Is it my eyes?

[Buffalo Chip]

I would like a crisper sight picture, guess we all would. It doesn't seem to matter what scope I'm looking through, but it's a little fuzzy. They aren't $1000 scopes, but they aren't $50 scopes either. At 100 0r 200 yds should I have a good clean picture. Should I be looking at new glasses and asking the doctor questions?

 

[ken158]

First, be sure you understand how to adjust your scope - objective and eyepiece. Consider adjusting without your glasses and see how that works for you. You did not state what scopes you have but if you ever look through a high end scope, you will see that cost of optics are more relative to the purchase price than many other things. No free lunch with optics!

 

[Fred Bohl]

It would be helpful to know what power and objective diameter is for the scopes in question. However if you are talking about high magnifications (over 21 to 30x) you may be experiencing the difficulties in perception due to using diffraction limited scopes.

Assuming you have 20/20 or corrected to 20/20 vision (1MOA resolution) and are considering modern very good or better scopes, the resolution of the scope is diffraction limited by the clear diameter of the objective lens. A key issue occurs when the diffraction limited resolution times the magnification equals the users visual resolution (1MOA for 20/20 vision). Let us call that value the "Match Magnification".

At less than match magnification the effective scope resolution is limited by the user's visual acuity. Above match magnification the effective scope resolution is diffraction limited by the objective diameter. Also, at even higher magnification, the diffraction interference effects become more noticeable and are often misinterpreted as "fuzzy" or "blurry" edges of fine details.

The match magnification values for some popular scopes are: Weaver T-36x-40mm = 20.7x; Leupold 40x-45mm & 45x-40mm Competition = 23.3x; March 40x-52mm, 50x-52mm & 60x-52mm = 26.9x; and Nightforce 12-42x-56mm = 29x. Note that with a variable such as the Nightforce, your perception of the correctly adjusted view would be limited by your visual acuity up to 29x but over that it would be diffraction limited and as the magnification was increased above 29x you would perceive more diffraction effects and if not accustom to these effects you might interpret the view as becoming more "blurry" with increasing magnification.

 

[CatShooter]

I would like a crisper sight picture, guess we all would. It doesn't seem to matter what scope I'm looking through, but it's a little fuzzy. They aren't $1000 scopes, but they aren't $50 scopes either. At 100 0r 200 yds should I have a good clean picture. Should I be looking at new glasses and asking the doctor questions?

It may be your eyes. ow old are you, and do you have beginning cataracts? "Crispy" is very different than sharper. if you are past your mid 30's. there is a possibility that there is the beginning of cataracts, which kill "crispiness", even though you have 20/20 vision.

Before you start throwing money at new scopes, go see an ophthalmologist (not an optometrist)... and get a thorough eye exam, and tell him/her that you are particularly interested in the possibility of early cataracts.