HELP…. Parallex and Target Clarity?

[EEP]

I’ve always struggled with this…. I adjust my Parallex until crosshairs don’t move when I move my head but the target is not clear. If I adjust ever so slightly to get a clear target then my Parallex is off. Does anyone else experience this and can explain how to have a clear target picture with the correct Parallex adjustment.

FYI… I experience this on March 8-80, NF comp 15-52, and Vortex GE 15-60 scopes.

Thank you!

 

[std7mag]

Adjust your diopter for clarity/focus.

 

[Karndt]

This occurs on almost all of my scopes. Sometimes on an individual scope it varies depending on the distance. For me the diopter only seems to affect the crosshairs clarity. Most of the times the mirage makes it a moot point. Lots of mirage in Florida

 

[6BRA]

Does your point of impact shift slightly?

 

[6MMsteve]

me

 

[Bronsin]

I had the same issue last year. Never owned a scope with side focus, and just couldn't get a good sight picture. As it turns out, I just wasn't turning it far enough. I was trying to adjust it at the first point that looked decent and it was still awful. Felt like a right idiot when someone else looked through it and fixed it right away. Didn't help that the scope I was using at the time has a razor's edge worth of range that actually worked.

 

[JEFFPPC]

Set your parallex to infinity. Look at the sky or a solid white wall and adjust the rear lens (diopter) on your scope until your crosshair is black and solid. Lock in place and then leave it alone. Now look at your target and adjust the parallels knob until the target is sharp. Now moving your head the crosshairs should be still. If the move some tiny adjustment with your parallels knob will take it away but leave the target sharp. Better yet get a Sighhtron SVED with the dual parallels knob. If you read the dir,sections that came with your scope you will see what I just explained.

 

[Fuj]

Set your parallex to infinity. Look at the sky or a solid white wall and adjust the rear lens (diopter) on your scope until your crosshair is black and solid. Lock in place and then leave it alone.

Very important piece of advice. I do this with all my scopes. I do
prefer to put the scope on a tripod and look at a bright sky before
mounting to the action.

 

[fkimble@charter.net]

If all else fails, visit your eye Dr.!

Frank

 

[Fred Bohl]

Parallax Adjust

After many years of doing it the conventional way (ocular first against blank background then parallax against the target) I finally found a quicker and more successful procedure. The best explanation I've seen is from a post on this forum but I've lost track of who posted it so with my apologies to him:
----------
"The easiest way to adjust for both zero parallax error and sharp target/reticle focus (making no assumptions about the scope's adjustments whatsoever) is as follows:

1. Adjust objective (side focus or AO) for zero parallax error, i.e. no apparent reticle movement on target while moving your eye around behind the eyepiece. (Disregard target image sharpness or focus.) Now the objective is focused on the reticle.

2. Adjust ocular (eyepiece) for sharpest target image focus (and, coincidentally, reticle focus - since they are now in the same plane). This is much easier than focusing on the reticle alone with a bright blank background, but you should still glance at the image for short periods, and trust your eye's first impression, which will also avoid eye fatigue.

Usually, a second iteration of the above two steps pays dividends in fine adjustment, since detecting parallax error (reticle movement on target) is easier once the image is more sharply focused."
----------
Try it, you will be surprised how well and easily this works to get your scope correctly focused especially if you are using fine cross hairs or fine cross hairs with dot.

 

[mac86951]

By the way, for those of us with astigmatism; the cross hairs always move on the target...

See your eye doc; minimize parallax; find consistent cheekweld or other eye-sight alignment technique.


-Mac

 

[JEFFPPC]

By the way, for those of us with astigmatism; the cross hairs always move on the target...

See your eye doc; minimize parallax; find consistent cheekweld or other eye-sight alignment technique.


-Mac

Hey now I know why the dot is always jumping around. I did not know that about astigmatism, which I have. Hmmmm, one more thing to add to my list of , "Why did I miss that shot".

 

[JFrank]

Parallax Adjust

After many years of doing it the conventional way (ocular first against blank background then parallax against the target) I finally found a quicker and more successful procedure. The best explanation I've seen is from a post on this forum but I've lost track of who posted it so with my apologies to him:
----------
"The easiest way to adjust for both zero parallax error and sharp target/reticle focus (making no assumptions about the scope's adjustments whatsoever) is as follows:

1. Adjust objective (side focus or AO) for zero parallax error, i.e. no apparent reticle movement on target while moving your eye around behind the eyepiece. (Disregard target image sharpness or focus.) Now the objective is focused on the reticle.

