I recently purchased a Zeiss APQ 100/1000 which I noticed had a small air bubble in the front element. I have never seen an air bubble in any Zeiss product I have owned and became suspect of the scopes heritage so I email'd Baader with several photos along with a general discussion and a copy of the Zygo output. The response follows. My question to the group is: Has anyone else noticed a bubble in any Zeiss telescope.
The scope actually does perform very well and the bubble apparently does no harm to the views but I am still wondering if this was something that Zeiss would have preferred to not release but did in this circumstance
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"This looks genuine in every respect."
"ESPECIALLY the bubble is a clear proof that the lens is genuine Zeiss."
"Zeiss was using extremely homogenous glass for the outer elements - and the higher the homogeneity, the higher is the likeliness to have bubbles in the glass, because Schott had been ordered for these substrates to avoid to stirr the melt too hard and to rather leave the bubbles in the melt than trying to remove the bubbles - but create striae instead."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for any information you may have.
Mike Mandall
The scope actually does perform very well and the bubble apparently does no harm to the views but I am still wondering if this was something that Zeiss would have preferred to not release but did in this circumstance
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"This looks genuine in every respect."
"ESPECIALLY the bubble is a clear proof that the lens is genuine Zeiss."
"Zeiss was using extremely homogenous glass for the outer elements - and the higher the homogeneity, the higher is the likeliness to have bubbles in the glass, because Schott had been ordered for these substrates to avoid to stirr the melt too hard and to rather leave the bubbles in the melt than trying to remove the bubbles - but create striae instead."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for any information you may have.
Mike Mandall
Attached Image: