New Twentse test of Leica Apo-Televid 82 (1 Viewer)

kabsetz · May 19, 2009

For those interested and able to decipher Dutch, Jan Meijerink has posted a test report of the new Leica Apo-Televid with the 25-50x Asph. zoom together with the new Swarovski ATM 80 HD + zoom.

www.tvwg.nl Go to "testrapporten"

Kimmo

RJM · May 19, 2009

Hmmm, maybe don't need to read Dutch since the pic is the Universal Translator.

Kowa RULES!:king:

cheers,
Rick

dipped · May 19, 2009

Thanks for the link Kimmo.

So looking at the review there is not much to choose between the Swaro. and Leica apart from the focussing mechanisms - so I'll stick to my old Kowa till I can afford the new one (ha,ha).

Did I read you were going to post your Canon 10x42IS report in May? How is the testing of the Hawke 8xED going and will you be able to offer comments on the 10x model?

I was briefly able to try the Hawke 10xEd model indoors and the view seemed v.similar to the RSPB 10xHD model which I help demo. (as a volunteer). Both are quite impressive for their price especially the cheaper Hawke.

Nev

henry link · May 19, 2009

Thanks Kimmo. I was beginning to think Jan Meijerink had given up testing optics.

I suppose it's no surprise that the 88mm Kowa has better resolution than the smaller scopes, but it also appears that Jan Meijerink"s reference Kowa is probably better than these particular Swaro and Leica specimens. Both show some astigmatism in the resolution photos (Leica looks worse). Perhaps they have other sample defects, but we can't tell from the photos. I wish he would include images of star tests so we could evaluate the relative level of sample defects in the test scopes.

I recently spent a few minutes with the new Swarovski zoom eyepiece in a store. It had very impressive off-axis performance (quite sharp at the edge at all magnifications), but I noticed that for my face the eyecup was a little too short for the eye relief, so that I experienced considerable kidney-beaning type black-outs unless my eye was very carefully positioned.

Henry

Peewee · May 19, 2009

In the Swarovski section mqvist was so kind to give a google-translation dutch to English. Here it is.

mqvist said:
Dutch to english translation:

http://translate.google.fi/translat...ski%20ATM80HD.htm&sl=nl&tl=en&history_state0=

kabsetz · May 19, 2009

Henry,

I have tested one specimen of the Leica (the review is not out yet) and looked at glitter points through four others. All of these samples showed rather more spherical undercorrection than I would have hoped to see - more than any of the Kowa 883's I have yet seen. The Leica zoom eyepiece was very impressive, although lateral color at the outermost 25% or so of the (vast) field was rather prominent. Other than the lateral color, I could not really detect any image deterioration off-axis. There wasn't even any field curvature to speak of.

I have not seen the Swarovski offerings yet, but might get the chance in a week or two.

Kimmo

RJM · Nov 8, 2009

henry link said:
I recently spent a few minutes with the new Swarovski zoom eyepiece in a store. It had very impressive off-axis performance (quite sharp at the edge at all magnifications), but I noticed that for my face the eyecup was a little too short for the eye relief, so that I experienced considerable kidney-beaning type black-outs unless my eye was very carefully positioned.

Henry

Henry, I finally got a chance to look through the new Swaro zoom and I experienced the EXACT same issue! No matter how I tried I could not keep proper position. The rep seemed shocked that I did not get on with it.

cheers,
Rick

RJM · Nov 8, 2009

kabsetz said:
Henry,

I have tested one specimen of the Leica (the review is not out yet) and looked at glitter points through four others. All of these samples showed rather more spherical undercorrection than I would have hoped to see - more than any of the Kowa 883's I have yet seen. The Leica zoom eyepiece was very impressive, although lateral color at the outermost 25% or so of the (vast) field was rather prominent. Other than the lateral color, I could not really detect any image deterioration off-axis. There wasn't even any field curvature to speak of.

I have not seen the Swarovski offerings yet, but might get the chance in a week or two.

