Collimating binoculars

[Dave scutt]

When my father passed away he left me his binoculars.

When I focus in on Jupiter I see too of them, I closed one eye at a time and their was only one, but it looked like pinched optics a bit.

Any help in collimating these would be appreciated.

 

[Peter Drew]

There are a couple of simple things you can try first.  The barrels that contain the objectives can usually be unscrewed, if so swap them over as this usually makes things better or worse.  If better, leave them swapped, next, slightly unscrew one of the barrels and note whether the improvement continues, if not, screw it up again and try the same on the other one.  If all this fails you will have to open them up and examine the setting of the prisms.      🙂

[Nakedgun]

~

A place to start:

https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/how-to-collimate-binoculars

Me? If they are out of warranty but worth the expense, I send them to a professional. 

Good luck.

 

 

 

.

Edited April 1 by Nakedgun

[Rusted]

My Zeiss Jenoptem 10x50s went out of collimation within days of purchase.
They were making me feel sick and giving me headaches.
The dealer wasn't interested. Claimed they'd been dropped.
They hadn't. They'd been treated like a paper bag of eggs.
He claimed he had no access to a repair professional.
There was nothing to lose except the expense of my misaligned binoculars.

I found that there were wedge shaped rings around the objectives.
With the binos firmly held I adjusted these rings to bring the images into alignment.
The images had been diagonally skewed. Then I re-tightened the locking rings.
They have remained perfectly aligned for the last 40 years.

Try wearing surgical gloves when handling to avoid fingerprints on the lenses.
I used screw adjusting engineering dividers on the locking ring's tiny notches.
With GREAT CARE to avoid scratching.
The binos must be firmly held during optical alignment adjustment.
You can't do this in mid air! I used a card. Quickly slid back and forth to cover each lens.
Do not remove the locking rings or the lenses will drop right out!
This is usually considered a FAIL. 

I have [had] about fifteen pairs of binos. Mostly bought from charity shops and flea markets.
Every single one of them was MISALIGNED to some extent! I was going to use them for finders.
Optical quality, brightness and field of view are extremely variable between examples.
I prefer roof prisms now.

[Peter Drew]

"Super Zenith's" are not a premium binocular and are unlikely to have a sophisticated collimation facility and probably not an economic professional repair.  To continue a DIY attempt, first undo the cross head screw from the centre of the eyepiece bridge then withdraw the complete assembly including the eyepieces.  Next, remove the rear covers of the prism covers.  Then replace the eyepiece assembly without the prism covers, this will give you access to any prism adjustment whilst being able to see the effect of any adjustment.  Prisms are usually held in place by metal straps, loosening these a little allows the prism to be nudged into better alignment.  Beware these straps are spring loaded and if relieved too far can spring off never to be seen again!         🙂

[DaveL59]

Not having a pair to hand to cross-check, IIRC these may have prism tilt screws hidden under the textured paint/plastic. Unfortunately to chip the paint away does leave the finish a bit unsightly, but if you can see a trace where the screws are located then it may be possible to remove the surface finish just where the screw is for access. You could confirm if tilt screws are present and where by removing the eyepiece carriers and the top plates before attacking the paint.

Do bear in mind that over-adjusting can stress the prisms and spall them. Otherwise the prisms may be shimmed to set the tilt and that's a lot more 'fun' to resolve. I made shims from tin foil folded and trimmed and it can get disheartening having to dismantle/adjust and reassemble then check and go again, and again... I did succeed tho on the one pair I've had to do that with 🙂 

Best you'll get is an alignment that suits you and likely be a little (lot) out for others, but at least they'd be usable again. They do look in nice condition from the one shot posted so perhaps worth a fiddle so they get a second lease of life.

Edited April 1 by DaveL59

[Rusted]

When I were a lad: I was the victim of a severe dose of Dixon's Prinz 10x50 binoculararis.
No amount of prism adjustment ever resulted in anything but chronic and untreatable strabismus.

[jjohnson3803]

17 hours ago, Rusted said:

When I were a lad: I was the victim of a severe dose of Dixon's Prinz 10x50 binoculararis.
No amount of prism adjustment ever resulted in anything but chronic and untreatable strabismus.

Sounds like the Celestron Skymaster 15x70s I had.  Couldn't collimate those things no matter how much time I spent on them.  Being they were relatively inexpensive, I binned them rather than continue the frustration.  In retrospect, I probably should have sawed them in half for monoculars.  😏