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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

"Zeiss Victory 7x42 T* FL" vs "Leica Ultravid 7x42 HD" (1 Viewer)

Brock,

Me thinks you still had the Promaster website stuck in your "copy/paste" memory when you went to put the link up for astromart.

;)
 
One important point: If you are blind as a bat and don't like to use eyeglasses, go with Zeiss, because it has greater overdrive past infinity.

I had a Trinovid 8x42 BA and it was a fantastic device, breath-taking every time I picked it up but its lack of over drive past infinity to accommodate myopia of 5.5 diopters was a deal breaker for me. I had to use either eyeglasses or contact lenses with it. If the Ultravid HD is an improvement, then it's a serious consideration.

I went with Swarovski EL as it had an overdrive of 6 diopters past infinity versus 4 diopters that Leica offers. I believe Zeiss is even better at 7 diopters.

I find it hard to believe that the makers are focusing on close-up focus distance but are neglecting overdrive past infinity, which IMO is more important. I can live with not seeing something at 5m but hate to use eyeglasses as you just never get a great fit, plus ER might not be the greatest.
This may not be applicable to everyone.
 
As stated I also think the 7x leica is their best overall glass followed by their excellent 10x50. The leica has always had more wow factor than any bin Ive ever had. That said the one shortcoming for me and its a biggie, is the small apparent fov, I can't live with it. I thought it better in every way other than Ca, to the fls. Zeiss shallow dof and soft edges is their shortcomings. Zeiss also gives me a bit of eyeroll I dont get with leica or Swarovski, or NIKON for that mater. Overall the leica was a better view for me. So I compromise with a 8.5,el that almost has it all, leica has better color to me. And the 10x50 leica which is great, my favorite 10x. Note the Swarovski 10x50 is incredible and probally on average sharper than the leica, but for me the leica has a somewhat more relaxed view. If leica put a wide angle in their 7x42, it would have no equal imo.
 
As stated I also think the 7x leica is their best overall glass followed by their excellent 10x50. .............................. If leica put a wide angle in their 7x42, it would have no equal imo.

Leica already has a wide angle view in it's 7 x 42 Ultravid. It is 420' at 1000 yards. The Zeiss 7 x 42 is 450' at 1000 yards. That works out to 3 feet difference at 100 yards and 1 foot difference at 100 feet. (6 inches on both sides of the view if your subject is centered.) Nikon's new EDG 7 x 42 has 419' at 1000 yards and Meopta's is 411 feet. Swarovski no longer makes a 7 x 42 and off hand, I can't think of another one in this price range. I don't think that FOV is a big deal on top rated 7 x 42's. There are other issues that people could disagree on though.

Bob
 
Ime looking at the apparent fov, which is the circular image u see when looking into the sky or a wall, which is small by 7x standards. In other words 420 is to a 7x what 360 to 370 is to an 8x, ok but not good either. It gives a similar feel to a nikon 8x42hg or Swarovski8x50 n other words if its compared to say a leica 10x50 the 10 doesn't feel as restricted. For me its thet deal breaker especially for and alpha class bin. Zeiss got it right in that regard. 7s are awsome but I need the 60 plus angle of view.
 
I never noticed the difference. 454' in my Nikon 8 x 30 EII is still bigger than 409' in my Swarovski 8 x 30 SLC and Nikon 8 x 32 LX L and the 390' in my Nikon 8 x 32 SE. There is no difference in their Depth of Field view because they are all 8x.

And looking at birds in the top of the Maple tree 100 feet off my deck, the 11'+- FOV in my Swift 8.5 x 44 Audubon 828 (336 @1000yrds) is virtually the same as the 11'+- FOV as my Nikon 10 x 32 EDG (342'@1000yrds) except the birds are larger in the latter. There is a difference in the depths of their respective fields at 100', the Swift has more than the Nikon.

When I compare their view of Crows in an Oak tree 100 yards distant the same thing holds true, except the depth of field difference is not noticeable at that distance.

I've also compared these same views in my 7 x 42 Leica Trinovid which has the same 420' FOV as my 8 x 42 Vortex Diamondback and got the same results. Again, here the DOF of the 7x is much deeper than the 8x at 100 feet but not noticeable at 100 yards.

There is no difference in depth of field at any distance among the 5 10x binoculars I own: Nikon, Minox and Eagle, which includes 3 roofs and 2 porros. Three have FOV's of 315' @ 1000yrds (2 roofs, 1porro). One has 342' @ 1000yrds and one 375' @1000 yrds and I can see the difference among them in the views described above, but none of them are in any way restrictive.
 
I think it may be just what you get use to using. For me I like an apparent fov of 60 min in anything under 10x and bigger yet on 10s. The fall into view of an 8.5 el or 10x50slc or leica, or any zeiss fl. The impact of the image is intenseified, it has more impact. I know in a hunting scope fov can make or break a scope. It's the difference in seeing and not being able to identify your Target late in the evening. The best glass in The world is imo limited by its fov. Seeing more area is seeing better in a given power. That's different than bins though. I still love some of the great 7s out there, leica being my favorite glass and build wise. I just with they would use a wide angle eyepeice.
 
If they did go to a "wide angle" eye piece you would probably end up with shorter eye relief and softer edges though. The Nikon EII's have much shorter eye relief than the SEs do. And they also don't have as sharp edges either. There are compromises every where. Although I have never used the Zeiss 7 x 42 so I don't know about their edges and at their prices I will have to wait till I am at a dealer who carries them to try one out.
 
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