Well, it was a toss-up, but the Ultravid won. (1 Viewer)

After much agonizing over my next bin purchase, I finally pulled the trigger and ordered the 8x50 Ultravid.

I really wanted an 8x bin with the brightest and clearest optics possible. I have two pairs of older Leica bins (7x35 BA Leitz and a 8x25 BA Leica) and I have always been impressed with both the build quality and the optical performance.

Unfortunately, I did not have a wide range of bins to try, as the selection in Albuquerque is less than optimum. I narrowed the choice down to the Swaro 8.5x42 (Wow! What a great pair of binoculars!) and the Leica 8x50 Ultravid. I was able to try the 8x45 Trinovids, but they seemed to be too fat for my hands. I'm glad Leica put their bins on a diet.

Let me tell you, the Swaro bins are fantastic. I love the ergonomics (minus the strange thumb indentations) and the wonderful resolution. They just didn't seem quite as robust as the Leicas that I have now and I really wanted a bit larger objective lens for lower light conditions.

After checking the prices at Eagle Optics, I made the decision to go with the Leica, as they were $240 less than the Swaros and the sales folks assured me that the optical quality was the same. I just hope that the Ultras perform as well as the Swaros. They said I would not be disappointed. I guess if worse comes to worse, I can always send them back. I have a feeling THAT won't be necessary!

Just wanted to let everyone know that I have joined the ranks on the Ultravid crowd.

Thanks to all for the excellent forum!

Rgds,

Steffan

On second thought.....BLACKOUT!

All,

I just received the 8x50 Ultravids in the mail today. As usual, fantastic Leica build quality and optics. They are everything that I wanted except that they seem to suffer from an inordianate amount of blackout.

I have read other posts and it seems that this is a function of large objectives in high light (daytime) conditions. I guess I could get used to it, being careful to properly position the bins each time I use them.

It just seems like the Swaro 8.5x42 that I tried did not suffer from the same problem. I will go back to the optics shop today and try them again.

Is this why all of the knowledgeable birders on the forum seem to like 42-45 mm objectives as a maximum? I love the low light characteristics of the 50mm bins, but if I have to put up with blacking out, it just might push me back to the Swaros.

Thanks for all of your opinions.

Rgds,

Steffan

I have a bit odd shaped eyes (OK, sunken) and find it easier to kind of gently push the eyecups up toward the top of the eye area of my face, rather than down. This helps me prevent blackout.

Marley said:

All,

I just received the 8x50 Ultravids in the mail today. As usual, fantastic Leica build quality and optics. They are everything that I wanted except that they seem to suffer from an inordianate amount of blackout.

I have read other posts and it seems that this is a function of large objectives in high light (daytime) conditions. I guess I could get used to it, being careful to properly position the bins each time I use them.

It just seems like the Swaro 8.5x42 that I tried did not suffer from the same problem. I will go back to the optics shop today and try them again.

Is this why all of the knowledgeable birders on the forum seem to like 42-45 mm objectives as a maximum? I love the low light characteristics of the 50mm bins, but if I have to put up with blacking out, it just might push me back to the Swaros.

Thanks for all of your opinions.

Rgds,

Steffan

Click to expand...

Hi Steffan,

what you´re describing is a quite normal phenomenon of binos with long eye relief (your 8x50 Leica has 18,1 mm) and it has nothing to do with aperture size. Do you wear eye glasses? Anyway, Leica as many other manufactorers has intodruced twistable eyecups for individual adjustment of the bino´s distance to the eyes. Increasing of this distance as Tero wrote should help you to avoid blackouts.
Much fun and happy birdwatching with your new bino!

Steve

Tero & Hinnark,

Thanks to both of you for your responses.

I do not wear glasses and I have the eye cups adjusted all the way up. I have to admit that I am not experiencing terrible problems with blackout, but it doesn't take much of a shift in my eyes or my hands to introduce a bit of blackout.

I am really most curious to know if I can escape (or reduce) this problem by going to a 42-45 mm objective, as I really don't need the low light capabilities as much as a sharp field of view and ease of use. I ask this because the smaller objective bins tend to come with a shorter eye relief (~16mm insead of ~18mm).

I would really like to have another fine pair of bins that are easy to use by anyone that picks them up. I would hate to have to coach friends on how to avoid blackout in the event they are using them.

As always, your thoughts and opinions are much appreicated.

Rgds,

Steffan

Hi Steffan,

As Hinnark mentioned, aperture isn't causing the blackout. The eyepiece design is largely to blame for the blackout.

