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Owners: How Are Your Leica Noctivids Serving You?! (2 Viewers)

Leica Noctivid 8 X 42

Hello to all. I am new on Birdforum. French amateur ornithologist, I apologize for my poor English! I want just here to announce you my impression on Noctivid 8X42 after 5 months of intensive use.
These binoculars are magnificently built and ergonomic what compensates their weight. The focus wheel is very supple, smooth.
But I meet 2 big problems: first I have many of chromatic side aberation for me when I look at dark birds in midair (more than in Trinovid 8X42 BA for example). Secondly, bouchons oculars cut themselves and now I have to wait 3 months to get another ones. Poor Leica service... Always je same problem. Leica explain me that Noctivid are made in Portugal. The bouchons have to transit through Germany before arrive in France. Very simple!
Yours sincerely.
 
Hello to all. I am new on Birdforum. French amateur ornithologist, I apologize for my poor English! I want just here to announce you my impression on Noctivid 8X42 after 5 months of intensive use.
These binoculars are magnificently built and ergonomic what compensates their weight. The focus wheel is very supple, smooth.
But I meet 2 big problems: first I have many of chromatic side aberation for me when I look at dark birds in midair (more than in Trinovid 8X42 BA for example). Secondly, bouchons oculars cut themselves and now I have to wait 3 months to get another ones. Poor Leica service... Always je same problem. Leica explain me that Noctivid are made in Portugal. The bouchons have to transit through Germany before arrive in France. Very simple!
Yours sincerely.

Thank you for your post. Your English is excellent so please visit us here again.

You live in a beautiful country (we have just returned from our 6th visit to the Languedoc) so please tell us something of where you live.

Lee
 
Hi apuapu25 and welcome.

I didn't understand bouchons so looked it up.
Terminator? or cap maybe.

Thanks for the report on the Noctivid.
Chromatic observation interesting.

Apu is accessory or help in Finnish.
I doubt it means that.
 
Thank you Troubador and Binastro!
Ok sorry, bouchon is lens cap in fact. I chose "apu" because of the name of one of my favorite bird, the swift apus apus.
I lived in the southwest of France next to Biarritz (sea and moutain). I am fond of seawatch, birds of mountain (vultures), gulls, migration of birds and... Leica binoculars! I've bought my first Leica bins in 1990's (Trinovid 8 and 10 X 42 BA).
 
apuapu25,

Many thanks for your valued post and feedback. Can you share any other impressions you have other than your issues with the CA? Can I also ask - do you use spectacles while viewing?
Your English is good :t:

I am fairly certain the Noctivid is made in Germany...but it is possible that the 'bouchon' lens caps were made in Portugal.

Personally, I've had no major issues with CA (my NV are 10x) which is any different from other Alpha bins. One way to describe it is that CA hasn't been a 'conscious' issue for me. If I have experienced CA outside the sweet spot or under very odd conditions (eyes un-centred), I feel that it has In a way been commensurate with the higher contrast these binoculars appear to be capable of.

Cheers,

Rathaus
 
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A Fender Telecaster through a Fender Champ 12 with just enough gain to break-up when I dig in but will clean up if I back off the volume on the guitar. If I want to make my eyes water and wake up the neighbours and Marshall Guv'nor pedal does the trick.

Lee

Interesting Troubador.

I never managed to get anything approaching an organic sounding breakup from my Marshall Guv'nor 2. Tried it on a valve class A (DrZ) - at least until my eyebrows started melting, a class A/B valve (Blackstar) and a trannie (Marshall mini-stack). A humbucker guy for my sins.

Blackstar's onboard dirt channel leaning towards US side is amazing through a set of cans. Brit side a bit brighter if you like that. Ex-Marshall guys I believe.

Moving across to Amplitube and powered speakers nowadays. So easy to patch and bank. Yeah - it's not real but hey ho. Bedroom rocker. Saturation and grit at reasonable volumes.

Moogs axe hero uses two cascading 200w Marshall tube rack stages through a single 75w greenback shut in a Demeter with a Sennheiser mike then out to a 24 band patchable eq then all the pedals offstage to a pre mix. Cool. No change of a Guv'nor allowing me to get close to that to be fair.

So anyway.


Deep lover of all things Leica. Hard not to be. Classic. One I tried must have been a dud or I missed a trick with the diopter setting. Hard to believe QC missed something that profound.
Never easy with mere minutes and mind more on pure optics than anything else. First time in my paws. I'll learn.Not given up on it yet. Birdfair will be the acid test. Can't fault the view. Like new eyes.

Reassuring to hear a (by and large) positive range of feedback. Once aquired I suspect (and hope) the whole 'Comparethemarket' ness of it drops away quickly and on with the nature?

Could never disagree with anyones choices as such and delighted to hear you're all enjoying your NV's. Happy viewing.

TM
 
Thank you Troubador and Binastro!
Ok sorry, bouchon is lens cap in fact. I chose "apu" because of the name of one of my favorite bird, the swift apus apus.
I lived in the southwest of France next to Biarritz (sea and moutain). I am fond of seawatch, birds of mountain (vultures), gulls, migration of birds and... Leica binoculars! I've bought my first Leica bins in 1990's (Trinovid 8 and 10 X 42 BA).

