Leica Duovid 10x/15×50

Specifications:

Objective diameter:  50 mm
Magnification:  15 x /10 x
Exit pupil: 3.33 mm / 5 mm
Eye relief (acc. to spec): 14.5 mm
Useful eye relief (measured from rim of eyecup): 11.5 mm
IPD:  59 – 74 mm
RFOV:  5.3 / 4.0  degrees = 92 m / 70 m
AFOV (measured, rounded, for 10x / 15x): 53 / 59 degrees
Minimum focus distance (measured): 3.6 m
Focus type: CF (direction of rotation from close to infinity: > clockwise)
Degrees of rotation of focus wheel from 3.6 m to infinity (measured): 385 degrees
Range of diopter adjustment (acc. to spec.): +/- 3 dpt*
Excess travel of focus wheel beyond infinity position (estimate): 3 dpt*
Prism system:  Schmidt-Pechan
Waterproof: yes
Weight (measured, with eyepiece cover and strap): 1‘309 g
Made in: Germany
*range of diopter adjustment not affected by position of focus wheel

 
Remarks:

The Duovid comes in two models, 8 x / 12 x 42 and 10x / 15 x 50. It is the only high quality binocular with variable magnification on the market (not counting the large Docter Aspectem with zoom eyepieces, see separate post), all others, in particular those with zoom eyepieces, are low quality and provide less than satisfactory optical performance. The Duovid has been in production for many years and still is, and when it was introduced, it must have been a top instrument. And the perspective of being able to carry a 10x and a 15x binocular in one and the same instrument is intriguing. But in the last years, new premium binoculars have come to the market that make the Duovid look a bit dated: too heavy for its size, not a huge useful eye relief, rather small field of view, and, especially at 15x, clearly too much CA (chromatic aberration). Still, the Duovid is a “real Leica” – extremely well finished, mechanically impeccable, very robust, nice wide sweet spot, but quite expensive, and so you don’t see it very often, perhaps mostly in the hunting trade.

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