TZK 10x80 Anti-Aircraft Binocular
Mfr: probably Novosibirsk Instrument Making Plant, Russia. See link.
Date: circa 1970?
AFOV: ~74 degrees
TFOV: ~7.4 degrees
Eye Relief: ~17mm
Prisms: Schmidt roof
Serial Number: NM02930
This Russian military 10x80 binocular seems to have been heavily influenced by the German flak glass design from WWII. The sample shown was said to have been used in a Middle East conflict. It definitely shows signs of heavy field use but all I needed to do was clean off the desert sand and it worked fine. It is marked with "TZK" (in Cyrillic) and a hammer and sickle, but there does not appear to be a manufacturer's marking. I believe it was made by the Novosibirsk Instrument Making Plant since their web site shows a TZK model (and a similar PNB-3), apparently still in production. A similar model has also been made in Poland (see Seeger's gray book).
The TZK 10x80 has very rugged construction and is very heavy. The telescope tubes have a stepped design, unlike the German flak glass, and are well baffled. There is a bull's eye reticle in the right eyepiece with a provision for an illuminator. The sample shown is missing the head rest and the sighting device. There are no internal filters but I believe that external filters were supplied. The optics have violet tinged coatings which appear to be multilayer.
The optical performance of the TZK 10x80 is similar to the German flak glass. It has the benefit of modern coatings, however, the image is noticeably yellow as is common with Russian optics. The wide field view is very good with just a bit of softness and distortion at the edge. Like the flak glass, there isn't quite enough eye relief to see the full field using glasses.