2. Adjust ocular (eyepiece) for sharpest target image focus (and, coincidentally, reticle focus - since they are now in the same plane). This is much easier than focusing on the reticle alone with a bright blank background, but you should still glance at the image for short periods, and trust your eye's first impression, which will also avoid eye fatigue.

Usually, a second iteration of the above two steps pays dividends in fine adjustment, since detecting parallax error (reticle movement on target) is easier once the image is more sharply focused."
----------
Try it, you will be surprised how well and easily this works to get your scope correctly focused especially if you are using fine cross hairs or fine cross hairs with dot.

Thanks, I’ll try that next time.

 

[Turbulent Turtle]

I’ve always struggled with this…. I adjust my Parallex until crosshairs don’t move when I move my head but the target is not clear. If I adjust ever so slightly to get a clear target then my Parallex is off. Does anyone else experience this and can explain how to have a clear target picture with the correct Parallex adjustment.

FYI… I experience this on March 8-80, NF comp 15-52, and Vortex GE 15-60 scopes.

Thank you!

You mention using some pretty high magnification riflescopes. Could you tell us at what distances and magnifications you encounter this problem? If the distance is on the long side, please also tell us the amount of adjustment you use in the riflescopes.

 

[Jeff Porter]

Set your parallex to infinity. Look at the sky or a solid white wall and adjust the rear lens (diopter) on your scope until your crosshair is black and solid. Lock in place and then leave it alone. Now look at your target and adjust the parallels knob until the target is sharp. Now moving your head the crosshairs should be still. If the move some tiny adjustment with your parallels knob will take it away but leave the target sharp. Better yet get a Sighhtron SVED with the dual parallels knob. If you read the dir,sections that came with your scope you will see what I just explained.

I have done it this way with success but have also observed the slight shift in target and reticle image focus at different distances that required some finer tuning.


I have found that dialing the parallax to the nearest distance works better for me. My theory is that the depth of focus is much narrower at shorter distances. You can move the knob a larger radius and set image focus more precisely at near range. At infinity, the target image is in focus across several yards and a small turn of the knob covers a large depth of focus. At near distance, the target image is only in focus for a few inches. To me this sets the focus two planes to be in agreement more precisely.

I get a crisp image on an object at close range then look at the sky or blank wall to focus the reticle with the ocular. Look away - come back a few minutes later until every time you pick up the scope the reticle is sharp.
When I focus at the ocular at this near distance with the parallax dialed back, I have had better luck with the target image and reticle staying focused together with no movement due to parallax at full distance when I move my head behind the scope.

Try it out and see if it makes any difference for you.

 

[Fred Bohl]

By the way, for those of us with astigmatism; the cross hairs always move on the target...

I'm always willing to be educated so please explain why. I also have astigmatism and have had for the last 71+ years but it has never bothered me when using peep sights or scopes.

Edit - my 78 years is the reason I'm willing to be educated or re-educated since I may have forgotten much of what I have previously learned. Although I don't remember being absent minded.

 

[fkimble@charter.net]

I'm with Fred, but only diagnosed for 50+ years. I have no trouble adjusting out the parallax movement!

Frank

 

[Turbulent Turtle]

I'm always willing to be educated so please explain why. I also have astigmatism and have had for the last 71+ years but it has never bothered me when using peep sights or scopes.

Edit - my 78 years is the reason I'm willing to be educated or re-educated since I may have forgotten much of what I have previously learned. Although I don't remember being absent minded.

Yeah, the astigmatism thing is iffy at best. Correlation is not causation.

 

[JEFFPPC]

I have done it this way with success but have also observed the slight shift in target and reticle image focus at different distances that required some finer tuning.


I have found that dialing the parallax to the nearest distance works better for me. My theory is that the depth of focus is much narrower at shorter distances. You can move the knob a larger radius and set image focus more precisely at near range. At infinity, the target image is in focus across several yards and a small turn of the knob covers a large depth of focus. At near distance, the target image is only in focus for a few inches. To me this sets the focus two planes to be in agreement more precisely.

I get a crisp image on an object at close range then look at the sky or blank wall to focus the reticle with the ocular. Look away - come back a few minutes later until every time you pick up the scope the reticle is sharp.
When I focus at the ocular at this near distance with the parallax dialed back, I have had better luck with the target image and reticle staying focused together with no movement due to parallax at full distance when I move my head behind the scope.

Try it out and see if it makes any difference for you.

I think I addressed that in my 5th sentence. Main point though, read the directions.

 

[Fuj]

From my Night Force Competition PDF manual, and the same as
with my Vortex, Burris, Bushnell's......