Ever since the "Vintage spotting scope" thread began I have been researching, eyeballing and even picked up a couple of vintage binoculars. I found this Gentleman's site which I found pretty informative and useful. If you click on the photos you can get a rundown on some of them.

I have been learning that with a lot of the off brand Japanese optics it can sometimes be a crap shoot. And that their quality can vary from horrible to excellent. But a few brands, Swift, Kowa, Fuji, Nikon just to name a few are very highly regarded. I recently acquired a pair of the 8X30 Cannons in the above link that apparently compare very well with the Zeiss Jenoptem for $65.00 and am quite pleased with them so far. I also received just today a off brand "St Moritz" 7x35 wide angle set that I decided to take a chance on for $20.00. The JB # tells me that they were also manufactured by Canon. It was a good gamble. They will definitely be replacing the old bushnells I keep in my truck. Most of these old binoculars are NOT waterproof or fogproof, even the old B&L's or Zeiss. But there are still a lot of them floating around that otherwise compete very well with some of todays best optics and are very solid.

If you know what your looking for, you can often find vintage binoculars at shopgoodwill.com for cheap... spotting scopes too!

There, I let one of my secret sources out of the bag.. maybe that will keep me from buying any more spotting scopes!

quote:

Most of these old binoculars are NOT waterproof or fogproof, even the old B&L's or Zeiss.

Got news for you: Most of the currently manufactured binoculars are not waterproof, either (nor do they advertise themselves to be, although many buyers assume they are.) The center-focusing mechanism (which is very useful for birders but often problematic for hunters) is exceedingly difficult to make waterproof.

I have in front of me a "Bushnell Legacy WP" box that says Waterproof/fogproof right on the front. But your point about the center focus is well taken. There are lots of "rubberized" and marine binoculars on the market today, some waterproof and some not. And any binocular that is not supposed to be fogproof today would be rare and odd. The coatings of the old stuff isnt up to snuff by todays standards either. But again, what I want to point out is that some of the old glass still compares very well with some of todays best optics in spite of its shortcomings. Even some of the old Japanese made glass.

PA Frank. I think I am done looking. Maybe.

Your point about the quality of some of the older glass is also well taken.

And while most of the newer glass is very good (and cheap due to modern precision automated machining and polishing methods), there is more hype than substance in the coatings now in use. A properly applied single coat magnesium flouride gets you a very high percentage of what's available. Too many of the "multi-coated" lenses are coated to shift the color to fool your eye into thinking the picture is "brighter", not to improve the amount of light transmitted.

There are lots of B&L 7x50 binos that survived WW2 on board ships. Yes, the coating is more hype than anything. There can be a slight increase in available light due to the coating, but it's mostly detectable by sophisticated equipment, not human eyes. The bulk is determined by the size of the exit. Now if you paid big bucks and believe they really increase the light, you might think they are brighter.

I think that there are coatings that are 100% snake oil and are even detrimental and others that are excellent. A good anti-reflective coating can be a game changer in low light situations. I am a fan of Rainguard which was a nice development, but doesnt do anything optically beyond helping to keep it clear and free of weather issues. Probably one of the best modern developments is ED glass. So there have been some real improvements in optics. But still one would have to spend a good deal more to improve much on good quality vintage glass, which still beats modern run of the mill glass hands down.

Wstrnhuntr---Do you have to clean that ED Glass with Viagra?

That is a common misconception. It's ultra high density from the factory..

Pa.Frank, you should not have posted that link! I did not know that Goodwill had an online site. I find our local store much more interesting than Wally; you never know what you might find. Usually it is just a lot of junk but occasionally you run across some goodies.
C.G.B.

Everything I have is vintage! including self.