Diascope 85 edge-to-edge clarity?

SalVelinus · May 10, 2007

I just got a Zeiss Diascope 85 w/ 20-60x eyepiece and the edge to edge clarity is not very good, especially at the 20x setting at longer distances. The outer edge, maybe 1/5-1/4 of the radius, of the FOV is not sharp. Is this normal? Has anyone else experienced anything similar? I wear glasses but my cheap, old spotter was still crisp from edge to edge. I know someone will say "send it back to zeiss" but if it is normal then there is no point. Others will say I shoulda bought a swaro, maybe they are right! Any ideas Doug?

mort75 · May 10, 2007

i have spent some time looking threw several zeiss scopes.. Everyone that i have looked threw as been blurry around the edges

Trent Holliday

fatrooster · May 10, 2007

I went out with two guys this last winter who absolutely love the Zeiss over anything else. That day I forgot to bring my Swarovski spotting scope to compare. When I looked through the Zeiss spotter the first thing I noticed was that the edge to edge clarity was not what I expected and seemed to be lacking but other than that it was just as good as my Swaro. One of those two guys was selling his Swaro in order to buy the Zeiss. A different friend of mine does not like The Swaro because of the green tint on the glass and prefers the Leica. But to get back to the question, yes I did notice that the Zeiss edges seemed to be blury. fatrooster.

Wes · May 13, 2007

I spent a lot of time with a Zeiss 85, Swarovski 80 and a Leica 77 on tripods compering them against each other. I felt the Zeiss may have been a little brighter but the edged to edge clarity was what got it eliminated. I bought the Swarovski.
Wes

SalVelinus · May 14, 2007

I spoke w/ a guy at Zeiss who said that all Diascopes are like that and that it is intentional. They do not use stops to block out the edges as all other manufactures do, resulting in the wide FOV and slightly blurred edges with the vario eyepiece. The stops would decrease the FOV at all powers. While it is annoying it is better than not having the wide FOV. Kudos to Zeiss for explaining it to me.

Wes · May 14, 2007

Just curious but what the hell good is the extra fov if it's blury?
Wes

SalVelinus · May 15, 2007

Yeah, good point. It does make finding your target easier, and the problem isn't that bad at shorter distances (a mile or so)at lower powers and not a problem at 60x except at very long distances. It also is much nicer to look through with the wide-angle regardless of edge clarity. Besides how often do you not center something that you are looking at? But I agree, i'm just rationalizing. The damn thing does irritate me but it is incredibly clear in the center 2/3, is easy to look through, and gathers light very well. It is a million times better than my nikon spotter XL, which is what really matters at this point. Was watching some rams yesterday @ a couple miles or more and the clarity was amazing. I could easily tell curl size. I still am not sure if i made the right call by saving $700 dollars and not getting the swaro. Only time will tell. At least I have $700 more for gas this season and I can always sell it!