Swift audubon 804

[mdstuart]

Had a great time this week restoring an old set of swift binoculars.

They had internal muck when I bought them off e-bay..

So well made though. I managed to get both objective lenses out, both sets of eyepiece lenses and both prisms..

Cleaned everything using a lens pen and baader fluid etc..

Nice slotted prisms to stop stray light I think and an anti reflective shroud for each prism..

Collimation was fun. each prism set had three coll screws and with trial an error they are now back lined up.

Lovely wide 8 deg FOV..nice and sharp in the centre but lovely coma at the edges....

Just love bringing things like this back to life.

Mark

[rowan46]

Whilst I was looking for some binoculars this was one name that kept popping up as being something to look out for. I hope you are at the next sgl starparty as I would love to get a look through such legendary binoculars.

http://www.cloudynig...hp?item_id=1635 this may also interest you

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=42944

[mdstuart]

They are very special...Ive had Russian ones which were sharp but like orthos..some swift Newport 10 x 50 s which were about 60 deg FOV but if you move your eyes away slightly you can see the edges go dark as the prisms are bac 7s but the audubons are even wider 70 deg fov and no dark edges...

I can see why people rate them for birdwatching..I think mine a category 3 from the 1970s...

I will bring them to SGL!

Mark