Kimmo

I got to spend about 20min with the new 82mm scope and zoom at a riverside birding fair today. I really liked it. Very sexy styling and armoring with the cool amber lens coatings. The eyepiece was superb and I had none of the blackouts I experience with the Swaro zoom at their neighboring booth. At full zoom I felt I needed to poke my head in to look around the field. Very imersive. Too bad it tops out at 50x. It seems a shame to pay $$$$ and not really exploit the Leica optics to the fullest.

cheers,
Rick

henry link · Nov 8, 2009

Rick,

Is that a Gitzo 2180 rebranded as a Leica head?

Yeah, I would need to cook up some sort of eyecup extension to comfortably use the new Swaro zoom.

Henry

RJM · Nov 8, 2009

Yes it sure is!

Rick

Rob Laughton · Nov 8, 2009

You guys should try the Kowa 883. I tested it against the Swaro and Leica the other day and found it sharper on 60x than both of the others on 50x! Plus I found the focus wheel on the Leica 82 was very uneven and gritty.

Rob

henry link · Nov 8, 2009

Rob,

I think we agree with you. Rick already owns an 883. I prefer to use small astronomical APO's for birding, but I've tested several 883's for friends. It would be my first choice among the birding scopes.

Henry

kristoffer · Nov 8, 2009

I am surprised if the new Swaro zoom got poor edge sharpness. My ats65hd with the 20-60 zoom got extremely good edge sharpness, I can´t find any distortions. And like said, it must be sample variations, the Leica can´t be that bad. I have a friend with one and I think it is great. Btw, did not that big birding newspaper recently test these three scopes?

henry link · Nov 9, 2009

kristoffer said:
I am surprised if the new Swaro zoom got poor edge sharpness.

Kristoffer,

I don't think anybody said that. I found the edge sharpness of the new zoom to be excellent.

The one area where the Swaro and Leica scopes with their new zooms can't compete with the big Kowa is the resolution of small details. They don't have enough magnification or aperture.

Henry

iporali · Nov 9, 2009

henry link said:
I noticed that for my face the eyecup was a little too short for the eye relief, so that I experienced considerable kidney-beaning type black-outs unless my eye was very carefully positioned.

Henry,

I have recently had an opportunity to test the new Swaro zoom and I too have experienced this phenomenon. However, in this case "kidney-beaning" occurs especially when the eye is too *far* from the eyepiece - and the correct solution may actually be to bring the eye closer. This is contrary to most eyepieces with black-out -tendency. I think I can upload a series of images to visualize it.

Best regards,

Ilkka

hinnark · Nov 9, 2009

Ilkka,

does the new zoom fit at the old AT scope? If so, does it work without vignetting?

Regards
Steve

henry link · Nov 9, 2009

Ikka,

Now that you mention it, I've noticed kidney-beaning from both too much and too little eye distance with my Pentax 14mm XW eyepiece. Next time I try the new Swaro zoom I'll look more carefully.

Henry

RJM · Nov 9, 2009

Henry I ALSO have problems with the Pentax XW while monoviewing. But if I put 2 of them in a binoviewer they are a dream. Go figure!

Kristoffer, the edge of field in the Swaro was quite nice WHEN I COULD SEE IT. But it was either a choice of seeing the edge and loosing the midfield or the contrary. This occurred throughout the zoom range. Quite maddening.

The new Leica zoom on the otherhand was quite easy and pleasant to look through.

Rick

iporali · Nov 9, 2009

hinnark said:
does the new zoom fit at the old AT scope? If so, does it work without vignetting?

Yes, it works perfectly - except for the locking mechanism. The new ATM seems to have *slightly* more natural colours and better contrast, but the grey AT80HD is very good too.

Ilkka

kristoffer · Nov 9, 2009

RJM said:
Kristoffer, the edge of field in the Swaro was quite nice WHEN I COULD SEE IT. But it was either a choice of seeing the edge and loosing the midfield or the contrary. This occurred throughout the zoom range. Quite maddening.

Rick

Uhh, good thing I did not buy it then, it looked good on paper but I can´t live with kidney beaning.

New Twentse test of Leica Apo-Televid 82 (1 Viewer)

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