass at this time but I do have my US Marine son on the lookout for the Govm't M7(?) made by Steiner. The civ model is 7X50G. I like bright more than power and 7X is about my max for being steady.

I like a good pair of glasses. I recently upgraded mine to the Pentax DCF WP 8X42. Really nice glasses. Retail is around $600.00 but I ordered them from the internet with a full manufacturers warranty for $217.00 after the $100.00 manufacturers rebate. If you're in the market and 200 beans is not too much I HIGHLY recommend these binocs.

The Steiner monocular, about $100., is a rather amazing little package. Unfold it and it's like looking through one barrel of my Leica 10X25 binocs (which also give you that 'being there' feeling through brightness and contrast...

Ilove my Leica 8x42's...they are sturdy, bright and waterproof! I bought them 6= yrs ago after researching EVERYTHING.

The Pentax looks to be a nice set and with the rebate till 01/03 can't be beat. I'm going to look hard (all pun intended:0) at these.

The Steiner monocular looks tiny. What great technology in mini package. Do you ever have probs with using due to small size? The price is right for me.
Anybody ever deal with AAACAMERA.COM? This is the lowest $ for pentax I found. I'm emailing them if this is the import or USA version. oh well they're the import version didn't say on the site though.

optics? what's that :>

i'm rather partial to the fujinon 16x70 mms 4 degrees field of view. they're dry nitrogen filled, water proof and almost good enough for night vision work :> they're also damn fine for astronomy use, esp with a paralellogram tripod mount.

there's also the nikon 8x42 mm 6 degrees field of view "attache" models that i find quite useful, bright, and excellent to use (esp for daytime, birding, etc).

in my car lives a little pair of 8x23 mm 6 FOV. i spent an hour A/B comparing them against everything they had (including stock in box). must say, they're nice and compact.

i've compared them to a pair of compact zeiss t* models; the zeiss faired a trifle better in brightness but were an order of magnitude more. ouch!

in the cheap but good dept, celestron makes a dandy monocular 8x21 mm 7.2 FOV; also a folding pair, essentially doubled monoculars 8x22 mm 7 FOV. one can find good and cheap 10x50 6 FOV for around $50 and get lucky with bright optics :>

telescopes? 100 mm apochromats with flourite field flatteners? yum :>

Fujinon Marine 7x50 with compass - Steiner Commander 7x50.

On a boat I don't like to go higher than 7x, and the 50mm lense is great for dusk and dawn -for instance the color of a buoy right after sunset... I don't know anything better in low light than the Fujinons, or anything smaller and more shockproof than the steiners. My only regret is not to have ordered the steiners with a bearing compass. The low weight is really nice.

Not really 'Into' as such. Had always looked through Dads ??? 7x35 and payed little attention.

Then one day I ponied up what for me is big money and got a pair of Nikon Lookout II 10x50. Vive la difference!!! I can see stuff at night you can't believe. I have access to being within around 125 feet from a wide variety of Military aircraft. I keep track of numbers and such. When something needs to be seen, my Nikons come out!