NL Pure Image Flatness - Good or Bad? (2 Viewers)

[Trinovid]

...my UV 10x32 (non HD or HD+) tell me that 10 x doesn’t get me close enough. A Noctivid or SF 12x would be interesting. There is an Ultravid in that range...

The 10x32 Ultravid HD+ was my first 10x and it's a keeper (bought from the forum). Still, with absolutely zero interest in a 12x, I tried everything they had at the Leica store and ended up really wanting both the 7x42 and 12x50. Couldn't keep my hands off of those two and you may also find the 12x50 HD+ to be an excellent match for you.

 

[Kiwimac]

The 10x32 Ultravid HD+ was my first 10x and it's a keeper (bought from the forum). Still, with absolutely zero interest in a 12x, I tried everything they had at the Leica store and ended up really wanting both the 7x42 and 12x50. Couldn't keep my hands off of those two and you may also find the 12x50 HD+ to be an excellent match for you.

I did wonder about that.

However, it seems to be unavailable in New Zealand. At least, it doesn’t appear on the Leica website for NZ.

I shall ring them tomorrow to see if that is the case.

 

[Stuarts vision]

I tried everything they had at the Leica store and ended up really wanting both the 7x42 and 12x50.

Strange you didn't want the 8 or 10x42.

 

[ticl2184]

Originally I really disliked the NL's, but my 8x32 NL's have grown on me....

The optics are Crystal clear. Rolling globe is barely perceptible. My only gripes are the lack of a Diopter lock, slight ghosting of the image, and the RIDICULOUS price...

Actually considering getting a pair of 10x42 NL but the price is crazy plus I would then have 5 pairs of Binoculars...

Cheers

Tim

 

[Paultricounty]

I have the impression that this was done not in order to make NL look better, but by setting a clearly different price point to keep EL 42 on the market at all rather than discontinuing it (as sadly happened with the 32 for some reason). Swaro had been in the position before of having SLC HD and EL simultaneously on the market, priced close together for several years, with rather similar features except for flat field, which you'd imagine was fantastic for user choice but must have turned out to be confusing for marketing and suboptimal in sales. And they solved it the same way, by simplifying SLC to lower its price. So there still was a choice: an excellent binocular continued in production, and not everyone cares so much about close focus or "cheapening". (And today it has moved over to Kahles, a further sign of how highly they continue to value that model.)

That said, if you really feel this way (as I did), you can still get exactly what you want: buy an earlier EL, and have it serviced if/as needed to like-new condition. I love the 2011 SLC HD I got last year.

That was the other reason given by another rep, they would be less expensive to manufacture with shorter focus so as to be able to lower price and keep EL as a choice. Not sure how a shorter focus distance is less expensive to manufacture though.

Paul

 

[Paultricounty]

Originally I really disliked the NL's, but my 8x32 NL's have grown on me....

The optics are Crystal clear. Rolling globe is barely perceptible. My only gripes are the lack of a Diopter lock, slight ghosting of the image, and the RIDICULOUS price...

Actually considering getting a pair of 10x42 NL but the price is crazy plus I would then have 5 pairs of Binoculars...

Cheers

Tim

Five pairs of binoculars lol, so cute 🙏✌🏼
I feel the 10x42NL is not only the sweet spot in the NL lineup , but the sweet spot of all 10x42 bins. Absolutely amazing binoculars in every area. Although my all time all around favorite is the 8x42 Noctivids. But when it comes to a 10x, I go NL every time.

Paul

 

[tehri]

'My only gripes are the lack of a Diopter lock'

But in addition, it's also to be specified that this diopter adjustment never changes position ! this has never happened once after a year of daily use, transport, long treks, etc.

 

[tenex]

Not sure how a shorter focus distance is less expensive to manufacture though.

I suppose it's possible that a slower (more gradual) focuser doesn't require such tight tolerances, and not having to maintain performance at <3m might even relax some optical tolerances. And it wasn't just focus range; the entire internal construction was simplified (as photos here have shown) with less baffling and blackening, cruder screws etc. Whether that really adds up to the price drop, who knows; profit may have been high enough to sacrifice a bit if needed. It does still seem a strange thing to do, unique (AFAIK) to Swaro... a consequence of seeing themselves as their own closest competition?

 

[Trinovid]

Strange you didn't want the 8 or 10x42.

I may in the future, but at the time it was those two that made the biggest impact on me. At very least, I already have the 8 and 10x Ultravids and there is unequivocally something offered by both the 7 and 12x models that I liked...a lot!

