Yes... quantitative technical reports can be somewhat helpful, to a degree.
But qualitative user reports are especially meaningful! This forum is great for that.
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Leica UVHD+... all I can say is that the view is simply "DELICIOUS" (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter ZDHart
- Start date
But qualitative user reports are especially meaningful! This forum is great for that.
MiddleRiver
Well-known member
Best thing to do before buying is a bit of research. Check with your regional/country retailers and also reviewers, for specifications. The few USA retail sites I checked (B&H is my primary source for camera gear and bins) do have the measurements correct.
ANYWAY... let's get back to the topic at hand: Ultravid HD Plus... now that I have three pair of them (8x32, 7x42, 10x42) I'm sold on these magnificent bins. I still enjoy my Zeiss Victory SF, the two pair of Conquest HDs, and two pair of Swaro CL Pockets, but there is the Leica look and feel of the Ultravid HD Plus bins that put them in a special realm for me.
I will admit that now, I am a little bit spoiled by UVHD+, when it comes to the Conquest HDs. 🤫. The Conquest HDs are (if I had to put numbers to them) perhaps 98% of the alphas - bordering on alpha, really quite excellent! But the Leica UVHD+ have that Leica "look" to the picture image that Zeiss just does not offer.
Of the three UVHD+ bins... the 10x42 will definitely see the most use, followed by the 8x32. I may not use the 7x42 as much, though they are awesome bins. And I keep the Zeiss Victory SF 8x32s on the kitchen counter to grab up when I see interesting things going on out on the property.
I'm at home most of the time, retired, so my use is primarily from inside my house, reclining in a recliner. - I have a magnificent wildlife watching setup right off the back patio, and a wall of glass looking out there. From the relaxing position in the recliner, I'm finding the 10x42s to be, perhaps, the perfect choice, but I keep the 8x32, 7x42, and 10x42 Ultravids on the table right beside the recliners, to be able to quickly grab up.
Rabbit having an evening drink - view from the recliner. The water bowls and bird feeders are about 50' out from the house.
J
Harris Hawk - a trio of them live nearby and frequent the property daily.
Wiley Coyote - they stop by nightly.
It's WILD out there!
Stunning pics! May I ask how they are taken and with what? Are you shooting through window?
Cheers!
a
etc
Well-known member
Leica was my first binocular. I never thought much of it, other than the 'delicious' feedback I got much like you. Thing is, it's impossible to best them. And that was an old Trinovid. I can only imagine how latest-greatest top of the line Ultravid feels like.
In terms of design, compactness and view quality it's unequal.
The only reason I use either Zeiss or Swarovski is because these have higher overdrive past infinity. I like to use the devices without eyeglasses and I am blind as a bat at about -5 and Leica only goes up to -4 diopters.. Zeiss runs to -7. For some reason, Leica is stuck where the old Trinovids where. I don't care to see fleas on a butterfly 12 feet away, I need generous overdrive past infinity so I can avoid using eyeglasses! Surely I am not the only one in this boat. Nikon is another one who gets it.
I can't say a Zeiss like "HT" is inferior to Ultravid "plus" but Leica is certainly very nice. My favorite is 8x42 as one size fits all.
But Swarovksi EL does not offer any advantages over any Ultravid, neither does any Zeiss. No experience with "NL".
In terms of design, compactness and view quality it's unequal.
The only reason I use either Zeiss or Swarovski is because these have higher overdrive past infinity. I like to use the devices without eyeglasses and I am blind as a bat at about -5 and Leica only goes up to -4 diopters.. Zeiss runs to -7. For some reason, Leica is stuck where the old Trinovids where. I don't care to see fleas on a butterfly 12 feet away, I need generous overdrive past infinity so I can avoid using eyeglasses! Surely I am not the only one in this boat. Nikon is another one who gets it.
I can't say a Zeiss like "HT" is inferior to Ultravid "plus" but Leica is certainly very nice. My favorite is 8x42 as one size fits all.
But Swarovksi EL does not offer any advantages over any Ultravid, neither does any Zeiss. No experience with "NL".
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Thank you MR. I'm a retired commercial photographer. These days, I mostly shoot with a Lumix GX7 and Leica 12-60 f/2.8-4 lens. For these wildlife images, I used the GX7 with Lumix 100-300 lens, typically at 300mm (which is equivalent to a 600mm lens with a full-frame sensor size). No, I don't usually shoot through a window, but have once in a while when there is no time to get outside.
Among the Zeiss, Swarovski, Leica brands, I haven't found anything to quite rival UVHD+, to my liking, though there are certainly other very wonderful options out there. I've certainly enjoyed my numerous Zeiss SF & Conquest and Swarovski binoculars, but the x32 UVHD+ models are clearly my favorites.
