Leica APO 77mm vs Zeiss Diascope 85mm

[albatrosviajero]

Hello,

Anyone have compared this two spotting scopes?
Thank you,
paulo

[ColonelBlimp]

Yes-and I found the Zeiss clearly better in field of view, sharpness, brightness and weight.

[Birdbrain]

??? i have to be the opposite ? i used to have the Leica 77 APO and my old birding buddy had the Zeiss D 85 ? and for me, my opinion, the Leica stood out in the crowd and seemed better in every way, but as many people have said before, it is down to the individual using.

As said many many times before as well the best thing to do, is try and stand them side by side and see what you think yourself :t:

[henry link]

Paulo,

I'm afraid you have to expect exactly this kind of difference of opinion about the relative optical quality of birding scopes, no matter which ones are compared. It's a sad fact that the optical quality of individual scope specimens varies widely, even among expensive scopes. Opinions tend to be based on the luck of the draw. I would choose a scope model based on features and price, then try to find a good one.

Henry

[temmie]

Both are good.
zeiss has more light (obviously), but e.g. FOV can vary when using different eyepieces (I wonder how someone can say something about FOV without knowing about magnification?).
Best scope for me:
1. Kowa, 2. Nikon 3. Swarovski 4. zeiss 5. Leica
Best price vs. objective diameter:
1. Nikon 2. zeiss 3. Kowa 4. leica 5. Swarovski

So I would buy:
1. Nikon (3pts) 2. Kowa (4pts) 3. Leica, zeiss or Swarovski (8pts)

So If I had the money, I would buy the zeiss (brighter, sharper), but ofcourse, like others said here, be carefull for quality control with zeiss specimens, which is not so good as Leica.

My criteria for best scope are sharpness, brightness, FOV, eyepiece comfort, focussing. I found Kowa sharpest and brightest, Nikon and Swaro easiest to focus (that's very personal), but all are a joy to watch through (at 30x fixed). I feel like the three German 'alpha' scope builders all have too many shortcomings in the package (especially price vs. quality) compared to current Kowa (best quality for 'german' price) and Nikon (best price for 'german' quality) scopes.

[Fernando np]

In fair optics, among the alphas there're differences wich are minor if compared with the second tier in prize. Although it's easy to apreciate how the Kowa880 outperformances the rest, the advantadge is for points and not for KO. The Leica 77 is out of production but could be an advisable second hand purchase. The Zeiss wins in ergonomy. It's lighter and with 2" eyepieces. On the other hand none has beaten yet the Leicas' focusing wheel in smooothiness.

[albatrosviajero]

Hello,

I have reading that the Leica APO 77 with the 60X(max. magnification zoom)the image is dim and not have clarity..it is true?

Paulo

[Fernando np]

In this range of prizes if the 60X are not full usable we'll find in front a robbery. The smaller Swaro65HD can bear the 60X apart both edges of the day. My first scope, an Adlerscope 80mm, over 45X was unable to add more detail. Even then sometimes I preferred to go at 60X, simply the bird was bigger. But nowadays, the Zeiss85 has the upper limit higher. Tomorrow I'm going to have a look to a golden eagle nest. Luckily atmosphere is very clean after last showers. The perfect situation to choose high power. With a TV Radian 5mm eyepiece, 100.4X, the level of detail justifies the poor performance when aiming. Last November in the Ebro Dam in Cantabria when birding with a group, I suggested a comparative in loww light, I mean until you can't see. The object was a group of common moorhens and the power 40X, with zooms. Soon, only Leica 77, Zeiss 85 and Kowa 88 kept, unluckily a Swaro 80HD has gone back home before sunset. Vixens and that range became without utility in short time. Even the Swaro65 was fairly bellow the other three. In an unexpected way the Kowa followed ruling, as it had been all day long. The Kowas' owner, bird books author among other merits, with great perpicacity said "you must realize we're seeing things when our binoculars are just packed"In every case, the differences among the alphas are minor. Even among profesional users, apart from lottery winners, hardly ever it would't be justifies to change a Leica 77APO for a Kowa 88.

[albatrosviajero]

Thank you very much all you,for your opinions,I think that all this information to make rich our.

sincerely,
Paulo

[rezMole]

I have reading that the Leica APO 77 with the 60X(max. magnification zoom)the image is dim and not have clarity..it is true?


My girlfriend has this combo and after about 45x it starts to get dim. I only push it up to 60x if it's a bright day. I would suspect ALL brands would suffer the same as you get to 60x.

[ColonelBlimp]

I use my Zeiss at 60x even on darkish days, as it still brings out a lot more detail than the 45x setting, plus with more eye relief.