Gunsight "shots"

[cyberia]

Outstanding post, mlespaul. Welcome aboard.

[McCoy]

Welcome! Aren't we all geeks in a way so you'll fit right in here! I'm sure that you can contribute a lot with stuff that we don't even have the slightest grasp on.

[Holly6]

Originally Posted by mlespaul;41898

So, this is supposed to be the optic gunsight for a Ferdinand or an Elephant somewhere in Russia. The burning tank is supposed to be a T-34, but others have debated this as to if this is actually true or not, what do you guys think?
Some even say it is a German tank, but it was "touched up" later, any ideas? The caption has the range at 2000 meters for this kill, sounds reasonable for the vehicle here I think.[/QUOTE

Not sure, as I can't see your photo here, as yet, but from your description it sounds like the pair of shots taken through the SflZF1a and featured in Karlheinz Munch's "The Combat History of German Heavy Anti-Tank Unit 653 in World War II". I discussed these photographs with a colleague on the Red Orchestra forums and they appear to be authentic. Could you please repost this image so I can read the caption as well? I've never heard of anyone challenging whether these photos were "touched up", but I suppose there's always controversy being stirred up whenever we discuss photographic evidence. There was a similar version of the photo that appeared on Ebay that seemed to have been doctored, but that was in regards to the aiming marks on the gunsight itself. Can you point me as to the discussion of this photo being retouched, I'd be interested in reading it. As far as the "2000 meters" in the caption, I would tend to believe that the photo was more likely taken as the photographer's Elefant or Stug drew closer to the burning tank before then snapping the shutter. The SflZF1a sight had a magnification of 5, then according to the picture's caption, it would make the photographer's vehicle approximately 10000 m from the T-34 when the photo was snapped. Which book did your photo come from? I don't remember Heinz's book mentioning of any distance IRT this photo. But without seeing the picture you had posted, I don't want to jump the conclusion.

The other photo from Karl's book shows another similar shot, yet from a different variant of the SflZF, this time of a burning KV.

But yes, if this is the photo I think you're describing, it IS a Sfl.Z.F.1a that went to a number of German AFVs, including the Elefant, Stug series, and Hetzer.

You have to pardon us optical equipment geeks, we get very excitable over things like this. .

Welcome Mlespaul: Wonderful opening. Cheez! Where do you guys come from???
Where ever, we optical experts need to stick togather.

If you need any specs on a 1983 Bushnell Banner 3X9, I'm your man!

If, I can find the book for it. Pretty sure it's in the box it came with. If I can find the box?

[Pirate-Drakk]

Hey! What happened to the photo in the first post? I can't even see a dead link for it but it was there last time I viewed this thread...

[Jim O]

Originally Posted by Pirate-Drakk

Hey! What happened to the photo in the first post? I can't even see a dead link for it but it was there last time I viewed this thread...

Mea culpa. It's there now. One of the settings I forgot to change when I moved the site to a new server was the "absolute path" to album photos. It's fixed now. A hard refresh (Ctrl+Shift+R) should load the image.

Sorry.

[Pirate-Drakk]

Originally Posted by Jim O

Mea culpa. It's there now. One of the settings I forgot to change when I moved the site to a new server was the "absolute path" to album photos. It's fixed now. A hard refresh (Ctrl+Shift+R) should load the image.

Sorry.

Looks good now, Jim O!

[TRDG]

Originally Posted by mlespaul

Not sure, as I can't see your photo here, as yet, but from your description it sounds like the pair of shots taken through the SflZF1a and featured in Karlheinz Munch's "The Combat History of German Heavy Anti-Tank Unit 653 in World War II". I discussed these photographs with a colleague on the Red Orchestra forums and they appear to be authentic. Could you please repost this image so I can read the caption as well? I've never heard of anyone challenging whether these photos were "touched up", but I suppose there's always controversy being stirred up whenever we discuss photographic evidence. There was a similar version of the photo that appeared on Ebay that seemed to have been doctored, but that was in regards to the aiming marks on the gunsight itself. Can you point me as to the discussion of this photo being retouched, I'd be interested in reading it. As far as the "2000 meters" in the caption, I would tend to believe that the photo was more likely taken as the photographer's Elefant or Stug drew closer to the burning tank before then snapping the shutter. The SflZF1a sight had a magnification of 5, then according to the picture's caption, it would make the photographer's vehicle approximately 10000 m from the T-34 when the photo was snapped. Which book did your photo come from? I don't remember Heinz's book mentioning of any distance IRT this photo. But without seeing the picture you had posted, I don't want to jump the conclusion.

The other photo from Karl's book shows another similar shot, yet from a different variant of the SflZF, this time of a burning KV.

But yes, if this is the photo I think you're describing, it IS a Sfl.Z.F.1a that went to a number of German AFVs, including the Elefant, Stug series, and Hetzer.

You have to pardon us optical equipment geeks, we get very excitable over things like this. .

I don't have the actual pic and caption, it was on another site with the discussion I noted here. So I am hoping the pic will be here (it is now after a Jim fix) and you can tell me if it is the same one you saw in that book, or something completely different.

Cheers, welcome aboard The Zone, glad to have ya here mlespaul!!

TRDG

Tom