Em As Duas Torres , Legolas afirma, corretamente como descobrimos mais tarde, que ele pode distinguir claramente objetos tão pequenos quanto um homem a uma distância de 5 léguas (aproximadamente 27.7km) ...
There was a silence in the empty fields, and Gimli could hear the air moving in the grass. 'Riders!' cried Aragorn, springing to his feet. 'Many riders on swift steeds are coming towards us!' 'Yes,' said Legolas, 'there are one hundred and five. Yellow is their hair, and bright are their spears. Their leader is very tall.' Aragorn smiled. 'Keen are the eyes of the Elves,' he said. 'Nay! The riders are little more than five leagues distant,' said Legolas. 'Five leagues or one,' said Gimli; 'we cannot escape them in this bare land. Shall we wait for them here or go on our way?'
... e Gandalf confirma que os elfos (em geral) têm visão aguçada:
'You have the keen eyes of your fair kindred, Legolas,' he said; 'and they can tell a sparrow from a finch a league off. Tell me, can you see anything away yonder towards Isengard?' 'Many miles lie between,' said Legolas, gazing thither and shading his eyes with his long hand. 'I can see a darkness. There are shapes moving in it, great shapes far away upon the bank of the river; but what they are I cannot tell.
Esta façanha (distinguir uma ave de outra a 5,5 km) está além da capacidade de qualquer ser humano, sugerindo que a visão deles é de 8 a 10 vezes melhor do que a de um humano com visão 20:20.