In my opinion one of the best spotting scope reviews that I have read was conduducted by S&S Archery. From memory; the author compared several spotting scopes side by side over the course of one month. He talks about how close the quality of the views appeared to be and how, his favorite of the bunch changed from day to day and sometimes minute to minute depending on the changing light conditions. Even after one month of evaluation he had a hard time picking a clear winner.
This website with members like @ZDHart who have the ability to compare two, three or four pairs of binoculars daily and under varying conditions means much more to me than comparing technical specifications.
We are very fortunate to have such members.
Randy... very kind of you to say. And while I have been blessed with the opportunity to closely compare some excellent bins over time, and I have applied very close and careful observations, I am not a technical expert. I do very much appreciate the "non-expert" real world experienced opinions of many here on this forum, who have reported their first hand experience.
I have learned that comparing technical specs sometimes falls far short, in truly meaningful understanding, vs. simple comparing actual use of the compared binoculars. Some technical specifications which seem to imply significant differences between two models turn out to be only marginally significant (if meaningful at all) in actual use. It also seems that some people take some technical specifications to mean than one pair of bins will be quite superior to another, when in fact such differences may be of fairly minimal benefit in real world use.
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Have you ever compared the Ultravid HD to the Ultravid HD Plus in any apertures? Notice any difference? I only see a 2% advantage in transmission with the plus because of the Schott prisms, which I don't think you are going to see in normal use.
denco... I have never had the opportunity to view through UVHD... only five different UVHD+ binoculars which I have purchased this year and which, in every instance, have thoroughly impressed me! Leica has long perfected building a superb product, that's for sure! I would never hesitate buying a Leica product.
Funny... we were just at Shane Company in Scottsdale, AZ, a very large and quite successful diamond and jewelry retain chain here in the USA. In their glass room enclosed jeweler's technician department we observed eight workstations with jewelers hard at work, each looking through these massive desk workstation-mounted optical viewing devices, which no doubt gave huge magnification for their precise jewelers work -and the labels on the optical devices were "Leica". Put a smile on my face. Leica fine quality products go far beyond just consumer binoculars.
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How can anyone place a definitive % onto anything. What does 2% look like? How do you know it isn’t .2% or 20%.
Denco was referring to light transmission. Transmission figures are often given by the bino brands and are fair game for discussion. There is some doubt as to whether a 2% increase in transmission can be perceived by the human eye.
Lee
Leica's are cool in that they "improve" on reality. I remember the first time I used a Leica Trinovid 8x32 BN at the zoo. It just made all the animals look so beautiful with their rich and warm colors. The lions and tigers were beautiful with their orange and black contrasting stripes. No other binocular really does that. I have always liked the little BN for that reason, and its bulletproof build quality. There is a like new Leica Trinovid BN 8x32 on eBay now for $1500! A testament to their endearing popularity.
Leica Trinovid 8x32 BN Binoculars | eBay
It looks like it was bought and put away and never used, other than when it went on display for sale. All papers included as shown. Serial # starts with 166.
www.ebay.com
Paultricounty
Well-known member
Lol, that’s what I’ve been saying for over a week now. 2,4, 6% here and there on some aspects of the optics are mostly undetectable with the human eye. Ak, SP, it really doesn’t matter much , it’s the grind, the polish, the coatings, focal length etc. etc.
Greetings to All. Before jumping into the two points I would like to share with you here, it is important to highlight that I am a Leica fanboy through and through who is heavily committed to its optics in both photography and sport optics (binoculars). Currently, I regularly use UV 8x20, UV 8x32 HD+, UV 7x42 HD+, and Noctivid 8x42. In the past I have used the two UV versions, the BA and BN Trinovid series, and Zeiss FL, all in various sizes.
The request to identify which one gave me the “delicious view” was surprisingly not easy to answer. In terms of pure optical experience, perhaps the title would be shared between the UV 7x 42 HD+ and the Noctivid. But if we define “delicious view” in terms of “joy” that is associated with specific time with some people in person, a well identified location, and an insatiable appetite to continuously see and learn more, the title goes, without doubt in my mind, to the Trinovid 8x32 BN. As many have said here in the Forum over several entries again and again over time, including Denco above, its je nes se quo quality was very difficult to define. The Zeiss 8x32 FL gave an extremely admirable resistance, but lost to the Trinovid because of haptics, body design, and perceived color preferences. Yes, I enjoy the UV 8x32 HD+ a lot now as it’s industrial design and optical performance are second to none, but I leave the description of “delicious”, without hesitation, to the Trinovid 8x32 BN.
