Thread: True magnification

Has anyone else compared scopes regarding magnification, Today we compared a VX3i 4.5 -14 x 40 to a Swarovski 6x42 Habicht, we had to have the leupold on 8.5 to achieve the same magnification, which one is correct, my bet is on the Swarovski.

How fid you determine that you had the same magnification ?

We stood in a room 32mtrs wide, looking at a sign mounted on the wall, we then adjusted the leupold, so the words were the same size in both scopes, this was the only way I could think of doing it

That's FOV.

How do you know they were the same size in both scopes? Perception is a funny thing.....

Originally Posted by Timmay

That's FOV.

Really I though fov was the total area you could see at a set distance

Originally Posted by Ryan_Songhurst

How do you know they were the same size in both scopes? Perception is a funny thing.....

I suppose we could be wrong but 4 people tried it, and agreed we required a larger magnification on the leupold, as anyone else tried this.

How do you know that the Swaro doesn't have more magnification than it says? Most optics are not exactly what they say in fact most will actually state the true magnification in their literature somewhere.

I suppose you could be right, the Swarovski could be larger than we think, as we have several makes in the shop I could compare with other makes ?

I don't think youre really going to discover anything other than they are all different, which isn't really going to blow the socks off anyone

Not a very scientific test i would think.Like someone mentioned, perception is a funny thing plus ones 40mm and ones 42mm. So the scopes not the same and maybe the slightly extra 42mm compared to the 40mm is changing the perception slightly plus glass quaiity could be a factor. Wouldnt take much out of this test if it was me

Very hard to measure with the eye. The eye will naturally compare the image it sees in relation to the field of view. (IE what you are looking at in relation to the space it is in and the proportion of that space that the image fills). If the FOV is slightly larger on one scope than the other then the eye will adjust itself and perceive one image as larger as it takes up more of the field of view.

As a complicating factor, most fixed power scopes have a bigger field of view than the vari power scopes at the same magnification due to the lack of complicating zoom lens adjustment which would quite conceivably give the effect that you are seeing.

I have a fixed 6x36 scope and a 1.5-6x36 scope of the same brand and the field of view in the fixed scope is noticibly bigger at 100m that the vari power.

or the magnification numbers could be a bit out the same as prallax numbers usually are

And adjusting the diopter at the ocular lens can also make small changes in overall magnification.
Is there a reason you require accurate magnification?

Looking on the Leupold website the actual magnification for the vx3i you mention is 4.9 - 14.4