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Help! Coatings on Victory SF being... weird? (9 Viewers)
- Thread starter LaKu
- Start date
You beat me to it.
Never make a simple thing complicated …… you’ll wear your brain out.
Hermann
Well-known member
I've got a Dialyt 8x30BGAT*P dating back to 1990. The eyepiece lenses are quite different in colour. No differences in optical performance. These things happen from time to time due to minimal temperature variations in the coating process. Never bothered me.
Hermann
Ooook, another little update.
I got a call from the shop that they had response from Zeiss. (They had sent them photos and a description of the case)
Zeiss wrote (based on the photos) that they had never seen such an extreme difference in color in objective coatings and asked if it was possible to send them the bins for inspection.
So I brought the bins to the shop to be sent to Zeiss. Sadly they didn't stock a replacement pair and I'm now without a Victory SF. No big deal tho, as I luckily own other pairs of bins (Just a little sad to not have my "new toy" around to play with
)
Now I'm even more curious to hear what Zeiss has to say, but it might take a couple of days/weeks until I know what's going to happen.
I got a call from the shop that they had response from Zeiss. (They had sent them photos and a description of the case)
Zeiss wrote (based on the photos) that they had never seen such an extreme difference in color in objective coatings and asked if it was possible to send them the bins for inspection.
So I brought the bins to the shop to be sent to Zeiss. Sadly they didn't stock a replacement pair and I'm now without a Victory SF. No big deal tho, as I luckily own other pairs of bins (Just a little sad to not have my "new toy" around to play with
)Now I'm even more curious to hear what Zeiss has to say, but it might take a couple of days/weeks until I know what's going to happen.
Hermann
Well-known member
I believe they'll change the objective lens. I also believe they'll check the whole binocular very carefully, so you'll end up with a perfect binocular ...
Hermann
Oooook!
I can finally report back to all of you about my SF.
So Zeiss replaced the objective lens of the "green" side.
They also explained that they normally wouldn't change slightly differently colored lenses, as it is normal (as you all suggested and I also suspected) to have minimal variance in the thickness of coatings, which results in the lenses reflecting different colors whilst not affecting performance.
However, one objective being completely green was weird even to them and they replaced the objective unit free of charge.
I'm very thankful for the "fix" and the nice explanation, top notch service there!
The result? The objectives are now both different shades of red, I got the peace of mind that there's 100% nothing wrong now and I have a GORGEOUS binocular that's quickly becoming my favourite every-day birding bin.
Happy birding everybody and thanks again for all of your responses and helpful comments!
I can finally report back to all of you about my SF.
So Zeiss replaced the objective lens of the "green" side.
They also explained that they normally wouldn't change slightly differently colored lenses, as it is normal (as you all suggested and I also suspected) to have minimal variance in the thickness of coatings, which results in the lenses reflecting different colors whilst not affecting performance.
However, one objective being completely green was weird even to them and they replaced the objective unit free of charge.
I'm very thankful for the "fix" and the nice explanation, top notch service there!
The result? The objectives are now both different shades of red, I got the peace of mind that there's 100% nothing wrong now and I have a GORGEOUS binocular that's quickly becoming my favourite every-day birding bin.
Happy birding everybody and thanks again for all of your responses and helpful comments!
The US retailer Eagle Optics closed down at the end of 2017. Like others on BF I remember the co. and their staff with gratitude.
This email in 2011 from me to them, with the photos sent in my previous, links to the topic of this thread. I replace my distant location on the planet with [x] for anonymity, which please excuse, and also my logic in optics, which I then sincerely believed in!
“Thank you so much for the offer of the exchange and the generous credit. I should think it will cover or nearly cover the costs of some suitable mailing option from my friends in Maryland to Eagle Optics plus later from my friends to me in [x]. [X] is about the farthest away from Wisconsin that a customer can live today--I wonder what you will do in a few years when someone like me harasses you from Mars. EO has proved again that they deserve the rating by the Better Business Bureau of A+.
Although you have now graciously accepted my word ‘defective’ yet I think I should explain further to justify myself in view of what you write in your previous:
Right now, we do not know if Leica would replace the binoculars under warranty, or even if there is anything at all wrong with them. When I spoke with the EO Sales Manager today, he assured me that the binoculars should be just fine.
Now this is not too correct, for two reasons. Firstly, scientific. An optical reflection is the turning back of light from a surface. If the same light is reflected with different colors by the two front lenses then the mix of colors being turned back is different, and therefore the mix of colors taken in is also different. Q. e. d. Secondly, aesthetic/emotional/whatever. If you buy a Porsche and the color of the two seats is noticeably different it's not much consolation if they both fulfil their basic function.
As the next step, then,...”
(The specks of dust on the lenses would have alighted at my friend's where I took the instrument to be photographed and did a bit of birdwatching.)
This email in 2011 from me to them, with the photos sent in my previous, links to the topic of this thread. I replace my distant location on the planet with [x] for anonymity, which please excuse, and also my logic in optics, which I then sincerely believed in!
“Thank you so much for the offer of the exchange and the generous credit. I should think it will cover or nearly cover the costs of some suitable mailing option from my friends in Maryland to Eagle Optics plus later from my friends to me in [x]. [X] is about the farthest away from Wisconsin that a customer can live today--I wonder what you will do in a few years when someone like me harasses you from Mars. EO has proved again that they deserve the rating by the Better Business Bureau of A+.
Although you have now graciously accepted my word ‘defective’ yet I think I should explain further to justify myself in view of what you write in your previous:
Right now, we do not know if Leica would replace the binoculars under warranty, or even if there is anything at all wrong with them. When I spoke with the EO Sales Manager today, he assured me that the binoculars should be just fine.
Now this is not too correct, for two reasons. Firstly, scientific. An optical reflection is the turning back of light from a surface. If the same light is reflected with different colors by the two front lenses then the mix of colors being turned back is different, and therefore the mix of colors taken in is also different. Q. e. d. Secondly, aesthetic/emotional/whatever. If you buy a Porsche and the color of the two seats is noticeably different it's not much consolation if they both fulfil their basic function.
As the next step, then,...”
(The specks of dust on the lenses would have alighted at my friend's where I took the instrument to be photographed and did a bit of birdwatching.)
NatureLover123
Member
Yes, you are right, but scientifically speaking the effect is negligible. If it can even be measured in an economically justifiable way.
Holger Merlitz
Well-known member
Note that the angle of incidence matters here: The incident light hits the objective lens almost head-on, with deviations of +/- 4 degrees or so. The color differences in the coatings often only appear at an oblique angle, which plays no role in the formation of the image.
Cheers,
Holger
Cheers,
Holger
