Leitz 7x35B Trinovid
Review
First time I looked through a pair of recent Leica Trinovid Classics – the rebooted version of these original Leitz Trinovids – I was in
the Leica store on Oxford Street. Perhaps it was the sales lady, who was both
intelligent and glamorous, but I was impressed.
I’ve since owned and reviewed both the 7x35 and 8x40 Classics
and liked them both a lot, even without the glamorous sales lady demonstrating.
So I thought it would be interesting to try a pair of original Trinovids to see how they compare, as part of a series of
reviews I’ve been doing on classic binoculars.
These are Leitz 7x35 Trinovids, probably from the early-mid 1980s, the last
years before the Leica re-brand. They came from a small camera shop and have
been well looked after, complete with their original case and strap. Outwardly,
the new ‘Classic’ version is very similar, but let’s find out how much the
optics and mechanicals have (or have not) changed in thirty years.
At A Glance
|
Magnification |
7x |
|
Objective Size |
35mm |
|
Eye Relief |
~15mm measured |
|
Actual Field of View |
150m/1000m (~8.7°) |
|
Apparent field of view |
~60° |
|
Close focus |
4-5m measured |
|
Transmissivity |
80%? |
|
Length |
130mm eyecups folded |
|
Weight |
~500g |
Data from Me.
Alongside a pair of recent 8x40 Leica Trinovid
Classics.
Design and Build
This 7x35 is the most compact model from the Leitz range of Trinovid
binoculars that were sold from the late Fifties into the 1980s, becoming Leicas from 1986. The range also included 8x40 and 10x40
models and a monocular version of the 10x40 famously went to the Moon on
Apollo.
This is the leather covered model, but a rubber armoured
version was also available at one time.
In the last few years Leica have released a version of the Trinovid that looks the almost identical externally, but
that features slightly different optics to achieve a binocular that (as we will
see) actually performs very like it. The modern version is made in Portugal;
these were made in Germany, but build quality seems the same (outstanding).
To me, this is one of the most beautiful classic binocular
designs ever, much more so than Zeiss’ excellent but (IMO) rather fugly Dialyts.
Body
The Trinovids’ body is black
anodised aluminium and covered in real leather. There’s no plastic or rubber
anywhere but the eyecups – unlike a modern binocular, even the focus and
dioptre knobs are machined metal. These original Trinovids
are a couple of millimetres shorter and a little lighter than the modern
version, perhaps due to their unusual prism system (see below).
It’s an attractive, retro look and gives the Trinovids a premium feel, much like a Leica camera today.
But of course, thin leather isn’t as protective as rubber armour and these
won’t take brutal field use like a modern armoured design. And eventually the
leather and anodising will rub and wear and won’t be repairable, whereas rubber
armour can be cut off and replaced to leave the bino’s looking like new (you
can find lots of older Trinovid BA and BN models on Ebay renewed like this).
Another downside is waterproofing. These are well sealed and
‘splashproof’, but likely won’t resist really heavy rain, let alone immersion.
The lack of rubber armour does help to make these a small and
light binocular, though. And it must be said that the leather on these shows no
sign of wear or degradation.
Internal build quality looks high but lacks the foam-textured
blackening of the Classic re-boots, with just flat paint and a single baffle to
kill stray light.
Focuser
The focuser is heavier and less fluid than a modern premium
binocular’s and that knurled wheel is small compared to recent designs. But
that doesn’t mean it’s a bad focuser: the action is very smooth and precise,
close focus to infinity fast at just over a turn. But here close focus means
4-5m – not ideal for ultra-close viewing of butterflies or whatever.
One reason the focuser may feel a bit different is that these
employ an unusual focusing system with a moveable focusing lens between the
eyepiece and prism instead of between prism and objective.
Dioptre adjustment is via the second knurled wheel at the
objective end of the bridge. The action is smooth and positive and has a
central marker under the bridge. It’s a system that’s close to ideal for me.
Optics - Prisms
These original Trinovids have a
rare prism system described as an ‘Uppendahl’ that
employs three cemented prisms and allows an especially compact body. This
system is more complex than Schmidt-Pechan roof
prisms and has more surfaces (so lower transmittance) than an Abbe-Königs, so the modern Trinovids
use ordinary roofs.
These likely don’t have phase coatings. Phase coatings solve
an optical problem with roof prisms (including the Uppendahl)
that lowers resolution, but in practice they don’t make a huge difference at
low magnifications and this is borne out by testing.
