A Work Commenced July 2 2025

Product: Leica Ultravid HD Plus 8 x 32

Country of Manufacture: Portugal

Chassis: Magnesium Alloy and Titanium covered in black Vulcanised Rubber.

Exit Pupil: 4mm

Eye Relief: 13.3mm

Field of View: 135mm @1000m(7.74 angular degrees).

ED Glass: Yes-Schott Fluorite

Other Notable Glass: Schott HT

Dioptre Compensation: +\- 4

Close Focus: 2.1m advertised, 1.91m measured

Hydrophobic Coatings on Outer Lenses: Yes, AquaDura

Fogproof: Yes

Waterproof: Yes/5m

Accessories: Objective lens covers, rain guard, neoprene neck strap, lens cleaning cloth, padded soft case, test certificate, warranty card and user manual

Warranty: 10 Years

Weight: 535g advertised, 534g measured

Price(UK): £1499

The Leica Ultravid series is one of the longest continuously manufactured binoculars by the prestigious German company, Leica. Introduced in the Black Rubber (BR)form back in 2003, the series was upgraded to the HD series in 2007, which featured Schott Fluorite glass for improved colour fidelity and Leica’s innovative AquaDura hydrophobic and anti-scratch coatings. Finally in 2015, the company introduced the latest version: the Ultravid HD+ series which incorporated Schott HT glass in the prisms which increased light transmission to an impressive 92-3 per cent. In all Leica offer the HD+ series in 8 and 10 x 32, 7, 8 and 10 x 42 and two larger models – the 10 and 12 x 50. This review will discuss the smallest HD + model; the 8 x 32.

My first experience with this series came a couple of years back when I had the pleasure of looking through the 10 x32 Ultravid (UV)HD+ observing birds out on the water of Loch Carron, just a few miles from my home. The owner was so impressed with the binocular that he bought a second 10 x 32 for his daughter. It was here that my concerns about the small size were put to rest, since I was able to hold them very comfortably in my medium-size hands. 

The 8 x 32 is an amazingly small and compact model, only 11cm from the end to end with the eyecups kept down. Tipping the scales at 534g, it’s super light weight.

The focus wheel is disproportionately large, making it very easy to manoeuvre using one or two fingers. While there is some inertia getting it moving , focusing is very precise with no free play. This is an improvement over their entry-level model, the Trinovid HD 8 x 32, the focus wheel of which had a small amount of free play. Just over one full revolution clockwise brings you from closest focus to a little bit beyond infinity. The dioptre compensation is accessed by pulling up the top part of the focus wheel, turning the wheel and pushing it back in. 

The eyecups can be used in three positions: fully retracted or pulled up through two click stops. Like I said many times before, Leica’s eyecups are amongst the best in the industry. They are supremely comfortable and click rigidly into place.

Eye relief is quite tight on the 8 x 32 though, especially for eye glass wearers. I did test them using my spectacles and I could just see the entire field but it’s certainly not a comfortable experience especially during prolonged field use. Luckily, I don’t wear glasses using my binoculars so it was really a non-issue for me. 

Unlike the larger UVHD+ models, the underside of the barrels on the 32mm models have no thumb indents. Over the years, I’ve cultivated a strong disliking for these anyway, so not having them is a bonus in my books!

The objective lenses are nicely recessed with excellent knife-edge baffles to minimise glare  when glassing against the light. The coatings are immaculate: giving a faint purple bloom when examined face on but present more of a tobacco hue when seen at more oblique angles.

In the hands, the little Leica UVHD+ 8 x 32 is very firmly held thanks to the textured black rubber armouring, though it’s a magnet for dust, pollen and other airborne matter.
I can wrap my little fingers round the front of the barrels while using my ring- and middle-finger to do most of the focusing. It’s also a supremely handsome binocular with a strong retro accent I very much like.

Optics:

Looking at an intensely bright light source from across the room through the Leica UVHD+ showed no internal reflections but I did pick up a moderate diffraction spike. The same was true when I turned the binocular on a distant street lamp after dark. 

