Tasco 7800 trinocular binocular/camera hybrid (1 Viewer)

[kimmik]

Just received this in the mail and thought it might be interesting as a curiousity for fellow members - the only thread where this has been mentioned:

feedback please! on bin+camera

Hi, I SO often find I am looking at a bird in the binoculars, trying to memorize every detail of his or her appearance, and then boop! it flies away. No ID made. I carry little binocs (8x24). They may be little and light, but they are great in terms of what I can see. The camera+binocs I...

www.birdforum.net

The FOV is 9.5degrees 7x20, the central lens is 110mm f5.6. Close focus is quite limited at 10m!

Image is very sharp centrally, moderate yellow cast, good contrast and brightness for vintage optics.

I’ll post picture through the eyepiece when i go out for a walk.

 

[Binastro]

This reminds me of the Cyclops binocular.

I keep 110 film in the fridge, but it is many years since I used any.

The best 110 camera I have used is the Minolta Zoom Mk II, which has a very high quality lens.

The second best is the small Canon ED with a fine lens that actually contains thorium glass.
From about 1978. It cost me £1 secondhand.

Regards,
B.

 

[Mike Crawley]

It would be interesting to see images taken by the camera, assuming that you are able to source s film.
good luck

 

[Mono]

You can still buy 110. Over £10 a roll!
Lomography f110c3 Color Tiger 110 3 Pack (Color Film) https://amzn.eu/2u25BCD

 

[SimonLS]

You can still buy 110. Over £10 a roll!
Lomography f110c3 Color Tiger 110 3 Pack (Color Film) https://amzn.eu/2u25BCD

And for anyone wishing to push the boat out and experiment, Ace Optics have had one of these Binocular/Camera thingies for sale for some time now:

Ace Optics - Your number one shopping destination for expert advice on Binoculars, Spotting Scopes and Digiscoping. Swarovski Premier Dealer, established 1985.

Ace Optics: Number 1 for Binocular and Spotting Scope Purchases. Expert impartial advice, low prices and a huge range. Just what you'd expect from a Leica Premier Dealer and Swarovski Optik Premier Dealer established in 1985. Buy online or call us today!

www.aceoptics.co.uk

 

[kimmik]

It would be interesting to see images taken by the camera, assuming that you are able to source s film.
good luck

I will try to adapt my mirrorless digital camera to the lens - if the boxy bit could be harmlessly removed

 

[Hauksen]

Hi,

I will try to adapt my mirrorless digital camera to the lens - if the boxy bit could be harmlessly removed

It almost looks as if there's a fine thread visible in the gap between camera body and lens, but I might be wrong.

I love the Tasco 7800, it covers a very interesting use case! Coincedentally, I recently put together what could be considered its modern counterpart, using a small video camera with a long(-ish) lens:



(The camera is a RunCam Scope Cam 4K/40mm. As it doesn't have image stabilization, the results aren't really amazing. I would probably prefer a still camera.)

Regards,

Henning

 

[kimmik]

The second best is the small Canon ED with a fine lens that actually contains thorium glass.
From about 1978. It cost me £1 secondhand.

Regards,
B.

Just did some reading on thorium glass - soo fascinating - until I find a cheap geiger counter, can’t know for sure but seems to me the center lens is thorium glass!

What do you think?

The light brown tint is supposed to be the tell tale sign. And given thorium glass being produced up to the 80’s, and this being a 1979 model, it seems a good chance to me 😱

 

[kimmik]

Took the camera body off the lens to try adapt a digital camera - couldn’t get one to fit nicely so put it all back together again.

 

[kimmik]

Hi,



It almost looks as if there's a fine thread visible in the gap between camera body and lens, but I might be wrong.

I love the Tasco 7800, it covers a very interesting use case! Coincedentally, I recently put together what could be considered its modern counterpart, using a small video camera with a long(-ish) lens:

View attachment 1461864

(The camera is a RunCam Scope Cam 4K/40mm. As it doesn't have image stabilization, the results aren't really amazing. I would probably prefer a still camera.)

Regards,

Henning

Your hybrid setup looks perfect, very well designed by you - swaro NL is copying your idea using the forehead mount, but they have nothing on you for the camera integration 😆

 

[Hauksen]

Hi,

Your hybrid setup looks perfect, very well designed by you - swaro NL is copying your idea using the forehead mount, but they have nothing on you for the camera integration 😆

You're (almost) spot on! I did in fact 3D-print that mount to copy the Swarovski style brace. The NATO rail was on the brace because the the design was a spin-off of yet another camera mount. I kept it because I thought it might be useful one day, and when I acquired the ScopeCam, it was!

It looks like 3D printing would be a good technology to create a camera mount for your Tasco, too. Did you manage to find a spot where the digital camera has a good view through the lens? If the camera has a tripod thread, it might be possible to print a conical connection piece with an attachment arm to fit under the camera. I'm not quite sure how the original camera is attached to the lens though - ideally, one could duplicate that, but 3D-printing fine threads might be difficult on the kind of consumer printer I am using.

Regards,

Henning

 

[Binastro]

The Canon 110 camera lens was the latest I found to contain thorium.
The Earliest was a 1940 Aero Ektar.

