To those interested,
I recently bought a New In Box pair of Ultravid HD 7x42. I have, in the past, tested the 8x42 versions of the UV BR/HD/HD+ and also the new Noctivid. I have always found Control of Chromatic Aberration a bit worse than in some of the other top end models, particular the Victory T*FL and Kowa Genesis; I had also tested the BR/HD/HD+ side by side for about an hour in the field, and found very few differences especially between the HD and HD+ (the HD+ may have been very slightly brighter but I would struggle to say that was the case).
I was a bit leery, but ultimately decided to make the purchase as it had the full warranty (3 YR Passport/Lifetime limited) and 7x42s are in short supply, in addition to the significant cost savings relative to the HD+ which I didn't find much better than the HD, as mentioned above.I've had these for about a month now and wanted to make some initial impressions. Overall, I am very pleased with the binoculars. The below information is a summation of my thoughts after about 1.3 months, as the view exists through my eyes.
I'm happy to say that I do not find Chromatic Aberrations particularly problematic with this model; I am not sure if this is a result of my eyes perception of CA changing over time, or due to reduced magnification resulting in less prominent aberration (I have noticed CA seems worse to my eyes as you move up in magnification from 8x to 10x+). I would like to get a pair of 8 or 10x UV HD/HD+ in hand to side by side with the 7x and see if it is truly magnification related or something with my eyes, because as I mentioned above, a couple years back I definitely found the 8x disagreeable in terms of CA.
In terms of color, they are what I would call typical Leica: highly saturated and mostly neutral but with a tendency to exaggerate reds/browns. They do not appear "warm" to my eyes like the Meopta or Zeiss Victory, which seemed to exaggerate or show a cast of yellows/greens. Overall I find the color exceptionally pleasing, but maybe not perfectly neutral.
Considering difficult lighting conditions, I will sometimes notice a narrow band of light on the rim of the lower portion of the field. This doesn't seem to degrade overall image quality outside of this very narrow portion of the field, but may be slightly distracting to some. I do not notice any haze over the image.
In terms of sweet spot size and performance outside of this, I'd say this is really close to what I want/expect to see from a binocular without field flattening elements. Very mild pincushion distortion, visible to my eyes starting around 50-60% from field center. Astigmatism in this portion of the field is likely very mild, as I can for the most part refocus the edges. The best comparison I have owned is probably the SLC-HD, which was exceptional in it's own right. In comparison to the 7x42 T*FL I owned and, I find that the fall off from the sweet spot to be fantastic, as the FL seemed to display a more noticeable drop (likely due to astigmatism in the view).
Overall sharpness is fantastic and on par with any other alpha you will view through. I find sharpness to be such a variable trait depending upon the user, but I can easily make out fine feather details at the ranges you'd expect from an alpha 7x. I was somewhat worried the high saturation may limit contrast, as I've seen from some cameras that appear to oversaturate an image, but I've yet to notice this.
Build quality is very good and again on par with any alpha you'd find. Eyecups are perfectly responsive and stay in place, the focus knob is mostly smooth and operated perfectly in the recent "cold snap" of -15F, hinge tension is great. The binoculars are certainly compact and light compared to other full sized alphas.
Compared to the only other full-sized alpha 7x I've owned, the Victory T*FL, it is hard to say which I'd prefer; colors and ease of use appear better with the T*FL which was a bit more tricky with eye placement, but the FL was somewhat brighter and had even less CA as well as a wider field of view (I could barely detect it in even the worst situations). I think I prefer the Ultravid overall, but I'd certainly not argue with someone who preferred the FL (and I don't have them side by side, so I am going from notes and recollections with the FL, anyways).
I know this report seems odd given that the UV HD is not even readily available, but I thought some may be interested in my thoughts - particularly those interested in the HD+ which I consider for all practical purposes to be identical. With the weather we've had lately, birding conditions have been very poor, but I will try and update this as time goes on, particularly in the spring/summer when I think 7x really come into their own.
