Leica APO Televid 82 - User thoughts? (2 Viewers)

[Will K]

Among currently available new scopes, its quite a rare choice. Anyone who can afford it is probably looking at the Swaro ATX/BTX/STX, Zeiss Harpia or a Kowa Prominar first of all. Does this signify? Leica has a serious fanbase in binoculars, but there's not so much discussion of their scopes. Their latest model looks like an absolute beauty, though.

I've searched the archives for user thoughts and gathered some feedback here and there, but I'm curious to hear some new opinions about this particular model (as pictured below).

What do folk think about this one? Has it been outclassed by the competition? Or is the price still high for a reason?

 

[henry link]

I've never tested or even seen this scope, but I can tell you that it has developed a bad reputation for excessive spherical aberration among people I know and trust who have tested it. If you find one to try the first thing to do is to star-test it. Usually poor performance is irrelevant to brand loyalists, so if even the Leica faithful are are not buying it I don't know what would explain that.

 

[Will K]

a bad reputation for excessive spherical aberration

I find that kind of thing annoying in optics. But I'll certainly find a model in a shop and test it for myself, when I can.

 

[William Lewis]

And the zoom eye piece only goes to 50x, most 82's are 20- 60x at least and the old Nikon field scopes were 75x i.e it's a 2x range when most are 3x or at least the option of 2x, 3x OR a wide angle fixed. That seems to be the only eye piece available although you can buy the 1.8 extender which according to leica's website give you "previously unheard of" magnifications of 90x! No mention of the corresponding 0.9mm exit pupil though.

Will

 

[Will K]

No mention of the corresponding 0.9mm exit pupil

Ouch. That’s challenging

 

[Tringa45]

And the zoom eye piece only goes to 50x,

The Leica 25-50x (8,8-17,8 mm) zoom eyepiece with aspherical element(s) seems to enjoy a very good reputation amongst amateur astronomers. It is, or was, available with adapters for 1 1/4" and 2" barrels.
The Swarovski 25-50x zoom (9,2-18,4 mm) or Kowa TE11WZ (8,3-20 mm) would be potential competitors but AFAIK there are no 2" adapters available.

John

 

[William Lewis]

The Leica 25-50x (8,8-17,8 mm) zoom eyepiece with aspherical element(s) seems to enjoy a very good reputation amongst amateur astronomers. It is, or was, available with adapters for 1 1/4" and 2" barrels.
The Swarovski 25-50x zoom (9,2-18,4 mm) or Kowa TE11WZ (8,3-20 mm) would be potential competitors but AFAIK there are no 2" adapters available.

John

It should be - it's £650-£700 new. You could buy the Nikon 30-60 and 20-60 eye pieces for that!

 

[Will K]

Yeah, the eyepiece is eye-wateringly expensive, by itself. With a max 50x zoom, I'd also want to get the 1.8 extender. All that certainly puts it in a similar price category to the Harpia and ATX.