Tom Foote wrote:

> There seems to be an unusually good deal on binoculars in the
> recent issue of Better View Desired that came in the mail
> yesterday. The short version is they are E. German Zeiss
> formerly sold under the name Aus Jena and currently marketed
> as Docter.

[Lots of stuff about binoculars munched]


Carl Zeiss went out of business shortly after East Germany was unified with
West Germany. My understanding is that the binoculars and cameras (Praktica)
were then manufactured in Japan, for short time before production ceased. I
think this had a lot to do with the brand name 'disappearing' and also quite a
bit to do with the 'cheaper ingredients' that they were being manufactured
with - plastic lenses being the main one.

The 8x30 Deltrinems are EXCELLENT birding binoculars. Most birders/banders I
know have them and go out of their way to get hold of the original Zeiss stock
- getting fewer in number :'-(

I don't have direct experience with the 'newer' versions other than they are
said to be inferior to the originals - opinions vary. So I would check out the
review - make sure it is referring to the new version and not original
Deltrinems.

BTW: Take all this with a large chunk of salt (potassium chloride, of
course). Most of it is recalled from memory and may not be 100% accurate.

Stuart MacKay