Hello all
Today’s ramblings will be a comparison of the view through the binoculars. This is category 3. The last category in my comparison of the Zeiss Victory 8x32 T*FL vs. the Leica Trinovid 8x32BN. I suppose this is the most important of the 3 categories of comparison and will be the most interesting to the reader.
Over the last few days I have been out and about and covered a good 16 miles or so. (I have removed about 8 Ticks form my dog!!). I have been around the coast both rocky and sandy, in oak woodland with Hazel brush, dappled light and deep gorges with mosses and in upland Pine, Larch & Spuce plantation with good views across Heather moorland and Birch to snow capped mountains etc. Typical birds have been Great / Blue / Coal tits, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Bullfinch (males are stunning), Linnet, Pied & Grey Wagtails, Eider, Shag, Merganser, Gannet, Black Guillemot, Oystercatcher, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Blackcap Great Spotted Woodpecker, Cuckoo, Buzzard, Dipper to name but a few. So it’s been birds in the sky, birds on the sea and shore and birds in the bush. It is mid Spring, the leafs are half out and the sun dazzlingly bright at times. The weather has been mostly dry and bright with full sunshine and a light breeze however there have been times when it was fairly overcast with brief spells of rain and passing showers. So I have taken both binoculars and tried to form an opinion as to what is the superior of the two out in the field.
As I said before, I am not an optics buff and so I can’t go into real technical details, if you want exact measurements you just have to look at the manufacturers figures. What follows are just my opinions based on using these binoculars in the field and hopefully they will be of some value to Joe average who may be curious. I am only going to call one or the other a winner in each parameter if I can genuinely detect a major difference when in practical use in the field.
Colour rendition:
Both of these binoculars show amazing true to life colours and are deeply pleasing to look through. My eyes cannot detect any obvious bias towards red or blue warm or cold in either of the two. To me they just look like what your eye sees naturally but 8x closer. After having spent a long time looking and comparing I can say that the Zeiss has the more vibrant colours all round, especially the reds and greens seem fresher to me. They are more contrasty somehow and make fine details of plumage more obvious, especially at distance and against a bright background like for example a Goldfinch at the top of a large tree with a bright sky behind or a distant Black Guillemot on a sparkling sea (you can clearly make out the white spot at huge distance). For me the Zeiss show the most pleasing picture. The Leicas colour rendition for me is amazingly superb but the Zeiss for me is really truly astonishing. Sometimes in varying lighting situations to me the colour difference between the two was hard to detect at first glance when I started the comparisons, but then as time went on the difference became more obvious. Winner: Zeiss
Image brightness:
In my opinion this area of the image is where I see the clearest difference between the two binoculars. To me the image through the Zeiss is clearly brighter almost every time I compare them. Don’t get me wrong the Leica is still nice and bright but there can be no argument here, the Zeiss is definitely brighter. I find this difference much more obvious to detect than the differences in for example colour rendition mentioned above. Some users might feel the Zeiss is too bright and that there are viewing situations where the Leica would be preferable but I like the extra brightness. Winner: Clearly Zeiss
Resolution and edge sharpness:
This is a hard one for me, the whole edge sharpness thing for me personally is a little irrelevant as when I look at an object I instinctively do so by getting it into the centre of my field of vision or the ‘sweet spot’ if you like, I don’t go squinting to the edge with my eye but would rather move my neck to get the object into the middle of my view. I guess this is just a personal thing about how folks like to use thier binoculars but I appreciate that many people seem to be very concerned about edge sharpness. The level of detail and resolution between these two binoculars is for me much the same. Both show an uncanny level of detail and are truly amazing. It can be tempting to call the Zeiss the winner here sometimes because of its brightness but if we evaluate on just pure level of resolution and detail alone I honestly cannot detect any obvious difference between them either in the centre or the edge. In my opinion the sharpness gets worse the further out from the middle you go in both binoculars to more or less the same degree. Both have a really big sweet spot in the middle, the Zeiss maybe a wee bit larger? For me it’s very hard to measure with any certainty. Both have amazing resolution. Winner: Draw.
Depth of field:
Again I can’t really separate them here, if there is a difference it must be so small I can’t detect it during practical field use. Both binoculars require very little in the way of focus adjustment and finding what you want to look at is almost automatic and effortless. The depth of field is huge on both. Winner: Draw.
Field of view:
Both have a superb wide view. The Zeiss to my eye has a slightly wider field than the Leica. The more you use them the more this becomes obvious. I will also say that at first when you snap the binocular up to your eyes the Zeiss view seems wider than the real difference probably is because of the superior brightness. Winner: Clearly Zeiss.
Close focus:
This parameter is fairly easy to measure directly. Different samples and different people may give other findings. My close focus with the Leica is approx 190cm +/- 5cm the Zeiss is clearly better at approx 175cm +/- 5cm. Both are really close and make watching insects or wild flowers almost as enjoyable as watching birds! Winner: Clearly Zeiss.
