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Leica Ultravid 'sharpness' - advice please (1 Viewer)

P

PennineBirder

Well-known member
Would any of the optics enthusiasts here be able to offer any advice on the following please?.

A couple of years ago I returned a pair of original Ultravid 8x32 (i.e. not the HD ones) back to Leica for attention to the notchy focus wheel that had never stopped bugging me even after 7 years of use. It was returned under warranty with a nice new smooth focus action.

However, the view through them didn't seem to be as good as I remembered them to be before sending them off - but I wasn't sure. A year or so ago I bought myself a pair of Zeiss HT 8 x 42 and the sharpness was so much better than the Leicas I assumed this was the result of modern optics and put the inferior view of the Leicas down to 'old technology'.

Having used the Leicas a lot recently the inferior sharpness has once again started to play on my mind and when comparing the view through each barrel separately (though the same eye) the right hand barrel is less sharp than the left one.

Does this sound possible - i.e. one barrel is sharper than the other? They aren't out of alignment - giving a nice binocular view, just not razor sharp.

Any advice gratefully received.
Peter
 
PennineBirder said:
Would any of the optics enthusiasts here be able to offer any advice on the following please?.

A couple of years ago I returned a pair of original Ultravid 8x32 (i.e. not the HD ones) back to Leica for attention to the notchy focus wheel that had never stopped bugging me even after 7 years of use. It was returned under warranty with a nice new smooth focus action.

However, the view through them didn't seem to be as good as I remembered them to be before sending them off - but I wasn't sure. A year or so ago I bought myself a pair of Zeiss HT 8 x 42 and the sharpness was so much better than the Leicas I assumed this was the result of modern optics and put the inferior view of the Leicas down to 'old technology'.

Having used the Leicas a lot recently the inferior sharpness has once again started to play on my mind and when comparing the view through each barrel separately (though the same eye) the right hand barrel is less sharp than the left one.

Does this sound possible - i.e. one barrel is sharper than the other? They aren't out of alignment - giving a nice binocular view, just not razor sharp.

Any advice gratefully received.
Peter
Click to expand...

Peter,

The only thing I can suggest is that the diopter ring is not correct, since one barrel is not complete sharp. Did you check that?

Jan
 
PennineBirder said:
Does this sound possible - i.e. one barrel is sharper than the other? They aren't out of alignment - giving a nice binocular view, just not razor sharp.
Click to expand...

I personally think it is possible but I am not in the know. WJC or others are in another galaxy compared to me on this. As over-simplistic as it sounds, the diopter ring that JVD mentioned above would be the most likely cause, far and away based on odds. Have you checked that?

I have currently run a pair of Leica Ultravid HD 8x42s as my "main" pair of bins, but the HT is an AWESOME piece of gear! My hat is off to the HTs and can only imagine how good the SFs are if similar to the HTs but more birder-friendly.
 
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Peter,

It is entirely possible that one barrel is sharper than the other. In fact, in almost all binoculars one barrel is sharper if one examines it with boosted magnification. Whether or not your eye can detect the difference is another question, but the answer again is that it is quite possible for there to be a visible difference in centerfield sharpness between the barrels.

What is visible will depend on your personal visual acuity, for each eye, and the possible faults of each barrel of the binocular. In addition, it will depend on lighting conditions and a number of other factors to a lesser extent.

You will know more if you can set the binoculars on a tripod and examine the view very carefully. Very useful will be turning them upside-down so you can ascertain that the weaker side follows the binocular and not your eyes. Same can be done with one-eyed viewing with your better eye through each barrel separately.

Kimmo
 
If the diopter doesn't even up the barrels, I'd send them back to Leica.

The lack of sharpness may be a matter of perspective. I also have the original Ultravid 8x32, and when comparing them to my Zeiss FLs there is a marked difference in sharpness. But the Ultravids have such nice color, and such a relaxing view I find myself using them most of the time.
 
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kabsetz said:
It is entirely possible that one barrel is sharper than the other. In fact, in almost all binoculars one barrel is sharper if one examines it with boosted magnification.
Click to expand...

Exactly... I've never had a pair of binoculars where one barrel was the same as the other. Ever. Including a Leica 8x32BN, 8x32BR and my current 8x32HD.
 
Thanks everyone for your helpful comments. I have looked closely again following the various suggestions here but realise now that a non-scientific casual examination such as I have been doing is perhaps not the best way to test optics and is open to subjective conclusions. For example it was surprising (to me) just how much apparent fall off in sharpness was noticed when viewing only slightly off-axis when looking through one barrel at a time with the 'wrong' eye etc.

I think from the comments above the slight difference in sharpness between the barrels is probably within tolerance after all. Maybe my expectations for the Ultravids have been raised higher after using the Zeiss HT for a while when previously I was more than satisfied with them. I still enjoy using them though.
best regards
Peter
 
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