A friend has a Leica 8x50BA. It is also sensitive to blackout. I was surprised at the relatively narrow true field of the Leica 8x50s. Most high end 8x binoculars give you a noticably wider true field.

The Swarovski 8.5x42 is an outstanding binocular. I love mine. They give a very sharp, comfortable, picture window view. They are also easy to carry and hold.

I've not tried the 8x42 Ultravid and 8x42 FL but I have spent about half an hour closely comparing the 10x42 Ultravid and 10x42 FL. They are both outstanding. I went with the Zeiss FL but could have been very happy with the Ultravid. I am very happy with my Zeiss FL. You may want to try the Leica 8x42 Ultravid and Zeiss 8x42FL.

All the best,
Rich

I too was unsure as to which bins to buy...I ended up getting ultravids 8x42s and what a fantastic buy they are......yes the focus ring is not as smooth as some...but the viewing is amazing. I had bigger bins before but they were heavy...I can actually see better with these and they are brilliant for following birds in flight. Les

Marley said:

All,

I just received the 8x50 Ultravids in the mail today. As usual, fantastic Leica build quality and optics. They are everything that I wanted except that they seem to suffer from an inordianate amount of blackout.

I have read other posts and it seems that this is a function of large objectives in high light (daytime) conditions. I guess I could get used to it, being careful to properly position the bins each time I use them.

It just seems like the Swaro 8.5x42 that I tried did not suffer from the same problem. I will go back to the optics shop today and try them again.

Is this why all of the knowledgeable birders on the forum seem to like 42-45 mm objectives as a maximum? I love the low light characteristics of the 50mm bins, but if I have to put up with blacking out, it just might push me back to the Swaros.

Thanks for all of your opinions.

Rgds,

Steffan

Click to expand...

Steffan,

Try adjusting the IPD one way or the other. You'd be surprised how an incorrect IPD setting can affect the view. Those intermittent blackouts might just go away if you find the perfect IPD setting.

Personally, unless you absolutely need the 50mm objective, I'd suggest getting a 42mm in either 8X or 7X. I looked carefully at the 8X50 Ultravid but chose the 7X42 Ultravid instead. The 7X42 is wonderful in low-light and the FOV is addictive.

Good Luck,

John

Rich N said:

As Hinnark mentioned, aperture isn't causing the blackout. The eyepiece design is largely to blame for the blackout.

Click to expand...

Steve and Rich,
Aperture may not cause blackouts alone, but if the eye-relief is long enough, small eye pupil and large exit pupil IMO make blackouts much worse - ie. too closely spaced eye iris easily casts a shadow on the retina.

Ilkka

I take it you don't wear eyeglasses? I have found with the Zeiss 8x42 FL when not wearing eyeglasses that I can experience slight blackouts because my eyes are not centred in the eye tubes. I think this is because of the shape of my eye sockets and not the fault of the instrument. The solution is to wear eyeglasses (which I prefer anyway) or simply to screw in the eye tubes a little bit which solves the problem. This is less of a problem for me with smaller binoculars because the eye tubes being smaller seem to sit truer on my face. It might be that an 8x50 binocular has even larger eye tubes and hence the problem is worse?

Leif

No BlackOut

Marley said:

All,

I just received the 8x50 Ultravids in the mail today. As usual, fantastic Leica build quality and optics. They are everything that I wanted except that they seem to suffer from an inordianate amount of blackout.

I have read other posts and it seems that this is a function of large objectives in high light (daytime) conditions. I guess I could get used to it, being careful to properly position the bins each time I use them.

It just seems like the Swaro 8.5x42 that I tried did not suffer from the same problem. I will go back to the optics shop today and try them again.

Is this why all of the knowledgeable birders on the forum seem to like 42-45 mm objectives as a maximum? I love the low light characteristics of the 50mm bins, but if I have to put up with blacking out, it just might push me back to the Swaros.

Thanks for all of your opinions.

Rgds,

Steffan

Click to expand...

Hi Steffan;

Don't panic. I think if you give the Ultras a few days you will notice the problem goes away. I have heard others comment about the same thing with other brands and it seems to be a case of "getting used to each other" for them.

I wear tri-focals and bought a pair of the 10x50s. First couple of looks through them I was sure I had done a good thing. Only thing for me is keeping the bins in the top section of my glasses. Have used them heavily now for going on three months and like them better each day. Never had the blackout problem, just shear delight with my new bins. Not much consolation for you to hear this, I'm sure.

An upside to the 10x50s is that my wife says they are too heavy for her, so now I never have to look around for MY binoculars any more. By the end of the year I hpoe to get her a pair of the Ultravid 10x42s.