Superb optics in a robust portable package.

Overview
Leica APO Televid 77 Angled

Overview
The Leica APO Televid 77 is a modest sized, robust and portable waterproof spotting scope with superb optics, and superb mechanics. In the UK it is reasonable value compared to competing products. It is ideal for bird watching and wide field astronomy.

Mechanical
The scope is a long tube with the objective at one end and the prism housing and eyepiece socket at the other. The body is made from die cast aluminium components and is silver in colour. It looks rather elegant and seems well built. A retractable lens shade with an integral sight is built in to the front of the scope. Sadly the sight is useless when the scope is in the stay on case. The focus mechanism is mounted on top of the prism housing and consists of two wheels mounted one directly in front of the other. The front and rear wheels provide fine and coarse focus respectively. The focus can be very stiff on new units but quickly loosens with use. I liked the dual focus wheel mechanism, finding that it provided both rapid coarse focus, and subtle fine focus. The focus wheels are covered in ribbed rubber, which I found gave a comfortable and positive grip.

The scope has some rubber armour on the most vulnerable spots i.e. the hood, and the base and sides of the prism housing. Most of the scope is not armoured and hence will scratch unless protected by a suitable case.

The overall build quality and finish are excellent.

Leica state that the scope is highly shock resistant and I see no reason to doubt that claim.

The eyepieces attach via a bayonet mounting: an eyepiece is inserted and then twisted to secure it. The zoom eyepiece has a lock to ensure that it will not accidentally unscrew whilst twisting the zoom control. It is released by pressing a small plastic button. I found the button fiddly to operate and thought that it looked cheap.

The eyepieces have large eye tubes, the zoom being of the screw-in screw out variety, whilst the others are of the push-pull variety. They are rubber coated and worked well.

The weight is almost 2kg with an eyepiece and so the scope is not a lightweight. It is however highly portable, and easily carried over the shoulder in the stay on case. At about 410mm long the scope is compact, though not quite as compact as some of the more recent products from competing manufacturers. If you are in the habit of carrying a scope and tripod over your shoulder, then lighter competing products might be more suitable. However I do not find the weight to be a problem.

The scope is certified waterproof and nitrogen filled to ensure that it does not fog. Interestingly the eyepieces are only waterproof when mounted on the scope. Thus if you carry several eyepieces, care should be taken to protect the ones not on the scope.

Leica state that the lenses are quartz coated to protect against scratching, quartz being a very hard transparent mineral. Enquiries to the service department suggest that the quartz coating is applied to the eyepieces as well as the objective.

Optics
I purchased and tested the scope with the 20xw, 30xw and 20-60 zoom eyepieces and as such all comments apply to both eyepieces unless stated otherwise.

Overall the scope provides a superb natural image, with excellent sharpness and contrast. Although I have not tested it against other products, the subjective impression is one of a very sharp image. I saw no obvious colour cast though some users report a slight yellow cast.

Chromatic aberration, as expected from the APO designation, is almost completely absent. A trace of colour fringing is often apparent at the very edge of the field but is insignificant.

The 32xw eyepiece has an enormous apparent FOV of 74 degrees which is impressive. The image is sharp almost to the field edges, with just a trace of field curvature 90% out from the field centre. Distant birds are pin sharp and very natural. There is no noticeable distortion and chromatic aberration is almost completely absent as expected from the APO designation. Depth of field is excellent. I noticed no flare or ghosting, and just a trace of scatter around bright planets such as Jupiter, but nothing significant. Eye relief is excellent – quoted as 19mm - and I had no trouble viewing with eyeglasses on. The focal length is 13.75mm. The eye lens is huge and I was quite concerned that I could scratch it with my eyeglass frames. Overall the image from the 32xw eyepiece is quite superb, and I do not hesitate to recommend it as the standard eyepiece. This eyepiece is also highly regarded by amateur astronomers, many of whom consider it one of the best available in its focal length.

The 20xw eyepiece has a huge apparent FOV of 69 degrees. The image is sharp and contrasty with stars appearing as points over all of the field. Chromatic aberration is insignificant. I noticed no flare or ghosting. There is noticeable field curvature at the field edges, but it is not significant. Eye relief is 20mm i.e. huge and I could view the entire field with eyeglasses. The focal length is 22mm. As expected from the lower magnification, the 20xw eyepiece provides a brighter image than the 32xw. It also delivers much greater depth of field which makes for a much more relaxing view. However for general birding I feel that either the 32xw or the zoom are more suitable as 20x does seem rather limiting.

The 20-60 zoom eyepiece has an apparent FOV of 38 degrees at 20x and 78 degrees at 60x. At 20x the image feels narrow and tube-like with the edges of the field quite obvious and – to me anyway – quite distracting. At 30x the image is still tube like, though the apparent field is somewhat better. By 40x the view starts to feel fairly wide and by 50x the view is truly wide, and quite superb. The image at 50x is though somewhat dim due to the high magnification. At 60x the apparent field of view is equally superb but the image quality has dropped markedly, due to a lack of brightness and a slight lack of snap in the image. Sharpness and contrast are excellent at all magnifications except, as mentioned, at magnifications approaching 60x. There is some distortion about 80% out from the field centre at most magnifications. Eye relief is greater than 18mm at both ends of the zoom range and I had no trouble viewing with eyeglasses. As with the 32xw I did not see any flare or ghosting but I did notice a trace of scatter on bright planets. The eyepiece seems to be varifocal i.e. the focus is not maintained while zooming. The focal length varies from 22mm to 7.3mm. Twisting the barrel operates the zoom and my sample is silky smooth.