Hi Apus Apus,

What exactly is your problem with the original Noctivid ocular cap? Cut themselves? What do you mean? Might be I understand the problem but I'm not completely certain.

regards,

Renze
 
Hello,

A week ago, in Barcelona, I had the opportunity to compare my Zeiss HT 10x42 with a Leica Noctivid 10x42. I was interested, mainly, in the veiling glare control of the Noctivid, mentioned by almost all their users.
Well, the Noctivid really impressed me with the incredible veiling glare control!!!! I, with the shop owner at my side, looked at trees and buildings edges with the sun almost in front. The Zeiss HT showed a very notable and disturbing veiling glare, that "milky" veil in the image. The Leica NV showed almost nothing of a veil. NOTHING!!!! It is a very important feature in a binocular!!!! Looking from the front, all the rings and ribs inside the Leica tubes are totally non reflecting. The HT, on the contrary, shows rings with a very bright surfaces, innaceptable to me. And, also, the HT prism reflect the sun light back to the front. When looking into the NV, ALL IS DARK AND NON REFLECTING!!!!!
About the other optical caracteristics, looking away of the sun, I cannot see differences between both binoculars. The colours and contrast were very simmilar. As a result, the details resolution or "sharpness" were also comparable. The ergonomic design is, to me, much, much better in the Zeiss HT. May be, to me, the best designed binocular in this respect, along the Zeiss SF.
I don´t understand why Zeiss (and Swarovski by the way) did not worked in the control of the glare in their binoculars...It can be a major issue in some difficult light situation, very common in the field....

PHA
 
Just in case anybody missed it there is an excellent post from Kimmo Absetz on another thread describing his initial reactions to the 10x42 Noctivid.

http://www.birdforum.net/showpost.php?p=3582372&postcount=193

That post adds to the broad agreement about excellent suppression of glare and hopefully Kimmo will soon be giving us more detail about the correction of axial aberrations, an area where all too many "alphas" fail to be quite good enough.

For myself, I'm still waiting for an 8x50/56 Noctivid

Henry
 
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Hello,

A week ago, in Barcelona, I had the opportunity to compare my Zeiss HT 10x42 with a Leica Noctivid 10x42. I was interested, mainly, in the veiling glare control of the Noctivid, mentioned by almost all their users.
Well, the Noctivid really impressed me with the incredible veiling glare control!!!! I, with the shop owner at my side, looked at trees and buildings edges with the sun almost in front. The Zeiss HT showed a very notable and disturbing veiling glare, that "milky" veil in the image. The Leica NV showed almost nothing of a veil. NOTHING!!!! It is a very important feature in a binocular!!!! Looking from the front, all the rings and ribs inside the Leica tubes are totally non reflecting. The HT, on the contrary, shows rings with a very bright surfaces, innaceptable to me. And, also, the HT prism reflect the sun light back to the front. When looking into the NV, ALL IS DARK AND NON REFLECTING!!!!!
About the other optical caracteristics, looking away of the sun, I cannot see differences between both binoculars. The colours and contrast were very simmilar. As a result, the details resolution or "sharpness" were also comparable. The ergonomic design is, to me, much, much better in the Zeiss HT. May be, to me, the best designed binocular in this respect, along the Zeiss SF.
I don´t understand why Zeiss (and Swarovski by the way) did not worked in the control of the glare in their binoculars...It can be a major issue in some difficult light situation, very common in the field....

PHA

The Zeiss HT is, I believe, given of good low light qualities so perhaps the glare you refer to is a secondary reconsideration to that of light gathering at any cost.

K
 
Hello,
Ok, I give you more personnel impressions about my Noctivid 8X:
- The view is very realistic, vivid and bright. I feel the view warmer than EL or FL.
- The focus wheel is fantastic.
- I've never seen the 3D effect.
-None "rolling ball" in my eyes.
- Very good deep of view.
-Robust and excellent industrial design.
- Eye relief excellent (very useful when I use sunglasses!)
- The only problem for me is lateral CA. How can I explain that? In fact the subject must remain in line of sight if I do not want to have CA. This implies that I have to follow birds in flight which is difficult especially when they are in groups. I don't support CA! That's why I bought Leica 50. Maybe I will have to sell them and buy Zeiss with ABK prism.
The lens cover have been cut off because of wear.
An other information: Trinovid 8 and 10X 32 HD arrive in France!
 
Veiling control is really a big for the noctivid for sure
I have mine now 3 months in use and this issue makes the difference with the swarovision 10x42 of my wife
Although she says having more comfort with the Swarovski when wearing glasses
 
The Zeiss HT is, I believe, given of good low light qualities so perhaps the glare you refer to is a secondary reconsideration to that of light gathering at any cost.

K

None of this ''glare'' problem gets reported for the 8x42 HT - in fact, user reports are nearly unanimously very positive for this aspect - just read the big thread - hundreds of users and only one or two report this issue. I know, from personal experience my HT is better than anything else I own or have tried. Not sure what the difference is with the 10 and 8 HT to cause such wildly divergent observations.