Next I examined the exit pupils while the instrument was aimed towards an indoor room light. As you can see below the result was excellent: exemplary in fact! Just nice round pupils surrounded by complete darkness!

Credit where it’s due: the view has real ‘gestalt:’ beautiful, arresting: razor sharp, wonderfully contrasted, with vibrant colours. Chromatic aberration is absent in the centre but does show up as lateral colour in the outer part of the field. Being used to larger, flatter fields, I was half anticipating that the 7.74 degree field would be rather restrictive or ‘tunnelled,’ but I did not get that impression. The view is extremely relaxed, especially for a compact model like this.

The Leica UVHD+ 8 x 32 does have more pincushion distortion than I would have liked and the edge sharpness could be better. Finally, when glassing with bright sunshine directly behind me, I noted some annoying reflections off the ocular lens. Thankfully this can be remedied simply by placing a finger over the side of the eyecup. 

Notes from the Field:

Make no mistake about it; the Leica UVHD+ 8 x 32 is a study in miniaturisation. A true marvel in both mechanical and optical engineering!

But it ain’t perfect.

Close focus was measured to be 1.91m, closer than the advertised 2.1m, but not nearly as impressive as the super close 0.95m I measured on the Trinovid HD 8 x 32. There are two aspects to the image of the UVHD+ that are noteworthy compared with my main binocular, the superb SRBC 8 x 42: colour saturation and resistance to glare of all kinds.

In the centre of the image, sharpness in both is quite comparable but the colours generated by the SRBC optical system are a little more neutral than in the UVHD+, the latter of which has a noticeably higher transmission to wavelengths in the 600-700nm range, which renders a warmer image. Where the UVHD+ betters the SRBC is in suppression of glare, both veiling and general glare when glassing against the light. And while an 8 x 32 is no match for a larger 8 x 42 of equal quality, I found the performance of the UVHD+ to be excellent in summer twilight, where the Schott HT glass boosts light transmission in the 400-500nm range, which allows the darker adapted eye to perceive objects in the blue part of the visual spectrum that little bit better.  I refer the reader to Holger Merlitz’s The Binocular Handbook page 10 for details.

Conducting some observations of the bright summer star, Vega, the little Leica glass showed perfect collimation and quite a flat field. Only in the outer 20 per cent of the field or so could I detect a bit of field curvature which could be focused out, but there remained a small amount of astigmatism right at the field stops.

Though I did not do a side by side comparison, I would rate the optical quality of the Leica UVHD+ to be higher than the Zeiss SFL I tested some time ago. It just has a more relaxed view compared with the Zeiss, with the warmer colours and superb glare suppression, pulling it ahead. But this is bound to be rather a subjective impression.

One thing’s for certain though, the Leica UVHD + is much more in keeping with a pocket glass philosophy than either of the current Alpha glasses offered by Swarovski or Zeiss, as exemplified by the design of the NL Pure and SF 8 x 32 models, respectively. These are considerably larger in comparison, and so can’t really be considered to be in the same portability class, at least size-wise. In contrast, the little UVHD+ certainly can fit in an average coat pocket. 

Value for Money?

The Leica UVHD+ 8 x 32 is an expensive piece of kit that’s for sure. But when I compare it to the optically excellent  SRBC  8 x 42,  which retails for one third of the price of the Leica, it gives me serious grounds for pause in recommending it, especially as an auxiliary travel glass. In addition, with the soon introduction of smaller 32 mm class of SRBCs offering the same excellent quality optics in ultra-flat fields fully twice the size of the Leica UVHD+ and at a fraction of its cost, it may render these smaller glasses by Zeiss, Swarovski and Leica all but obsolete. In the end, you vote with your wallet.

Dr Neil English is author of Choosing & Using Binoculars: A Guide for Stargazers, Birders and Outdoor Enthusiasts.

De Fideli.