User experience: I am carrying around and using my "soft" 7x42 UV HD around town. Interestingly, my subjective opinion is they are somehow "dehazing", and getting decently clear. I still have a set of printed slanted edge testcharts with small lozenges set up at home from when I was writing MTF software for testing cameras, and I feel or see the view evolving. If you think I'm imagining things, I have no problem with that. For all I know, I may be slowly rubbing 6 years of display case deposit off the oculars - there have been similar reports on this forum of improvements through user cleaning although maybe for other vendors.
The resolution for ground-level urban view, traffic street signs and pedestrians at 500m or so is very very good. The moon is sharp, craters beautifully defined. However for viewing Paris rooftop edges, chimney materials etc in dull conditions, I still think they simply lack snap, this may be residual haze, a design issue related to the medium-range focus distance or to sky back-light or all of the above. For instance, I simply couldn't get a decent "visual lock" on the gold and on the bronze figures on top of the Paris Opera, be it from a nearby building window or from ground level, and it's not just about looking upwards. Without a marked feeling of texture, I can't sketch.
For carrying around while walking these Leica binoculars are a pleasure to use, immediate to look through in spite of my glasses and very useful, they allow me to visually orient to a middle distance 200-500m away which I wouldn't usually resolve. Tonight I could clearly view buildings on the hilly outskirts of Paris, while walking well inside the city. Also, I was able to spot Chinese restaurants a block away while going out with "her" tonight, even read that the cuisine was Vietnamese, and the urban use of binos ket the walking goal-oriented and the glasses got the seal of approval!
However, I still see a pair of something else, probably Zeiss SF in my future for viewing buildings and rooflines as this is the reason why I "need" binos, just as most members here "need" their alphas for birding
My pair simply isn't getting that job done, I'm not seeing enough building texture in diffuse light.
I've tested the Zeiss SF 8x and 10x42 and they both give a delightfully detailed and easy view, they show detail and texture, with the 10x somewhat less bright and the 8x with a touch of disorientation on movement (rolling ball?. If I decide to keep rather than resell the Leica 7x I face the choice of the somewhat redundant 8x or a markedly less bright 10x; I think the field size of both is adequate, even compared with my 7x. The only thing I dislike about the Zeiss is the size (and the price). In comparison the Ultravids are wonderfully compact. I've ruled out Sv because of my exceptionally narrow IPD. In the end, I'd love to have had a really contrasty pair of 7x42 UV HD glasses as I really like the Ultravid feel and design, they were a good first try but I have no wish to fight it out with Leica.
Edmund
PS. My UV HD pair costs about 60% of the price of a Zeiss SF - this story confirms yet again that in optics you mostly get what you pay for.
