Telescope Reviews: Re: Fujinon 10x50 FMT-SX mini review

Rich,
Thanks for the nice review, and glad you like the new 10x50. I was kinda holding my breath since if you didn't, it would have been my fault! I agree with your observations.

I think Fujinon coatings have been through several iterations since the original 95% transmitting FMT-SX was introduced.

I have what must be a really old 7x50, and all the coatings, including the prisms, are a simple green color. I wonder if those are the oldest.

I also have a new style 16x70, with bluish coatings that are similar, from your descriptions, to those on your old-style 16x70. I have read that sometimes makers update their coatings without advertisement, which catches up later(with Fujinon maybe never). On my 16x70, the eyepieces are green, similar to my old 7x50. And most puzzling and annoying, the coatings on the prisms don't look very good at all. They appear more reflective in the light over the shoulder test than those on my 7x50 by an obvious margin. What's up with that? Oh well, it's the views that count!

My 10x50 has the best looking coatings of the batch. Apparently you described the objectives, and I agree. The prisms show a dim rosy reflection. And the eyepieces show deep red. I like to think that the coatings are tailored to the different glass types as they ought to be for best performance, and thus appear different colors. They are all extremely dark and nonreflective looking, at least. If my old 7x50 really transmits 95%, what must the 10x50, with coatings that look a lot better, transmit?

This is all pretty trivial stuff I guess, but beautiful coatings are the closest thing to jewelry that I own!
Ron

Post Extras