I was watching an episode of 'The Life of Birds,' in which David Attenborough was using what looked like a nifty pair of old Leitz Trinovid binoculars. I thought they looked quite elegant, and there were no primary colours or geometrical shapes anywhere. I've read that roof prism binoculars must have BaK-4 prisms and be phase-coated and fully multi-coated, but I've also seen much praise heaped on the Leitz Trinovids and Zeiss Dialyts (pre red dot and blue square). Yet presumably they can't have all these modern blessings. Are they still worth buying?
Michael.
The Zeiss may be worth buying, depending on the date they were made. I suggest you go to the Zeiss Forum herein and read the various threads from 10/18/06 onward to familiarize yourself with what the initials on the various Zeiss binoculars stand for. That way you will be able to tell if they are "phase coated" etc. Apparently Zeiss added it's new improvements to the Dialyts as they "invented" them.
The Leitz Trinovids used "Uppendahl" (do I have that right?) Roof Prisms which Leica stopped using with their new Trinovid BN models which replaced the old Leitz Trinovids in 1995 or so. Parts are probably hard to get for them by now. I'll find out soon. I have a Leitz 7 x 42 Trinovid BA which suddenly developed a collimation problem. I'll be shipping it off to Leica in a few days for an estimate. I hope it can be fixed because it is still a very sharp, bright binocular when in working condition, even without phase coating.
Cordially,
Bob