Roof Prism Types

Now there are a few variations of the roof prism design.

Roof prism types.

These are the more modern of the two types of binoculars. As these prisms are easier to make they are cheaper to buy. They re more compact and streamlined lighter weight and much easier to carry around than the bulky porro style binos. If you see a pair of straight tube binoculars there s a good chance you re looking at a set equipped with roof prisms.

Zeiss has famously made a number of a k binos over the years though most roof binos use s p. There are three main types of roof prism binoculars namely amici schmidt pechan and abbe koenig. The simplest roof prism is the amici roof prism with other common roof prism designs being the abbe koenig prism the schmidt pechan prism and probably the best known being the roof pentaprism pictured here. It uses an amici roof followed by a rhomb.

Roof prism binoculars vs porro prism binoculars a comparison roof prism binoculars. The common roof prism binos use either the s p or a k configurations. Binoculars with roof prisms are straighter and more compact. Both types of prism have advantages and disadvantages.

Essentially they all maintain the same basic function to keep light waves entering and exiting the binocular in a straight line. The prisms are usually coated to increase reflectivity and to keep the light waves in the right direction.