Which Charity shop Binos?

[LittleSkink]

Saw a pair of Zenith 10x50 Binos in a charity shop in Doncaster a while back for £10 - they were in 'okay' condition but it has got me thinking . . . at the low price end (ie NOT Zeiss et al) what older brands of bino are worth seeking, either in charity shops or maybe even ebay?

[John]

The Zenith ones used to be sold by Broadhurst Clarkson and Fuller when they were based at Telescope House in London. I think they were decent low cost binoculars.

I did manage to find an old pair of Zeiss Jenoptem 8x30's in a charity shop as it happens. A few marks on the bodywork but the optics are A1 and a good buy for £20 I think. My favourite birding binoculars.

Some of the Swift models are good and worth looking out for as are the Russian made Komz or BNU ones.

[Peter Drew]

Zenith were OK, anything Russian (TENTO). Avoid anything in 50mm aperture that is more than 12x specially zoom versions. If you're prepared to spend £10, why not add another fiver or so and buy a new 10x50  badged Bresser. Meade et al from Lidl, Aldi and others when they are next in stock. They will be clean internally and if out of collimation or otherwise faulty they can be changed.    

[LittleSkink]

thanks John, really useful stuff

I have some knowledge and experience of older manual focus photography optics, mostly on DSLR for fun. The low or no coating optics tend to be a bit poor (due to internal reflection etc) to be honest - would the same apply in older binos for Astro use do you think?

[LittleSkink]

thanks Peter, I guess I like old stuff (and cheap stuff too) and how it is made. Some of my old MF lenses are like works of art and, frankly, would cost crazy money to make/buy these days (well actually my new Voigtlander almost did)

be interesting to compare cheap modern kit with these oldies

[Peter Drew]

I too, have a soft spot for the "oldies" and still have some. In a similar price bracket, to me, the new ones look better. 

[F15Rules]

I could easily get addicted to buying old binoculars ..

There's something about them, the feel of them, often the smell of them and they seem to give such a lot for not a huge amount of cash, say compared to an astro eyepiece..

The old Zeiss are certainly good bins, but stupidly pricey in many cases - I personally wouldn't go over c£80 for any old Zeiss's because for that money you could get a new pair of mass produced bins that are actually very good. For example I just picked up a brand new pair of Nikon Aculon 8x42s from Curry's sale of all places for £55 shipped - they are really nice bins with a good field of view, good colour, and lightweight - and around half the RRP!

Going back to older bins though, I really rate the Tento Russian ones highly. I recently bought a mint pair of 7x50s from around the mid 1980's for £44 shipped - they are almost like new and although not the widest field, they are painfully sharp across about 70% of the field and not bad across the remaining 30% - these are considered by many as the best size/spec Tento made. I've also had the bigger 20x60s and they were optically first class - the build wasn't so good as the 7x50s, but ok.

Hope that helps..

regards,

Dave

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I got a pair of Japanese late seventies vintage binoculars (7x50) for free because they were broken. They were "Combifoto" branded, but had the unmistakeable shape of Yashica binoculars. A quick twist of the collimating screws, and another quick tightening of the diopter control ring (it was loose, tightening three little grub screws sorted that), and they are now my youngest's favourite binoculars. They do not have the large FOV of modern designs, but they are very sharp right to the edge. Well worth the 0 euro I paid