Justin
I recently bought a New In Box pair of Ultravid HD 7x42. I have, in the past, tested the 8x42 versions of the UV BR/HD/HD+ and also the new Noctivid. I have always found Control of Chromatic Aberration a bit worse than in some of the other top end models, particular the Victory T*FL and Kowa Genesis; I had also tested the BR/HD/HD+ side by side for about an hour in the field, and found very few differences especially between the HD and HD+ (the HD+ may have been very slightly brighter but I would struggle to say that was the case).
I was a bit leery, but ultimately decided to make the purchase as it had the full warranty (3 YR Passport/Lifetime limited) and 7x42s are in short supply, in addition to the significant cost savings relative to the HD+ which I didn't find much better than the HD, as mentioned above.I've had these for about a month now and wanted to make some initial impressions. Overall, I am very pleased with the binoculars. The below information is a summation of my thoughts after about 1.3 months, as the view exists through my eyes.
I'm happy to say that I do not find Chromatic Aberrations particularly problematic with this model; I am not sure if this is a result of my eyes perception of CA changing over time, or due to reduced magnification resulting in less prominent aberration (I have noticed CA seems worse to my eyes as you move up in magnification from 8x to 10x+). I would like to get a pair of 8 or 10x UV HD/HD+ in hand to side by side with the 7x and see if it is truly magnification related or something with my eyes, because as I mentioned above, a couple years back I definitely found the 8x disagreeable in terms of CA.
In terms of color, they are what I would call typical Leica: highly saturated and mostly neutral but with a tendency to exaggerate reds/browns. They do not appear "warm" to my eyes like the Meopta or Zeiss Victory, which seemed to exaggerate or show a cast of yellows/greens. Overall I find the color exceptionally pleasing, but maybe not perfectly neutral.
Considering difficult lighting conditions, I will sometimes notice a narrow band of light on the rim of the lower portion of the field. This doesn't seem to degrade overall image quality outside of this very narrow portion of the field, but may be slightly distracting to some. I do not notice any haze over the image.
In terms of sweet spot size and performance outside of this, I'd say this is really close to what I want/expect to see from a binocular without field flattening elements. Very mild pincushion distortion, visible to my eyes starting around 50-60% from field center. Astigmatism in this portion of the field is likely very mild, as I can for the most part refocus the edges. The best comparison I have owned is probably the SLC-HD, which was exceptional in it's own right. In comparison to the 7x42 T*FL I owned and, I find that the fall off from the sweet spot to be fantastic, as the FL seemed to display a more noticeable drop (likely due to astigmatism in the view).
Overall sharpness is fantastic and on par with any other alpha you will view through. I find sharpness to be such a variable trait depending upon the user, but I can easily make out fine feather details at the ranges you'd expect from an alpha 7x. I was somewhat worried the high saturation may limit contrast, as I've seen from some cameras that appear to oversaturate an image, but I've yet to notice this.
Build quality is very good and again on par with any alpha you'd find. Eyecups are perfectly responsive and stay in place, the focus knob is mostly smooth and operated perfectly in the recent "cold snap" of -15F, hinge tension is great. The binoculars are certainly compact and light compared to other full sized alphas.
Compared to the only other full-sized alpha 7x I've owned, the Victory T*FL, it is hard to say which I'd prefer; colors and ease of use appear better with the T*FL which was a bit more tricky with eye placement, but the FL was somewhat brighter and had even less CA as well as a wider field of view (I could barely detect it in even the worst situations). I think I prefer the Ultravid overall, but I'd certainly not argue with someone who preferred the FL (and I don't have them side by side, so I am going from notes and recollections with the FL, anyways).
I know this report seems odd given that the UV HD is not even readily available, but I thought some may be interested in my thoughts - particularly those interested in the HD+ which I consider for all practical purposes to be identical. With the weather we've had lately, birding conditions have been very poor, but I will try and update this as time goes on, particularly in the spring/summer when I think 7x really come into their own.
Justin
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