Binoculars review

Docter Nobilem 10x50 B/GA

After the German reunification the Carl Zeiss Jena company, renowned for its high quality products, lost the right to use Zeiss brand name. The factory was bought by Analytic Jena and that company started production of its own optical instruments among which there are Docter Nobilem binoculars. It is a series of porro-prism devices with 50, 56 and 60 mm objective lenses. We tested the 10x50 model.

All binoculars from the Nobilem series are big and heavy, equipped with huge prisms. They consist of a two-element objective lens and a four-element eyepiece (you can conclude as much from a schematic drawing in its advertising leaflet). All air-to-glass surfaces are covered by high quality antireflection multilayer coatings. The binoculars are made of aluminum (starting from 2007 the body is made of magnesium) and padded with thick, high quality rubber armour. They are waterproof, feature central focus regulation and they come with a 30-year-long guarantee.

Manufacturer:
Docter
web site

Distribution / Sales:
Hubertus Pro Hunting
web site
e-mail
ul. Ptasia 4a
00-138 Warszawa

Results of the review

Real front lens diameter	Left:   50.27+/- 0.17mm Right:  50.25+/- 0.24mm	8/8.0
Real magnification	9.72+/- 0.3x	3/3.0
Transmission	98.5+/- 3%	15/15.0
Chromatic aberration	Low.	6.8/10.0
Astigmatism	Very low.	8.3/10.0
Distortion	The distance of the first curved line from the field centre compared to the field of view radius: 48.0% +\- 2.8%.	5/10.0
Coma	Low but still visible at the edge.	6.4/10.0
Blurring at the edge of the FOV	The blur occurs in the distance of 70.1% +\- 2.3% from the field of view centre.	3/10.0
Darkening at the edge the FOV	Only at the edge of the field of view.	4.3/5.0
Whiteness of the image	Very good.	4.3/5.0
Collimation	No reservations.	5/5.0
Internal reflections	Left: Right: Quite good.	3.5/5.0
Housing	Big and solid but comfortable to hold. The rubber sticks out in some places.	6.8/8.0
Focusing	Without serious reservations.	4.5/5.0
Tripod	Not very comfortable exit.	2/3.0
Interpupilary distance	from 53.2 to 74.9mm	5/6.0
Closest focusing distance	4.07 m.	2/2.0
Eyepieces FOV	4-elements eyepieces with the field of 65 degrees.	8/10.0
Field of view	Measured by us amounted to 6.69 +/- 0.03 degrees and it was by 0.06 +/- 0.03 narrower than that given in the specifications.	6.5/8.0
Quality of the interior of the barrels	Black tubes, matt bottom, no glue traces and/or shiny elements.	4.4/5.0
Vignetting	Left: Right: OL: 0.0%, OR:: 1.9%	6.5/8.0
Prisms quality	Good quality and huge BaK-4 prisms.	8/8.0
Antireflection coatings	No reservations.	5/5.0
Warranty [years]	30	5/6.0
Final result		136.3/170 80.2%
Econo result		2.3pkt.

 

Summary

If it weren’t for the Fujinon FMTR-SX, the Docter Nobilem, like other models from this producer, would get a review full of superlatives. It’s score is not much worse than the score of binoculars which climbed the podium – undoubtedly the Docter is a very good pair of binoculars indeed.

The Nobilem’s good result stems from the same factors as the results of the Fujinon – huge dimensions, big prisms, solid build quality and the highest class optics which give excellent transmission, a wide field of view, negligible astigmatism and a very good whiteness rendition.

The Docter is just minimally worse than the Fujinon - the sharpness at the edge of the field of vision is basically the most pronounced difference here. Unfortunately it is also almost 200-300 USD more expensive than the Fujinon and it bodes ill. If you can buy something which is minimally better and cheaper at the same time, why should you pay more? For some people, the advantage of the Docter, comparing to Fujinon, might be the cental focusing system.