Spotting Scope What Magnification

pwiles1968

New member
Fonz Awardee
Ironman
OK of those that use spotting scopes, what sort of magnification would you need to see the arrows clearly at 100 Yds (assuming I can hit the boss at that distance :rotfl:), I have been looking at scopes with max magnification from 45x to up to 60x, obviously the 60x are a little more expensive but I don't know if 45 is enough, any ideas :eye-poppi.
 

Steve Knowles

New member
Hi,
I've found that if you are as bad as I am, 30x will cover the entire target face at 100yds/90metres. My Opticron (primarily used for birdwatching) has a wide angle 25x which can just cope. My catadiopic (looks like a flask on legs with tripod) scope has interchangable lenses and I found that about 30x works well for me. Be careful with cheaper zoom scopes over about 40x as picture definition becomes poor. Hope this helps.
Steve
 

greydog

New member
I have an Opticron IS 60 with an 18x - 54x zoom. It's one of the bottom end Opticrons, just above the Mighty Midget :) and at full zoom it'llshow the whole of a 122cm face pretty clearly at 90m, but that's pretty much it's limit.
 

SLOWHAND

New member
I have a Kowa scope with 20-60x zoom eyepiece. Very seldom do I have it set at more than 40x even for 100yds.Dont forget that magnification is only one factor, equally important are light gathering efficiency, colour definition and field of view. All of these get worse as the magnification increases. With a thousand pound scope the light and colour definition will still be resonable at 60x but with cheaper scopes you will have a job distinguishing your arrows from everybody elses at this magnification because the image will be so dark and the colours washed out. If I were to buy a mid price scope with a fixed mag eyepiece I would go for 25 to 30x magnification.
 

geoffretired

Supporter
Supporter
I agree with Slowhand. It's not the size of the image, it's the clarity and brightness. If you shoot alone at 100yds you will see your arrows with 8X. If you shoot with three other archers you will see all the arrows with 8X but they will all look about the same and you won't know which are yours. Around 25x you start to see the different colours so long as the image is clear and bright. Generally, the bigger the lens at the front, the brighter the image.A 60mm lens usually gives a bright enough image. I would try before you buy and choose a dullish day. It can be really disappointing to find they don't work at the long distance and you can see without them at the short ones.
 

pwiles1968

New member
Fonz Awardee
Ironman
Trying Before I buy may be a problem I'm looking on E-Bay, I am sticking to Zoom scope with 60 or 70 mm lens so should be OK I hope, will look at 45x as well as 60x like everything else they are fetching too much money, rather have a new set of arrows if the scope is going to cost too much.
 

SLOWHAND

New member
If you're lokking to buy used, keep an eye out for a Kowa TSN1 or TSN2. Mines 18 years old and still like new. Superb optics, totally waterproof and very robust. Only snag is that they are a bit on the large size but then again you have to have a large diameter objective lens for a bright image.
 

nfinite

New member
Ironman
At 100 yrds , I find that 35x is perfect.

My scope does go up to 60x but thats just too much.

When I bought my scope , I was recommended to find one with at least a 60mm front lens .

Better light gathering when it is a bit dull.
 

LineCutter

Active member
My scope at full zoom does 36x & that's enough to get the job done. I have to bring it down in magnification for shorter distances.
Try before you buy & since nobody's mentioned it, go for an angled eyepiece - they're much less strain if you want to use them on the shooting line. Oh, & don't forget a tripod that's easy to set up/move (again, if you're taking it to the line with you).
 

Max

New member
A lot depends on how good you are - some archers (particulary compound archers) like to be able to pick out their knocks among two dozen others at 100 yards. something between 40X and 60X with good optics is essential for this. For just spotting, 20X to 30X is fine - I rarely take my zoom setting above this. This applies particulary if you have to wear glasses to shoot. Glasses will move your eye away from the eyepiece and restrict the field of view considerably.

I have a 20X - 60X Velbon scope which is OK, but tried out Medoc's Opticron last night and the difference was amazing - the colour rendition was miles ahead and the clarity superb. OK, we don't need to pick out the sheen on the tail feathers of the lesser spotted tree creeper at 200 yards, but in optics, you definetly get what you pay for.
 

pwiles1968

New member
Fonz Awardee
Ironman
It is just for basic spotting not too bothered at the moment on scoring my arrows at 100 yards amongst a dozen others, I will look at lower max zoom and better optics for my money, I already have a good tripod from my photography.

Max That would be a Lesser spotted Woodpecker as I am in the UK, the tree creeper would be just a tree creeper unless I was in the US then I may see a short toed tree creeper :rotfl: Sorry had to Google it to find out :raspberry.

Thank You for all the replies.
 

Max

New member
pwiles1968 said:
Max That would be a Lesser spotted Woodpecker as I am in the UK, the tree creeper would be just a tree creeper unless I was in the US then I may see a short toed tree creeper :rotfl: Sorry had to Google it to find out :raspberry.
There you go! - it just goes to show how bad my scope is!!:rotfl:
 

simon m

New member
Ironman
Question. could I just use the old mans pentax he gave me with the telephoto lense?. (as its redundant due to my digital camera.)
 

Rik

Supporter
Supporter
I have a feeling that using the camera body isn't a good idea. However, I have seen a long lens used with an adapter to take an eyepiece, turning it into a scope... I'm not sure where you get them from though.
Remember that with a camera 50mm is the "zero" magnification, so to get a decent magnification out of it, you're looking at a 500mm+ lens.... I don't know what the eyepiece adapter adds to the setup, though.
 

simon m

New member
Ironman
Rik said:
I have a feeling that using the camera body isn't a good idea. However, I have seen a long lens used with an adapter to take an eyepiece, turning it into a scope... I'm not sure where you get them from though.
Remember that with a camera 50mm is the "zero" magnification, so to get a decent magnification out of it, you're looking at a 500mm+ lens.... I don't know what the eyepiece adapter adds to the setup, though.
Might just give it a go see what its like. on a practise night
 

bluebow

New member
Rik said:
I have a feeling that using the camera body isn't a good idea. However, I have seen a long lens used with an adapter to take an eyepiece, turning it into a scope... I'm not sure where you get them from though.
Remember that with a camera 50mm is the "zero" magnification, so to get a decent magnification out of it, you're looking at a 500mm+ lens.... I don't know what the eyepiece adapter adds to the setup, though.
Some years ago I recall seeing and trying an eye piece adaptor for pentax lenses. It was basically an eyepiece mounted on a pentax-K bayonet mount. It was made by a third party - but I can't remember who :sigh:

I think it provided a magnification of 1/10 of the focal length. So a 400mm would have provided 40X.

Using a camera body as an 'eye-piece' in Rik's example will only yield 500/50 = 10x magnification. (technically 50mm is 1X magnification)

Another issue is that camera lenses tend to have more moving parts and have very limited weather protection. Certainly you won't have gas filled optics, and O-ring protection is unlikely. So fogging in wet weather would be a problem.
 

pwiles1968

New member
Fonz Awardee
Ironman
I picked one up from E-Bay, 20-60x zoom it was pretty Cheap ?46 inc postage brand is Luyi (probably chinese) so was not expecting too much but it looks OK, the optics aren't exactly state of the art there is a fair bit of what I think is Chromatic Aberration and the picture moves around when you turn the focus dial but I think it will do what I need, only received it this morning so will try it out at the field this weekend if it stops raining :gloomy:.

Here is the link if you are interested. E-Bay Scope
 
Top