However, lens makers had large stocks of thorium glass, and Scott's 1975 catalogue contains several thorium glass types.
So I don't know when the last thorium glass in lenses was used.
It could stretch into the 1980s.

Putting a lens on white paper and looking through the lens at the paper, if it is yellow or brown it may indicate thorium glass.
In the majority of cases the rear lens has thorium, although the front or internal glasses could also contain thorium.

If an external lens contains thorium, placing it on fast black and white negative film for for a week in total darkness and then developing the film a radioactive element will fog the film.
This happened in use with Apo Lanthar lenses on folding cameras.

However, some lenses may just contain glass that is not white.

Generally, this is just an interesting feature, but lenses such as the Wray 50mm f/1.0 with full thorium glass in the rear element may be a problem if used regularly as an eyepiece or magnifier, as the preferred eye position is touching the glass.
Here alpha particles can impact the front of the eye.

Some large military glass filters may contain uranium.

Regards,
B.

 

[Binastro]

Edit didn't work.

It should be Schott catalogue.

B.

 

[kimmik]

You're (almost) spot on! I did in fact 3D-print that mount to copy the Swarovski style brace. The NATO rail was on the brace because the the design was a spin-off of yet another camera mount. I kept it because I thought it might be useful one day, and when I acquired the ScopeCam, it was!

It looks like 3D printing would be a good technology to create a camera mount for your Tasco, too. Did you manage to find a spot where the digital camera has a good view through the lens? If the camera has a tripod thread, it might be possible to print a conical connection piece with an attachment arm to fit under the camera. I'm not quite sure how the original camera is attached to the lens though - ideally, one could duplicate that, but 3D-printing fine threads might be difficult on the kind of consumer printer I am using.

Regards,

Henning

Amazing! I knew it was too good to be off-the-shelf

3D printing an adapter is an excellent idea, I have no experience with such but when I visit Germany for oktoberfest, we could definitely do a coffee for fun (PM me if you were free .

Two additional issues that needs to be overcome prior to designing such an adapter:

1. the lens focal plane is 3cm back from the lens, which occupies a lot of room and will hinder binocular use when a digital camera sensor is placed at the focal plane, since nothing is as thin as the film that went there by design. I may play around with my spare glass elements and find a suitable fitting doublet to shorten the backfocus and thus make more room for placing the ccd.

2. the current image area is 18x13mm ish (110 film), and there's a reticle in the binocular eyepiece that shows the photographed area. it would be nice to match the digital sensor to the reticle, but this will be difficult as a camera with this large sensor will be too big to fit. The only solution is to design the aforementioned doublet element in such a way that the image circle is reduced perfectly to match the reticle.

This will be a slow and long term project probably!

 

[Binastro]

Fogged film does not always come from radioactive lenses.

The Pentax Auto 110 camera with its various lenses fogs film if left in sunshine.

Even the black version does not have an opaque body.

Some wavelengths are transmitted in small amounts and fog the film.

This was a very basic design flaw.

B.

 

[kimmik]

Sunny day in london, sitting in a field in the park, this is the view through the eyepiece.



The reticle/frame looks straight when gaze is at the center, but pincushion if gaze is directly on the line. Seems the eye works in fisheye mode rather than rectilinear mode lol.

 

[richard866945]

Just received this in the mail and thought it might be interesting as a curiousity for fellow members - the only thread where this has been mentioned:

feedback please! on bin+camera

Hi, I SO often find I am looking at a bird in the binoculars, trying to memorize every detail of his or her appearance, and then boop! it flies away. No ID made. I carry little binocs (8x24). They may be little and light, but they are great in terms of what I can see. The camera+binocs I...

www.birdforum.net

The FOV is 9.5degrees 7x20, the central lens is 110mm f5.6. Close focus is quite limited at 10m!

Image is very sharp centrally, moderate yellow cast, good contrast and brightness for vintage optics.

I’ll post picture through the eyepiece when i go out for a walk.

View attachment 1461835

Just received this in the mail and thought it might be interesting as a curiousity for fellow members - the only thread where this has been mentioned:

feedback please! on bin+camera

Hi, I SO often find I am looking at a bird in the binoculars, trying to memorize every detail of his or her appearance, and then boop! it flies away. No ID made. I carry little binocs (8x24). They may be little and light, but they are great in terms of what I can see. The camera+binocs I...

www.birdforum.net

The FOV is 9.5degrees 7x20, the central lens is 110mm f5.6. Close focus is quite limited at 10m!

Image is very sharp centrally, moderate yellow cast, good contrast and brightness for vintage optics.

I’ll post picture through the eyepiece when i go out for a walk.

View attachment 1461835View attachment 1461834

there was also a version with interchangeable lenses. I used to repair both when I worked for the Tasco agency in the UK.

 

[kimmik]

there was also a version with interchangeable lenses. I used to repair both when I worked for the Tasco agency in the UK.

Thats pretty cool, i’ve never seen anything quite as unusual before - and its working smooth even after 40+ years.

Do you have a specific repair story in mind?

 

[Binastro]

Cyclops binocular.

B.

 

[richard866945]

Thats pretty cool, i’ve never seen anything quite as unusual before - and its working smooth even after 40+ years.

Do you have a specific repair story in mind?

No, nothing unusual apart from tiny 110 negative size. Postcard enlargements about as much as they could go.