The Orion Ultra series are made by Adlerblick, as
are the top on the line Celestron's. Adlerblick (German for eagle-eye) is a
little-known optical company, which is a division of Carton. They utilize BAK-4
glass which has a very high refractive index. I have a pair of 10x50 Adlerblicks
and are optically superb.?They are about the lightest?10x50's out
there, but seem a bit fragile to me. I have had to collimate them twice in their
lifetime. Isn't it amazing?...I?have a pair of US-made Bausch & Lomb's,
?made in 1942 which?have NEVER slipped out of collimation. They are
simply dazzling, both optically and mechanically. I think the B&Ls knock the
pants off any other?glass I've seen. And they made it through a?World
War unscathed. I've always been an advocate that a high degree of polish on a
lens is more important than fancy multi-coatings. The B&L are very heavily
coated with a deep purple magnesizm fluoride, which predates multi-coatings by
40 years. The Germans actually invented lens coatings, but leave it to the good
ole fellas at Bausch & Lomb to come up with a coating?that didn't wear
off. The German binoculars in the era after 1941 were coated, but only the
inside surfaces because they were not "hard coated".
?
If you cats out there really want a super pair of
binoculars check out Pentax's image-stabilized models. The 10x30 are highly
recommended, not very expensive and light as a feather. Because of their
stabilization, I can see stars every bit as faint with the 10x30 as with the
non-stabilized 10x50 Adlerblicks, despite the fact the 50mm objectives of the
Adlerblicks gather 2.8x more light!? To add to their strengths the Canon's
are very good optically. Stars are pinpoints nearly to the edge of the
field.
?
Please don't get me started talking
about?binoculars. I love them.
?
Kent Blackwell
?
Check out these sites:
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----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, February 27, 2003 9:26
AM
Subject: Re: [backbayastro] Dale Carey's
Binoc's
Rick,
If you don't yet have a good pair of binos, a good all-around pair is the
Orion 8x42 Ultraview.? Here is something I wrote a while back, and it
still holds:
Alan Adler's great article on binoculars in the September, 2002 issue hit
the mark for me.? I had a cheap pair of Simmons 10x50's ($24.95 at
Wal-Mart) and last year, on the strength of Alan Adler's review in a link off
the Todd Gross Weatherman web site*, I purchased a pair of Orion Ultra-View
8x42 binos and use them regularly in my observing.? I enjoy the bino
views of M6, M7, M45 (The Pleiades), the Double Cluster in Perseus and of
course, M31 The Great Andromeda Galaxy, as well as just wandering through the
Milky Way.? I also use them consistently to find targets to point my
scope at.? I wish my finder scope had the good contrast the Ultra-Views
have.? Alan could have included "8x42" in his "Astro Index" table on page
96.? It would fall between the 7x50 and 9x63 binos, with an astro index
of 50.
* Superb
article by Alan Adler on
George Reynolds
?"Rick Bish <2bookworms@...>"
<2bookworms@...> wrote:
Hey
Dale, were you able to use the Barska 15 X 70's much before the
flood
hit Tidewater? I believe you were the one who got a good deal
on them
online (Jan. meeting). What have you seen in them? Are you
happy with
them? I've been kicking around getting a pair, but I'm not
much of an
"equipment person" though they might come in handy in
getting my Lunar
Cert.
Rick Bish
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George Reynolds, Deputy Commander, Tidewater South Section Royal
Rangers
Visit my Web page:? ?
"Solar System Ambassador" for South Hampton Roads, Virginia
?Member, Back Bay Amateur Astronomers (BBAA)?
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- Powerful. Affordable.
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Kent Blackwell