Mechanically the eyepieces are huge, weighing almost 300g i.e. more than some compact binoculars, and each has a huge eye tube that is over 5cm in diameter.

Most people seem to recommend the zoom and 32xw eyepieces for general birding. My own preference is the 32xw, though both are excellent. For amateur astronomy I would recommend the 20xw.

Stay-on-case
The stay on case is green and made from a woven artificial fabric rather like military webbing. It is not padded, but will protect the scope from scratches and knocks. There are covers that pull back to expose the objective, the focus wheels, the eyepiece, and the tripod socket. One press-stud and several Velcro tabs secure each cover. Interestingly the case prevents the scope from being rotated on the mounting ring. The case is supplied with an excellent bouncy Neoprene shoulder strap.

The stay on case is very effective: it takes me no more than 15 seconds to have the scope off my shoulder and on the tripod ready for use. The stay on case is well designed, and attractive, but over-priced and not padded.

In use
The scope is a delight to use: it looks good, it feels good, and it provides a superb image. It can be set up at a convenient spot overlooking a lake, or a local reserve, and the sky and surrounding countryside leisurely scanned for birds. Birds that would otherwise go unnoticed, or be passed off as distant blobs, are revealed as a Wheatear, a Little Ringed Plover and so on.

Protective Filter
Leica recommend the use of a Leica UV filter to protect the front element. Unfortunately what they do not tell you is that the Leica UV filter has a distinct yellow brown cast. I do not recommend it. Both Nikon and Canon manufacture photographic quality clear 77mm filters. The Nikon has the designation ‘NC’. The Canon is referred to as a Protect filter.

Other Accessories
Leica sells an adaptor that allows a Leica Televid eyepiece to be used on an astronomical telescope that takes standard 1.25” eyepieces.

Leica do not sell an adaptor to allow use of 1.25” astronomical eyepieces on the Leica scope. Sadly the focal point of the objective is too far into the body of the scope for most astronomical eyepieces. However some eyepieces can be used if a suitable adaptor is machined. Many other eyepieces could probably be used if the owner was prepared to machine the eyepiece housing i.e. remove most of the barrel. An American company - Company Seven – used to sell a third party adaptor at an appropriately astronomical price: more than $400. However, it was only available to those who purchased their Leica scope from Company Seven, and it has been discontinued due to low demand for the scope.

Leica sell an adaptor that in conjunction with a T-ring allows a camera to be mounted on the scope. The adaptor converts the scope into a 800mm F10.4 lens.

Service
I have found Leica UK service to be somewhat lacking. However, when I sent technical questions directly to Leica Germany, I found them very quick to reply with helpful and informative answers.

Competing Products
There are many competing products on the market, and each has its own strengths and weaknesses. As far as I could tell most competing scopes are of similar optical quality, and the differences are more ones of taste, rather than optical quality. In any case, many specialist optics retailers do field days where potential purchasers can try and compare in the field several instruments.

Amateur Astronomy
The Leica is an excellent wide field astronomical telescope providing magnifications from 20x to 60x. It will give superb views of globular clusters, nebulae and galaxies. Note though that a galaxy typically appears as a hazy blob rather than the colourful and detailed image that you see in books. (This is due to the small 3" objective rather than a criticism of the product.) The high quality optics mean that stars appear as points over the entire field of view and chromatic aberration is minimal. This scope is not really suitable for planetary observations due to the low powers, although it will reveal the more prominent bands on Jupiter, the rings of Saturn and the phases of Venus. Its greatest strength is its rugged build and modest size giving it a portability that few astronomical telescopes can match. One point to note is that it can be hard to locate objects in the night sky without the addition of a small finder scope.

Specifications

Objective diameter: 77mm
Focal length: 440mm
F ratio: 5.7
Objective: Air-spaced triplet with fluorite glass element and exposed surfaces quartz coated for scratch resistance.
Multi-coated: Yes.
Close focus: 3.95m
Weight: 1695g
Length: 420mm
Waterproof: Yes.
Nitrogen filled: Yes
Shockproof: Yes, to 100g


EYEPIECES
All eyepieces are waterproof with quartz coated optics.

20xw
Focal length: 22mm
Field of view: 60m at 1000 m
Angle of view: 3.45 degrees
Apparent Angle of view: 69 degrees
Eye relief: 20mm
Length: 68mm
Weight: 246g

32xw
Focal length: 14mm
Field of view: 40m at 1000 m
Angle of view: 2.3 degrees
Apparent Angle of view: 74 degrees
Eye relief: 19mm
Length: 70mm
Weight: 285g

40xw
Focal length: 11mm
Field of view: 34m at 1000 m
Angle of view: 2.0 degrees
Apparent Angle of view: 69 degrees
Eye relief: 14mm
Length: 80mm
Weight: 280g

40x
Focal length: 11mm
Field of view: 22m at 1000 m
Angle of view: 1.25 degrees
Apparent Angle of view: 50 degrees
Eye relief: 14mm
Length: 46mm
Weight: 102g

20x-60x
Focal length: 7.3 to 22mm
Field of view: 34-20 m at 1000 m
Angle of view: 2.0 to 1.2 degrees
Apparent Angle of view: 38 degrees to 78 degrees
Eye relief: 18mm
Length: 80mm
Weight: 280g

ACCESSORIES

Astro adaptor
Allows Leica eyepieces to be used on astronomical telescopes with a 1.25\" fitting.

Stay on case

Camera adaptor
Converts the scope into an 800mm camera lens.