Magnification Issues with Spotting Scopes
Posted by mardywright on Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Under: Binoculars
When it comes to the world of optics, the spotting scope picks up where
the binocular stops. The scope offers higher magnification than the
binocular such that you can be able to view sceneries, wildlife and
birds better than would have if you were only suing the regular
binocular. However, when it comes to using scopes, there are a few
things that can limit the range of magnification you can be able to use.
The atmosphere
When you are going to use a spotting scope you always will have to factor in your atmosphere. Some issues such as humidity, glare, heat waves, air currents and wind that happen during the day all have a negative impact on the quality of your image. The greater the magnification you are going to use, the lower the quality of the image you will be getting. This means that there will be days when any magnification beyond 30x will appear hazy while on other days you can go to up to 60x and still have nothing to worry about.
The general rule is that dry climate and higher altitude almost always work in favor of magnification while humidity, wetness and lower altitudes normally discourage higher magnification. However, you must also not that there are only a few locations where you can be able to use any magnification beyond 60-80x during the day; this is why most scopes don’t go above 60x in their calibration. Most beginners who are uninformed will always make the mistake of going for scopes that are similar to astronomical telescopes that have magnification of hundreds of times during the day only fro then to discover later that the atmosphere limits hem to no more than 60x and in most cases lower than that.
The scope’s optical system
The other issue that places limits on magnification is perhaps the spotting scope’s optical system. No matter what model you are going to buy, the quality of the image will always start dropping off at come point as you increase the magnification. Perhaps this is affected by the way the scopes are designed as well as their sizes but the main issue is usually the quality of their optical systems. This is the point where you actually get what you have paid for. Most spotting scopes on the lower end of the budget, no matter how big they are, will almost always lose image quality quickly the moment magnification begins to go up. On the other hand, most premium scopes will not lose as much image quality even when you put it at the highest magnification. If truth be told, there are only a few scopes that have this capability.
Here, you need to know that a spotting scope with a higher magnification does not necessarily mean a better spotting scope. You will also understand this better if you go through the spotting scope reviews on various optics websites
The atmosphere
When you are going to use a spotting scope you always will have to factor in your atmosphere. Some issues such as humidity, glare, heat waves, air currents and wind that happen during the day all have a negative impact on the quality of your image. The greater the magnification you are going to use, the lower the quality of the image you will be getting. This means that there will be days when any magnification beyond 30x will appear hazy while on other days you can go to up to 60x and still have nothing to worry about.
The general rule is that dry climate and higher altitude almost always work in favor of magnification while humidity, wetness and lower altitudes normally discourage higher magnification. However, you must also not that there are only a few locations where you can be able to use any magnification beyond 60-80x during the day; this is why most scopes don’t go above 60x in their calibration. Most beginners who are uninformed will always make the mistake of going for scopes that are similar to astronomical telescopes that have magnification of hundreds of times during the day only fro then to discover later that the atmosphere limits hem to no more than 60x and in most cases lower than that.
The scope’s optical system
The other issue that places limits on magnification is perhaps the spotting scope’s optical system. No matter what model you are going to buy, the quality of the image will always start dropping off at come point as you increase the magnification. Perhaps this is affected by the way the scopes are designed as well as their sizes but the main issue is usually the quality of their optical systems. This is the point where you actually get what you have paid for. Most spotting scopes on the lower end of the budget, no matter how big they are, will almost always lose image quality quickly the moment magnification begins to go up. On the other hand, most premium scopes will not lose as much image quality even when you put it at the highest magnification. If truth be told, there are only a few scopes that have this capability.
Here, you need to know that a spotting scope with a higher magnification does not necessarily mean a better spotting scope. You will also understand this better if you go through the spotting scope reviews on various optics websites
In : Binoculars
Tags: spotting scope reviews spotting scope