 

[William Lewis]

Mainly because my UV 10x32 (non HD or HD+) tell me that 10 x doesn’t get me close enough. A Noctivid or SF 12x would be interesting. There is an Ultravid in that range but for some reason it’s not listed on Leica’s NZ web page.

I’m usually looking at things in open country here in the South Island of NZ. Bird wise it’s wide flat braided rivers, mountains and valleys, coastal shore birds and oceans, flying raptors (although we only have two species of raptor in daytime plus a couple of owls at night). Other than that it’s general observation of deer, Thar, seals, sea lions and so on.

Given that, high magnification is of more utility than nimble wide fov to chase darting small birds in dense woodland, for example.

The reason for not doing what you suggest with regards to getting both is that under NZ consumer law there’s no right of return other than in the case of faulty goods. Changing your mind isn’t considered a reason for return.

The nearest Leica dealer doesn’t have Noctivids and isn’t prepared to order such an expensive item just so I can try it!

Hi Kiwimac.

Do you have a scope? It sounds like one may help greatly with i.d's if you haven't, I think even with a scope to hand in open country binoculars are still essential to help locate interesting subjects, I often find I can arrive at an overlook with the scope and start picking off what I can see naked eye with it before using the bins and finding a lot more of interest to zero in on with the scope.

On the topic of NL image flatness I agree that it's probably an effect of the narrow depth of field with a 12x and the aggressive field flateners Swarovski use. I personally don't mind the flateners as it helps when your looking for something you may have seen move or heard in a bush/tree/reeds etc and want to assess the area at a glance through the bins without spending too much time looking through them in case the bird flies off from the area and was out of the bins fov in the first place.

Having said that although a flat field helps (especially with static targets) it's far from essential, even binoculars with a large amount of field curvature and/or astigmatism will still show movement on the edge of the field adequately enough to know the area to centre the fov on.

As far as the shallow depth of field goes it's one of those pick a winner scenario's. I had a good view of a cuckoo today, probably around 75m away (there's a few around here at the moment) - the view would have been better with a 10x or 12x but with my 8x bins i could still just pan down without refocusing when some warblers flew through the fov around 35m away and get a good enough view for an i.d, I doubt a 12x would have had the depth or width of field to do that.

Will

 

[Kiwimac]

Hi Kiwimac.

Do you have a scope? It sounds like one may help greatly with i.d's if you haven't, I think even with a scope to hand in open country binoculars are still essential to help locate interesting subjects, I often find I can arrive at an overlook with the scope and start picking off what I can see naked eye with it before using the bins and finding a lot more of interest to zero in on with the scope.

On the topic of NL image flatness I agree that it's probably an effect of the narrow depth of field with a 12x and the aggressive field flateners Swarovski use. I personally don't mind the flateners as it helps when your looking for something you may have seen move or heard in a bush/tree/reeds etc and want to assess the area at a glance through the bins without spending too much time looking through them in case the bird flies off from the area and was out of the bins fov in the first place.

Having said that although a flat field helps (especially with static targets) it's far from essential, even binoculars with a large amount of field curvature and/or astigmatism will still show movement on the edge of the field adequately enough to know the area to centre the fov on.

As far as the shallow depth of field goes it's one of those pick a winner scenario's. I had a good view of a cuckoo today, probably around 75m away (there's a few around here at the moment) - the view would have been better with a 10x or 12x but with my 8x bins i could still just pan down without refocusing when some warblers flew through the fov around 35m away and get a good enough view for an i.d, I doubt a 12x would have had the depth or width of field to do that.

Will

Thanks and you’re right.

No, don’t have a scope although I should probably think about that. That Swaro BTX looks like a great thing (in theory at least - never looked through one) and I do like the idea of both digiscoping and a bit of night sky gazing too.

I’ve had a modest success with getting both the SF and Noctivid 10x in the same place to try.

I had to ring the Leica agent in NZ and apply a bit of arm twisting, but they agreed to send their demo pair down to a local dealer who also has the SF on his shelf.

I won’t get any kind of field experience but at least I can handle them and look through them for a while before deciding.

As has been said many times, the quality of the image between the two at that level is personal preference rather than quantitative and the weight/handling/build quality is of at least equal importance so I should be able to get a good idea of that.

Mentally I lean towards Leica but I can’t help but think the focus wheel is on the wrong side of the bridge which the SF gets correct.

It just looks like the SF focus is in line with where my fingers would be whereas the Leica is slightly out of alignment in that regard.