Optics - Objectives
The objectives are probably a triplet with a cemented pair
and a separate third biconvex element.
The objective coatings are a muted purplish hue and look like
multi-coatings, something that surprised me in a bino’ of this age.
Optics - Eyepieces
These eyepieces are not the simple three-element variety
(often some type of Kellner) often found on classic bino’s, but more likely a
modified Erfle to give a wide field and good eye
relief (indicated by the ‘B’ designation).
The true field of view at 150m/1000m (about 8.7°) is indeed very wide – a little wider than the rebooted
Classic version and on a par with Zeiss’ Dialyts from
the same era.
As promised, eye relief is good, measuring about 15mm from
the rim of the eyecups – much of that wide field is viewable with my glasses
on. As noted below, blackouts from spherical aberration of the exit pupil are
virtually non-existent.
Like most binoculars of this era, the eye cups are folding rubber
(rather than the click-out ones on the modern Trinovid
Classics). These fold quite easily and provide a good lip to rest your glasses
on, but there’s the risk that they will eventually split or degrade.
Accessories
A big difference from the modern Trinovid
Classics is the accessories.
Both have embossed leather cases, but these have a traditional,
felt-lined rigid field case with a leather strap. The newer version’s is also
leather, but of the thin, soft, stay-on variety.
These Leitz Trinovids
have a traditional thin leather strap fitted with metal clips that snaps into
small metal lugs on the body. The recent version comes with a standard Leica
neoprene strap. The leather looks classier and is less bulky, but it is less
comfortable to wear for longer periods and will deteriorate if left wet (and
there’s no easy way to fit a modern strap either).
Strap attachment via lugs and clips mean modern straps won’t
fit.
In Use – Daytime
Ergonomics and Handling
Focus action is the same as a modern pair of Trinovid Classics, i.e. it’s not as light and twirly as an
alpha birding binocular and the knob is much smaller than most today, but it is
very precise and oily-smooth with no play or backlash. Focus snap is superb,
with none of the hunting for best focus you get with mediocre optics.
Unusually for a binocular of this era, eyepiece comfort is
very good. There’s enough eye relief for the Trinovids
to be completely usable with spec’s and there’s no issue with blackouts as you
move your eyes around either. Eye relief is slightly less than the rebooted
Leica Classic version though, so the original’s extra field is lost for
glasses-wearers like me.
These are one of the smallest and lightest full-size (i.e.
not 20mm 0r 25mm folding) binoculars – see the image alongside a tiny pair of
Swarovski 7x21 Curios. That makes them great for extended walks and travel, but
they might prove fiddly to use for people with big hands.
For what it’s worth, I think these look very elegant to wear
– you could almost get away with them at the opera!
The View
First impressions are that the view is surprisingly good,
with few allowances for the fact that these are a ‘classic’ binocular. The view
seems bright, wide, sharp and full of detail. Depth of field is excellent as
usual for 7x.
So the Leitz Trinovids’
view is among the very best ‘classic’ bino’s I’ve tried, competitive with mid-price
modern binoculars and needing few apologies for being an old design.
However, direct comparisons reveal that the tone is slightly
less vivid than the modern 7x35 Classics, with the very slightly muted colours and
yellow tint typical of older bino’s. Brightness is noticeably a little down on
the modern Classics too. In theory, lack of phase coatings mean they should
have slightly less resolution too and that’s how it feels, but it’s a minor
effect at this low power and I couldn’t quantify it.
The field of view without spec’s is very wide for a 7x
design, wider than the modern version and at 150m/1000 roughly equal to Zeiss’
7x42 Dialyts. Interestingly though, the field here is
usable (though not perfect) to the edge, giving these among the widest usable
true fields of any.
Make no mistake, though, we’re talking just minor differences
from the modern pair here and these give a highly usable and enjoyable view. I
rarely found myself wishing for the modern Trinovid
Classics whilst using them.
Flat field?
Viewing
a star-field (see below) or close inspection of the FOV snap above shows the
field isn’t perfectly sharp to the edge, but in normal daytime use you’d think
it is – completely usable to the field stop. There’s some distortion for more
comfortable panning, but overall it’s a great compromise for daytime use.
Chromatic Aberration
Some
older bino’s have big problems with false colour fringing around high contrast
parts of the view, but not these. In fact, there is almost no chromatic
aberration, even focusing through silhouetted branches. In this respect these Leitz Trinovids equal or better the
modern Trinovid Classics.