Control of light flare and eye positioning:
This parameter will probably be more variable depending who is using the binoculars. I personally was a wee bit surprised here and a wee bit disappointed and I think I may need more time to get truly accurate findings. I feel the Leica is slightly superior in controlling loose light in bright and dappled light. Upon a visual inspection of the interior of the barrels this would seem counter intuitive as the Leicas have a few fairly obvious large component screws and what seems to me to be unpainted aluminium components, the Zeiss looks a little neater and blacker inside although the unpainted metal rods that move the focusing element can be seen fairly obviously. In both binoculars for me the flare (when it occurs which is thankfully not often) manifests itself as two hazy upward pointing curves of light that appear near the bottom of the field of vision. Both being the 8x32mm format they both have 4mm exit pupils and would naturally dictate more care with eye placement than the 42mm objective format. Even though the Leica only has one pulled out position of the eyepiece giving 13.3mm eye relief (manufacturers stats) I find it the perfect distance for me and every time I place the Leica to my face I get more or less the perfect eye placement. I am finding I have to take greater care with my eye placement to get the right picture on the Zeiss. Even though the Zeiss has 4 pull out eyepiece options giving up to 16mm eye relief (manufacturers stats) I have, over the course of this comparison moved to using the 3rd furthest out setting as I think this lessens the loose light severity. It may be that it is simply because the Zeiss are my new binoculars and I’m getting used to them after using the Leica for years that I am getting what seems to be poorer loose light control, but for this straightforward comparison I find light flare slightly better controlled in the Leica and for me it’s much easier to get proper eye placement faster with them. Winner: Leica
Lens coatings:
In a nutshell when you look at the binoculars you get the impression the Zeiss has a greater application of lens coatings, it looks more ‘bling’. They are an orangey , reddish, sometimes purplish and occasionally appear very shiny. The Leicas seem to have less lens coatings and they are a bluish greenish more subtle colour. I prefer the look of the Leicas coatings. In the years I have used the Leica I can confirm that the coatings are very durable and unscratched and still have a lovely deep shine. They are also very easy to keep clean. As for whether the superior brightness of the Zeiss is down to its T* lens coatings or the dielectric layer on the their Schmidt-Pechan prisms I can’t say for sure but I suppose they must contribute somehow. I believe the Trinovid has Silver coated prisms? The Lotutec coatings seem to me to attract just as much dust as the Leica coatings and are no easier to keep clean of dust, I see no real difference there and think that the Lotutec claims may be a bit over stated by the manufacturer, certainly as far as dust repellence is concerned. I have to admit I have not made a comparison of splashing water on the coatings so I will leave that for a future update when I have given them more use in the rain. Winner: well if it is certain that the T* coatings are partly responsible for the superior Zeiss brightness then Zeiss, if it’s the dielectric prism layer then it’s a Draw.
Summary:
Well that’s the end of my comparison between the Zeiss Victory 8x32T* FL and the Leica Trinovid 8x32BN binoculars. I hope that my findings will be of interest to members of the forum.
I won’t bore you with going over all the information again so I will sum up by saying that optically (where it counts the most) the Zeiss is clearly the superior binocular in this comparison. It is rather astonishing how good it is. The Leica Trinovid is an older binocular and Leica have a more modern 8x32 to go head to head with the Zeiss but I wanted to see how the old classic measures up to the new kids on the block. For me the Trinovid is still truly excellent and comes with an unconditional recommendation from me, if you are upgrading to the Leica from lesser brands you will see the difference in optics straight away .
I conclude (I suppose like all others before) that the FL glass as applied in the Victory really does yield superior optical results.
If you have plenty money and want the best then I think you will be delighted with the Zeiss Victory, it has to be one of the finest 8x32 binoculars you can buy at any price and I do not regret my purchase for a moment (you probably don’t need the Lotutec for the optical benefits and second hand can be very worthwhile if you are patient). I came close to buying a new Nikon EDG 8x32 as it is claimed by some to be the ultimate 8x32 currently and they never seem to come up second hand. The price of the EDG seems to be coming down recently but it was a bit too expensive for me in the end. I would love to do a comparison between my Victory and the EDG but I will have to wait a few years I think until the funds are available.
If you are on a budget (probably the majority) then I think you will be equally delighted with the Trinovid (obviously it will have to be second hand unless you wait for the new Trinovid that is being released now although no sign of the 8x32 yet). It is still a professional class instrument and you won't see less birds with it. To give you an example I once owned the Pentax 8x32 DCF SP and new that costs approximately the same +/- £50 as a used Trinovid 8x32BN or BA. The Trinovid is far far and away superior in all respects.
Happy Birding!!