4thGordons Posted 24 March Share Posted 24 March I have recently been sorting through my binoculars and realized (very belatedly I believe I bought this in a shop in Northampton in the late '80s!) that the case one pair is in is labelled as being for the Fernrohr 03 as opposed to the Fernglas 08. This does not appear to be uncommon with several fairly well known vendors having sold identically labelled cases with binoculars in, however, the Australian War Memorial Site shows this https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1011767 which it associates with Z.F.12 optical machine gun sight (https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1011720) As Fernrohr translates as "telescope" I assume this is accurate so can someone tell me what the relationship is between the Fernrohr 03 and the Z.F.12? are they the same thing? or..... Thanks Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikB Posted 24 March Share Posted 24 March The German instructions for the Fernrohr 03 in the case lid are absolutely standard for interpupillary distance adjustment and individual eyepiece focussing for binoculars. Those for the prismatic Fernglas 08 would be substantially if not exactly similar. "The glass must be put into the (pocket/bag/case) with the adjusted eye-spacing and adjusted eyepiece rings ready for use. All disassembly is strictly forbidden!" It's hard to see how the instructions could be sufficient for any weapon sight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4thGordons Posted 24 March Author Share Posted 24 March (edited) 22 minutes ago, MikB said: The German instructions for the Fernrohr 03 in the case lid are absolutely standard for interpupillary distance adjustment and individual eyepiece focussing for binoculars. Those for the prismatic Fernglas 08 would be substantially if not exactly similar. "The glass must be put into the (pocket/bag/case) with the adjusted eye-spacing and adjusted eyepiece rings ready for use. All disassembly is strictly forbidden!" It's hard to see how the instructions could be sufficient for any weapon sight. Thank you - that was my interpretation of them also - although I was struggling to pass O-Level German at the same time I was buying these so it has been a minute! But "Fernrohr" does translate as "telescope" (as opposed to "Fernglas" - binoculars/field glasses?) I think? I believe I have the instructions for the Fernglas 08 somewhere so I will compare. Chris Different style of case but, as you indicated essentially identical instructions Edited 24 March by 4thGordons add pic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4thGordons Posted 25 March Author Share Posted 25 March @Mark Finneran Just tagging you as the German MG expert to see if you have a view on this? Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AOK4 Posted 25 March Share Posted 25 March Hello, Just google "Fernrohr 03" and you'll see it's a different binoculars than the Fernglas 08... Here are some pics: https://www.kpemig.de/Kaiserreich-Fernrohr-03-im-Behaelter-von-OIGEE-Das-Glas-in-gutem-Zustand-mit-klarer-Durchsicht-und-allen-Zubehoerteilen-der-behaelter-ebenfalls-in-gutem-Zustand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4thGordons Posted 25 March Author Share Posted 25 March Thanks -- yes, this type (prismatic Zeiss manufactured) are what I have and what came in the case - but I have not seen any marked "Fernrohr" in the same way Fernglas 08 binoculars are usually marked which was (along with the Australian site) part of the reason for my question. I have several examples (Zeiss Jena, Wein and Gyor) and none have any indication of 03 that I can find whereas all three of my 08s are marked 08 So Fernrohr 03 and Fernglas 08 simply signifies two different types of binoculars? Why is one referred to as .....rohr and the other as .....glas? (is it the difference not between "telescope" and "field glasses" but between prismatic and Galilean or is it just a failure of my rudimentary German?) Is there an official description of the type(s)? I had assumed that 03 and 08 might refer to model year/year of introduction? and finally is the reference to the MG sight a red herring and it is just that the sight was carried/stored in the same container as the Fernrohr 03. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikB Posted 25 March Share Posted 25 March I think the MG sight is indeed a red herring - the sight may have happened to fit the same case and been kept in there by a previous owner. The reason for the change of terminology is puzzling, since (a) there are obviously several manufacturiers of the 03 to designs possibly different in detail, and (b) neither can be Galilean as the objective axes are offset from the eyepieces' . Especially as official German is normally punctilious with grammar, and the nominative plural of the governing noun 'Rohr' is 'Rohre'. So 'Fernrohr' in translation would still normally default as 'telescope' in English (literally distant pipe or tube - singular). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Finneran Posted 25 March Share Posted 25 March Thanks for sight of. Everything has been said ref 03 and 08 being bino’s. The only thing I would add is that the 03 bino case is identical to the MG ZF sight case. 08 bino cases have sewn tabs as per image, 03 bino cases have the three little rivets. Attached the case for the ZF….externally identical to the03 case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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