Here is an optical designers take on the HT and its' glare control - you will need Google translate...

http://forrest143.blog.163.com/blog/static/34424406201331445233148/

Note - he says stray light suppression is ''very thorough, almost perfect.''

And my HT's are nicely blackened internally - returning zero prism or other spurious reflections. Properly set up - with proper IPD and eyecup settings, my HT is virtually glare free.

Edit - here is his take of the 10x42 - again glowing about control of stray light, so why others have such problems is unknown.

http://forrest143.blog.163.com/blog/static/34424406201318325810/

You will also see that his comments on peripheral sharpness etc. seem to dispute the notion, put forth by some, that the HT is essentially the FL with HT glass - it's easy to see in his photos how the edge characteristics and area of best sharpness have changed. If I have read the authors bio. correctly, he is an optical designer who has designed compact binoculars for the Chinese market - so a professional with enough experience to be trusted.
 
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None of this ''glare'' problem gets reported for the 8x42 HT - in fact, user reports are nearly unanimously very positive for this aspect - just read the big thread - hundreds of users and only one or two report this issue. I know, from personal experience my HT is better than anything else I own or have tried. Not sure what the difference is with the 10 and 8 HT to cause such wildly divergent observations.

Here is an optical designers take on the HT and its' glare control - you will need Google translate...

http://forrest143.blog.163.com/blog/static/34424406201331445233148/

Note - he says stray light suppression is ''very thorough, almost perfect.''

And my HT's are nicely blackened internally - returning zero prism or other spurious reflections. Properly set up - with proper IPD and eyecup settings, my HT is virtually glare free.

Edit - here is his take of the 10x42 - again glowing about control of stray light, so why others have such problems is unknown.

http://forrest143.blog.163.com/blog/static/34424406201318325810/

You will also see that his comments on peripheral sharpness etc. seem to dispute the notion, put forth by some, that the HT is essentially the FL with HT glass - it's easy to see in his photos how the edge characteristics and area of best sharpness have changed. If I have read the authors bio. correctly, he is an optical designer who has designed compact binoculars for the Chinese market - so a professional with enough experience to be trusted.

That's comforting to note as I'm looking seriously at the 8X54 HT to see how they compare with my Night Owles.

Happy to concede they are brighter if found so but nothing will change my mind about how ugly they are.

LGM
 
Hello,

A week ago, in Barcelona, I had the opportunity to compare my Zeiss HT 10x42 with a Leica Noctivid 10x42. I was interested, mainly, in the veiling glare control of the Noctivid, mentioned by almost all their users.
Well, the Noctivid really impressed me with the incredible veiling glare control!!!! I, with the shop owner at my side, looked at trees and buildings edges with the sun almost in front. The Zeiss HT showed a very notable and disturbing veiling glare, that "milky" veil in the image. The Leica NV showed almost nothing of a veil. NOTHING!!!! It is a very important feature in a binocular!!!! Looking from the front, all the rings and ribs inside the Leica tubes are totally non reflecting. The HT, on the contrary, shows rings with a very bright surfaces, innaceptable to me. And, also, the HT prism reflect the sun light back to the front. When looking into the NV, ALL IS DARK AND NON REFLECTING!!!!!
About the other optical caracteristics, looking away of the sun, I cannot see differences between both binoculars. The colours and contrast were very simmilar. As a result, the details resolution or "sharpness" were also comparable. The ergonomic design is, to me, much, much better in the Zeiss HT. May be, to me, the best designed binocular in this respect, along the Zeiss SF.
I don´t understand why Zeiss (and Swarovski by the way) did not worked in the control of the glare in their binoculars...It can be a major issue in some difficult light situation, very common in the field....

PHA

PHA,

This is fascinating feedback. I have always eagerly followed your feedback because I know that for decade upon decade you have utilised the finest binoculars as tools in one of the harshest and most beautiful environments on earth.

Regarding various issues of flare and glare - I have also had some very interesting experiences with the NV. I realise that I have learned to interpret various forms of flare and glare as perceptual warning signs that I am approaching a potentially dangerous viewing angle towards a setting or already set sun. I'm sure we all do this to some extent. But, When viewing through the NV I have caught myself scanning at some potentially very dangerous trajectories. Just yesterday evening I caught myself scanning far too close to the silhouette of a mountain where the sun had set less than 10 mins prior. The normal optical warning signs are largely absent in the NV (certainly for a 10x roof), and my delicate retinas were waiting innocently to be fried like eggs.
This binocular will joyfully lure and cajole your eyeballs directly into a setting sun. The view of course, because of this, is breathtaking and stunning, but I find myself in an unfamiliar situation of having to relearn some aspects of viewing with this instrument around these issues. I am having to learn other less obvious and more subtle cues that I am 'sailing close to the wind'.
Of course, like a bee to honey, the NV is constantly luring me into exploring the breathtaking views on offer at the precarious viewing times and angles which has me putting other top tier binoculars on the shelf.

From my experience - If I could be bold enough to warn other users of the NV to proceed with caution at those potentially dangerous viewing trajectories. I'd like to say 'keep an eye on it'...but that's the problem...

Regards,

Rathaus
 
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