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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Alexis Powell" data-source="post: 3370536" data-attributes="member: 5327">An excellent point, and one evolutionary biologists often think about when it comes to explaining traits regarded as "adaptations". It's true that being comparatively small and light does not appear to have motivated the optical design of the (currently competitively small) Leica models, but it may have influenced decision making around the current body design, which may now be deliberately small to carve out a niche in the market. It's a question of how the trait originated, how it evolved into its current form, and what currently maintains it. The Trinovid Ultra BA models were heavier than their Leica predessors, but they were comparable in weight and sometimes smaller in size to the Zeiss alternatives. Swarovski's roofs were as large and were even heavier. The next effort from Zeiss (Night Owl series) were even heavier. Leica may have discovered the value of offering a no-compromises small bin when they introduced the 8x32 Ultra Trinovid BA (to my mind, the first such roof prism birding bin). The Zeiss and Swarovski competitors weren't either as good or as small. Today's 8x32 Ultravid is a fearsome optical achievement in an amazingly compact package.--AP</blockquote>