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Equipment Discussions >> Binoculars

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bhuloka
super member

Reged: 03/06/12

Loc: Maryland, USA

broke my new Fujinons; where to repair? new

#5546775 - 11/30/12 08:16 AM

Dropped my beloved Fujinon 10x50 fmtr-sx last night.
One of the internal optical elements has a big chip, visible directly by looking in the objective end of the right bino.
The view throught the right ocular is a spiderweb of reflections. Totally unusable now. Is this a factory repair only? How do I send them for repair? Perhaps BillC has the answer? HELP! ( I bought them 3 months ago from Eagle Optics.

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RichD
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 11/08/07

Loc: Derbyshire, UK

Re: broke my new Fujinons; where to repair? new

[Re: bhuloka]
#5546784 - 11/30/12 08:29 AM

Nooooo! Only 3 months old, it was just a baby!

I really don't know what the best option for you now is. If you had Fujinon repair and replace the prism it would likely cost you more than the new bino. Cory Suddarth at Suddarth optical could fix it, but he would need a new prism (or eyepiece lens or whatever is busted).

If he or someone he knows or you know has a Fuji 10x50 that is beyond repair then maybe it could be cannibalised, possibly even a 7x50 could be used. Bill, Cory?

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bhuloka
super member

Reged: 03/06/12

Loc: Maryland, USA

Re: broke my new Fujinons; where to repair? new

[Re: RichD]
#5546874 - 11/30/12 09:45 AM

I'm just trying not to think about it.....

Really, RichD? Replacing the prism costs more than a new bino?
There goes my hope for repair!?

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RichD
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 11/08/07

Loc: Derbyshire, UK

Re: broke my new Fujinons; where to repair? new

[Re: bhuloka]
#5546953 - 11/30/12 10:38 AM

well i've never had to do it, but I think it would be likely that a new prism cluster from Fujinon (they almost certainly wouldn't sell you just one) would be hundreds of dollars, then it needs to be installed, collimated etc.

We really need Bill C here!

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Rich V.
Post Laureate

Reged: 01/02/05

Loc: Lake Tahoe area, Nevada, USA

Re: broke my new Fujinons; where to repair? new

[Re: bhuloka]
#5546956 - 11/30/12 10:41 AM

I'm sure Cory Suddarth could get the necessary parts for the repair. You might also contact Baker Marine who is the factory authorized Fujinon USA repair facility. Too bad the Fujinon 30 yr. warranty doesn't apply to dropped optics.

I wouldn't freak out until I talked with a qualified repairman.

Rich

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bhuloka
super member

Reged: 03/06/12

Loc: Maryland, USA

Re: broke my new Fujinons; where to repair? new

[Re: Rich V.]
#5547016 - 11/30/12 11:34 AM

I'll contact Baker this afternoon, if BillC doesn't have a better idea. I'm looking around online, and can't find any in stock anywhere, so replacement isn't even an option just now. No binos for a while, it seems.

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bhuloka
super member

Reged: 03/06/12

Loc: Maryland, USA

Re: broke my new Fujinons; where to repair? new

[Re: bhuloka]
#5547024 - 11/30/12 11:38 AM

They were in the front passenger seat of my car, but leaning against the door. I opened the door from outside the vehicle, and boom!- they tumbled right out. A short fall, but a bad landing. I can hear the little piece of glass move around inside when I move the binos.

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rydberg
scholastic sledgehammer

Reged: 02/25/04

Loc: Richmond, KY, USA

Re: broke my new Fujinons; where to repair? new

[Re: bhuloka]
#5547081 - 11/30/12 12:13 PM

I can hear, after the description of the sound, a collective clenching of posteriors around here...

Hoping that it's an easy fix,
Marco

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bhuloka
super member

Reged: 03/06/12

Loc: Maryland, USA

Re: broke my new Fujinons; where to repair? [Re: rydberg]
#5547107 - 11/30/12 12:26 PM

Yes, I'll just wait and hear what BillC has to say before I get too worried. I know it'll cost me, though.

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Gordon Rayner
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 03/24/07

Re: broke my new Fujinons; where to repair? new

[Re: bhuloka]
#5547139 - 11/30/12 12:43 PM

Did you try Texas Nautical?

Did the brittle glue crack? Almost certainly, thus freeing the prism to move and chip. I have several 7 x50 MT/MTR/FMT/FMTR , which were dropped on boats, with chipped prisms , which have languished, without surgery, and some spares. I wonder if the prism is the same as in the 10 x 50? I have never seen, used, or worked upon the 10 x 50. Bent metal under the "armor" ? Or, are those leatherette covered?

Monocular use? Or, sell online, so I can buy them at low price?

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bhuloka
super member

Reged: 03/06/12

Loc: Maryland, USA

Re: broke my new Fujinons; where to repair? new

[Re: Gordon Rayner]
#5547194 - 11/30/12 01:08 PM

Rubber armored. Nothing bent. Not even a mark on the outside.
I'm not so sure it's the prism that's chipped. It may be one of the inner lens elements. Impact was at the rear shoulder, near the right ocular. If you look in the front objective, you see the circular field of view, and along the edge of this view is an area where glass has flaked off, just adjacent to the impact point. So, are there any lenses back there, or is that the prism? (The ocular itself appears unaffected, and the diopter adjustment turns normally.)

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RichD
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 11/08/07

Loc: Derbyshire, UK

Re: broke my new Fujinons; where to repair? new

[Re: Gordon Rayner]
#5547196 - 11/30/12 01:09 PM

Maybe a prism set from one of your 7x50s would fit Gordon?

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bhuloka
super member

Reged: 03/06/12

Loc: Maryland, USA

Re: broke my new Fujinons; where to repair? new

[Re: bhuloka]
#5547202 - 11/30/12 01:11 PM

The front objective is completely untouched, by the way; no problem there.

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RichD
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 11/08/07

Loc: Derbyshire, UK

Re: broke my new Fujinons; where to repair? new

[Re: RichD]
#5547205 - 11/30/12 01:12 PM

And it sounds like an eyepiece lens is cracked if I understand correctly. There are 6 lenses in the 10x50 fmt oculars.

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bhuloka
super member

Reged: 03/06/12

Loc: Maryland, USA

Re: broke my new Fujinons; where to repair? new

[Re: RichD]
#5547299 - 11/30/12 02:09 PM

It's hard to tell exactly what is chipped, not knowing the internal construction, but yes, it looks like a lens chip to me. But viewing from the ocular end, I see nothing broken inside at all. The chip is only visible from the objective end.

I just spoke with Brian at Baker Marine. The news is good.
I'm sending the bino to him. It looks like I'll get fully repaired for under $200, maybe $150 or even $125. He says there are 4 prisms. Each is $25. Lenses, I didn't ask.
But he seemed to say that there is a base fee of about $80, plus the cost of the glass (lens or prism). I'm not really clear on that, exactly, but it seemed reasonable. Much more than that, and it's not really feasible to repair.

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Gordon Rayner
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 03/24/07

Re: broke my new Fujinons; where to repair? new

[Re: bhuloka]
#5547350 - 11/30/12 02:51 PM

Usually, there are no lenses between the last prism and the (usually rotating)eyepiece. So, looking backward through the objective lens, one rotates the focus of the corresponding eyepiece. If the chip(s) or crack(s) also rotate(s), it is in the eyepiece. If not, then the damage is in one or more of the prisms.

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