Binocular Blunder?

[jimmynoboat]

Just got dragged out to a church fete which turned out to be quite a laugh really. Bought a pair of binoculars from a stall. Well, you know, only a few quid and I do have trouble picking up buoys after dark!

Anyway they are actually quite good quality (I think) but I get a double image when looking through them. The left scope seem to look slightly to the right and above the right one. On their own each scope is perfectly clear.

Does anyone know if this can be fixed?

 

[snowleopard]

It is a result of the two parts being misaligned. It may be that the prisms have been disturbed or the central hinge is bent. Either way it a cure will mean either an expensive professional job or a hit-and-miss DIY job. When it happened to mine I chucked them in the bin.

OTOH you could take a hacksaw and get two telescopes!

 

[landaftaf]

I guess you could take them to an occulist, he will determine how good/bad your eyes are ....... and possibly put your bins into his fandangle machine to see how far out of alignement they are.

then off to an optician to get a pair of glasses to correct for the offset caused by the crap bins ....... um ..........

ah ......... or erm ........ dare I say it, chuck them in the bin (or wait until the next jumble sale/ fete /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[VicS]

[ QUOTE ]
Bought a pair of binoculars from a stall.

[/ QUOTE ] Ok one of them is no good but is the other one OK? You don't need two you've only got one pair of eyes.

Sorry, could not resist that.

Seriously if it is a decent make it might be worth getting it repaired.

 

[jimboaw]

"picking up buoys after dark!"
A line from "Are you being served"?

 

[euroe]

My thirty years old Japanese 10X50'S, according to SWMB Believed, developed a similar attitude, totally out of proportion to the lack of height from which they had jumped out of her hands. After much staring at them I noticed that the left lens housing had moved a couple of screwing threads out of its female eye piece, obviously dislodged when the glasses hit the deck. I carefully, completely unscrewed the distressed housing, then slowly but firmly rescrewed it, praying that it would not cross screw. It did not and the old friends are as good as they ever were. Hope yours are as easy to fix.

 

[ningcompoop]

I had a nice pair of pentax pocket binoculars, cost about £70 a few years ago. I asked my son (4) to pass me them - "clank!" - same problem!!! Took them to a local specialist, he quoted me about £40 just to get them sent off and checked over - might be a few quid more in the end!! I just put the money towards a new pair. Only really worth it if they're top-of-the-range jobbies.
I've still got the old ones - how much do you think I could get for them at a car boot??!

 

[jimmynoboat]

Thanks everyone. I've taken a look at the prisms and they all look completely un-disturbed (resin showing no gaps or splits). The hinge and casing look fine, no damage of any kind. The left eyepiece lens fell out while I was inspecting them! Its retaining ring was cracked - I glued it back into place but this did not make it better or worse.
Oh well, it was something to play with for a while. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[oldharry]

I have found a weak point to be where the main lens extension housing screws in to the body. Very often when
I drop bins thats what fails.

But you said you had glued the lens back in - thats where the trouble is. I found that if you rate the object lens it pulls the image out of alignment. Try taking it out and rotating it to different positions.

WHy this should be I do not know, but I found this fairly consistently when fiddling with 'dead' pairs of bins that have been dropped to see if they can be retrieved. I single hand most of the time, and onboard bins are a consumer item! I never quite dared take a decent expensive pair aboard... /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[Lakesailor]

Monocular. That's the word. I have one in the hallway for spotting lurkers down by the boat landing. It's made as a monocular in the USSR (that's how old it is) and is quite obviously half a pair of binos without any hinge. Not terrific quality, but it was muck cheap.
If you get some Nikon Travelite binos you can drop them as much as you like. It won't effect the performance. Well it hasn't mine.

 

[Rowana]

Send them to me. I only see out of one eye to start with, so it wouldn't make the slightest bit of difference as far as I'm concerned !

 

[milltech]

Next time invest in Steiners, bounce capability built in.