Given
that a focusing lens in the usual position between the prisms and objectives is
known to contribute to false colour, the unusual focusing system here may help
with the remarkably low false colour levels.
Stray Light and Ghosting
An old
design with older coatings perhaps, but they resisted flare and ghosting well,
even viewing bright lights at night, with just a trace of spiking from the
prism corners.
In Use – Dusk
The 35mm objectives mean these penetrate dusk shadows about
as well as a modern premium 8x32, but slightly less well than the current
Classics.
In Use – Observing the Night Sky
Overall I found these a more useful astronomy binocular than
I expected. Very light and so easy and untiring to use, they provide very
decent views of the night sky.
The field looks almost perfectly corrected to the edge by
day, but as usual the night sky proves a stiffer test: stars start to distort
from 50% field width, mostly due to field curvature which can be focused away
with a little astigmatism that cannot. Still, the field is so wide at 8° true that Orion’s three belt stars all fit into the
undistorted ~50%, as does the whole sword region.
The Moon
I caught
the Moon at the just-gibbous phase Galileo drew, with the huge shadow-filled
crater on the terminator in the south. That crater is Clavius and the 7x35s
pick it out perfectly. In fact, the Moon generally looks great through these,
with excellent contrast and no softness, yellow tint or false colour – just a
hard white marble hanging in a pinkish dusk winter sky.
Planets
Jupiter
showed a tiny clean disk with the Galilean moons arrayed around it. Brilliant
Venus showed four short very faint spikes from prism corners, but was very clean otherwise with no
false colour.
Deep Sky
Views of
brighter DSOs, like the Orion Nebula and The Pleiades, are surprisingly (for an
older design without the most modern coatings) good through these – much like a
modern premium 8x32.
I was
able to find most of my usual clusters in the Milky Way south of Albireo and
got a good view of Galaxies M31 and M33 with the wide field helping.
In January
2023 I successfully found comet C1/2022 E3 (ZTF): the 7x35s easily pulled it
out of a bright suburban sky with a first quarter Moon.
The Leitz 7x35Bs are very usable for a bit of casual astronomy –
something that sets them apart from most ultra-compact folding bino’s…
Leitz 7x35B vs Swarovski 7x21 Curio
The obvious comparison here is with
the Leica 7x35 Trinovid Classics, but I’ve covered
that throughout this review. So instead I’ll take a look at a modern pair of
binoculars that would cost about the same used, have the same 7x magnification
and feel surprisingly similar for walking or travel.
· The Curios
have a higher-resolution view, probably thanks to phase coatings
· The Curios
have a sharper field edge, but narrower field
· Eye relief
is the same
· The Curios
are half the weight and shorter too, pack down smaller, but don’t feel that
different when carrying
· The Curios
are fully waterproof
· The Trinovids are much better in low light and for astronomy –
the Curios’ higher transmittance doesn’t compensate for much smaller objectives
· Experience
suggests the Trinovids will be more rugged (I’ve had
four pairs of folding bino’s – not the Curios, yet - go out of collimation after
minor knocks)
· Both are
European made and should be readily serviceable/repairable
As dedicated travel or trekking bino’s you would choose the
Curios, but as all-rounders the Trinovids’ big
objectives still make them better binoculars, slightly dimmer and less
sparkly-sharp view notwithstanding, simply because they work better in low
light and for astronomy.
Summary
Now I know why Leica rebooted the Trinovid Classics – it was a great design all along, way
ahead of most of the competition at the time in almost every way.
Even now, these are one of the most
enjoyable and usable classic binoculars I’ve tested, for me right up there with
Zeiss’ Dialyts. They are compact and light,
beautifully made, have a great view, good eyepiece comfort with or without
glasses and a refined focuser.
Are they as good as the modern
version then? No. Despite a slightly wider field and perhaps even less false
colour, they aren’t quite as nice just because the view is a little less
sparkly bright and full of contrast and detail; but honestly the differences
are pretty modest.
For many purposes these might be a
better choice than a pair of modern premium folding binoculars – more rugged,
better in low light and more likely to hold their value. And, yes, they do have
an undeniable mid-century retro chic.
At perhaps a quarter
of the price, the Leitz Trinovids
make an excellent alternative to the modern Trinovid Classics;
or indeed a pair of new mid-market 8x30 roofs – highly recommended.
