what is going on with my binoculars?

greyling22 said:

this is the view from the lens on the passenger side of my nikon binoculars (or at least as good as I could get with my phone camera). see the yellow on the bottom?

View attachment 1025074

do I have a lens out of alignment or a coating peeling off? something else? not really thrilled with these binoculars so far. Sure I've had them 15 years, but I've used them very little, and this is the 2nd time they have messed up, just sitting in a drawer in my bedroom. nikon prostaff atb's.

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Almost as if some adhesive on an edge of a lens has turned yellow over time. Nothing lasts forever, that's for sure.

BTW, makes me want to check my two pair of Nikon binos.

Coating is failing, plus the nitrogen seal has been compromised.

chicharrones said:

Almost as if some adhesive on an edge of a lens has turned yellow over time. Nothing lasts forever, that's for sure.

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That's what's causing the coating to yellow, plus some condesation probably happened in there at some point.

greyling22 said:

my monarch's still look good. but they're only 10 years old.....

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Just checked.

My Travelite III 8x23 look optically and physically good. I bought them second hand about 8 years ago and they sit in temp extremes every day that I've owned them.

My Action 10-22x50 look optically and mostly physically good, some rubber* touchpoints have a white "frost" appearing. They mostly sit in a temp controlled environment. I can't recall the year I bought them, but I did get them before the Travelites.

*Pretty much why I dislike rubber and rubber coatings in places that really don't need them. At least they haven't turned gooey like some coatings do.

entropy said:

Coating is failing, plus the nitrogen seal has been compromised.

That's what's causing the coating to yellow, plus some condesation probably happened in there at some point.

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I have a very older spotting scope that the joints were sealed with tar. The tar decomposed, became vapor like, and deposited on the lenses. There is material in those tubes that deteriorate over time.

I am sure the manufacturer only built the thing to last past the warranty period.

Slamfire said:

I have a very older spotting scope that the joints were sealed with tar. The tar decomposed, became vapor like, and deposited on the lenses. There is material in those tubes that deteriorate over time.

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Interesting. I have an old Tasco pistol scope that has tiny specs all over at least one lens on the inside of the scope. I wonder if a similar thing happened to it?

Decent optics should be good for more than 10 years unless left in a hot car all the time. Even the best glass will start to have seals fail and I'd not trust any optic over 20-30 years old for something that absolutely had to work.

I guess this begs the question. What is Nikon's warranty? What does Nikon have to say?

I've heard of that, but this is the first picture I ever saw of it. When the seals get compromised I guess all sorts of stuff can occur. I had an early 1960's Bausch & Lomb Balscope 60 professionally rebuilt because one of the internal lenses came loose. I got to speak with the guy who does the work after they finally finished redoing it, ( took them a couple years to get to it but they have quite a backlog), and he told me it was also developing what he called "optical fungus" which is one of the things you can get in optics when the seals fail. I have some small Leupold Rogue binoculars that have been riding around in their case in the door pocket of my truck since 2015. Haven't even looked through them in months. I better check 'em . They are in there year round; getting all kinds of hot & cold extremes.

Thanks for the update. Glad to hear they are making good on their forever warranty. If you ever hear what that problem was let us know... P.S.... Checked my Leupold truck binos mentioned in my previous post and they are still fine, after 6 years and 3 months of riding around in my trucks driver door pocket.

I'd still keep using those, but the deterioration with older optics isn't new. Over the years I've junked or sold a few because of it. Seals get compromised and coatings slowly die on the cheaper models.

Still have some Bushnells that are good to go after 30 years, the latest I picked up were Nikon Prostaff 10x42's in a big box discount aisle. No accessories, just bare.

wait for it

$40.

Wonderful glass.