The second point is related to the comparison between the HD and HD+. The move from UV 8x32 HD and UV 7x42 non-HD to their HD+ models was both slow and deliberate. In the case of the 7x42, the difference was easy to see and certainly the HD+ model was appreciably superior to the non-HD UV model. For the UV 8x32 HD+, the decision was more difficult and based on: a) the marginally, but clearly, better “white“ color and b) comparability of performance to both Noctivid and UV 7x42 HD+ that were already in service. Yes, the difference in the color “white” was only obvious in a side-by-side comparison, but once seen clearly, there was no way back for me. I didn’t regret the decision to upgrade and I still think that it was money well spent.
Of course, the caveat YMMV applies.
Happy Holidays and best regards.
The request to identify which one gave me the “delicious view” was surprisingly not easy to answer. In terms of pure optical experience, perhaps the title would be shared between the UV 7x 42 HD+ and the Noctivid. But if we define “delicious view” in terms of “joy” that is associated with specific time with some people in person, a well identified location, and an insatiable appetite to continuously see and learn more, the title goes, without doubt in my mind, to the Trinovid 8x32 BN. As many have said here in the Forum over several entries again and again over time, including Denco above, its je nes se quo quality was very difficult to define. The Zeiss 8x32 FL gave an extremely admirable resistance, but lost to the Trinovid because of haptics, body design, and perceived color preferences. Yes, I enjoy the UV 8x32 HD+ a lot now as it’s industrial design and optical performance are second to none, but I leave the description of “delicious”, without hesitation, to the Trinovid 8x32 BN.
The second point is related to the comparison between the HD and HD+. The move from UV 8x32 HD and UV 7x42 non-HD to their HD+ models was both slow and deliberate. In the case of the 7x42, the difference was easy to see and certainly the HD+ model was appreciably superior to the non-HD UV model. For the UV 8x32 HD+, the decision was more difficult and based on: a) the marginally, but clearly, better “white“ color and b) comparability of performance to both Noctivid and UV 7x42 HD+ that were already in service. Yes, the difference in the color “white” was only obvious in a side-by-side comparison, but once seen clearly, there was no way back for me. I didn’t regret the decision to upgrade and I still think that it was money well spent.
Of course, the caveat YMMV applies.
Happy Holidays and best regards.
A few days ago, whilst picking up a ring I got for my wife, at Shane Company, there was a long window all along the jeweler's work department, where customers could observe the jewelers, doing their fine, exquisitely detailed work.
Each of the jeweler's workstations had a large, illuminating, bi-nocular device to enable the jewelers to do extremely fine, detailed work on gem stones, settings, and jewelry in general.
It looks as though they, too, may be enjoying deliciously detailed views of jewelry - with their Leica A60s. I snapped a quick pic of one of the Leica devices...
Between fine cameras and camera lenses, sporting optics, and specialist tools such as the A60.... the legendary Leica company is certainly putting out some cool products.
And, here we are... Christmas Eve, already! With snowflakes falling. Merry Christmas my friends!
Each of the jeweler's workstations had a large, illuminating, bi-nocular device to enable the jewelers to do extremely fine, detailed work on gem stones, settings, and jewelry in general.
It looks as though they, too, may be enjoying deliciously detailed views of jewelry - with their Leica A60s. I snapped a quick pic of one of the Leica devices...
Between fine cameras and camera lenses, sporting optics, and specialist tools such as the A60.... the legendary Leica company is certainly putting out some cool products.
And, here we are... Christmas Eve, already! With snowflakes falling. Merry Christmas my friends!
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You could also include surveying instruments to the list. A Leica TC1800 total station and a Wild/Leica T2 theodolite carried me through the majority of my surveying career. These two instruments were used everyday for 22 years with thousands of angles turned (TC1800/T2) and thousands of distances shot (T2); without one single error or malfunction. As far as I know, both instruments still see daily use.A few days ago, whilst picking up a ring I got for my wife, at Shane Company, there was a long window all along the jeweler's work department, where customers could observe the jewelers, doing their fine, exquisitely detailed work.
Each of the jeweler's workstations had a large, illuminating, bi-nocular device to enable the jewelers to do extremely fine, detailed work on gem stones, settings, and jewelry in general.
It looks as though they, too, may be enjoying deliciously detailed views of jewelry - with their Leica A60s. I snapped a quick pic of one of the Leica devices...
Between fine cameras and camera lenses, sporting optics, and specialist tools such as the A60.... the legendary Leica company is certainly putting out some cool products.
And, here we are... Christmas Eve, already! With snowflakes falling. Merry Christmas my friends!
Leica certainly has a lot more to tend to than just making sporting optics. Their cameras are something special. Judging from their name (Leica Camera) it all started with creating fine cameras, I presume.
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Greetings. It is my understanding that there are four independent companies that share the same brand name. Please have a look here: Leica - Four Independent Companies Share the Leica Brand
