Snipers

[Zell]

Cool. 8x is a bit extreme, no?

 

[Daemion]

1.) I just tested with a 4x36 scope and it seems as if it has a minimum focal distance of about 8m. Below this distance the sight is blurred, above its sharp up to "infinite" range.

2.) In fact there ARE scopes with variable magnification. For example the Zeiss Victory Diavari 6-24x72. This isn't anything special but just a hunting scope. Magnification is adjusted by rotating a ring on the eyepiece.

3.) I don't think that there were scopes with variable maginifaction during WWII. This things are pretty new and quite expensive in production.

4.) Magifications greater than 8x wouldn't be much usefull in "heat of battle"-sniping cause your aim would wiggle-waggle around like hell (even 8x is pretty high allready, though).

 

[PUTZ]

Variable magnification works similarly to a zoom camera lens. Work in the optics field was relatively newduring WWII, and the technology to combine a magnifying glass (the essentials of a scope) with a zoom feature was not yet developed, because glass which could allow lots of light through didn't exist yet.

A 4x scope would've needed at least 4 peices of optical glass (most likely 6), each magnifying the image about 1x. Anymore than this, not enough light would have been able to pass through all the glass and to the riflemans eye.

Optical coatings and chemically enhanced optical glasses (first pioneered by Zeiss, then by what is now Canon Japan) are used to increase light transmission enough to allow Zoom optics to exist at large focal lenghts. Fluorite glass has about a 98% light transmission level, much much higher than that of glass of the WWII era and up until the mid 80s when Fluorite glass was developed by Canon.

 

[Mormegil]

According to Wikipedia, the first production Zoom lens for regular 35mm cameras was available in in 1959 (which let in a surprising amount of light at f/2.8).

Zoom lenses are still considered to be optically inferior to most non-zoom lenses. As a matter of fact, until the 1980's, most cameras came with non-zoom lenses.


So I doubt you'd find a single zoom lens on a sniper scope in WWII.

 

[KrazyKraut]

Oh, my bad then. Your probably right about higher magnification existing then. I was basing my previous post on a book I have that shows various types of German scoped rifles and they're all 4x. 4 seems to be the most common, though.

We have this old topic where i mentioned some of the scopes used by the Wehrmacht, to sum it up: There's no standard. Many different scopes and many different mounts. On of the predominant, and i think the one we have in game (unable to check because i don't have the game installed atm) is the either a Zeiss-"Zielvier" or Ajack 4x90, both of 4 times magnification on a high turret mount. Some of the Ajacks used had a magnification as high as 6 times but were rather rare btw. Many hunting scopes were also used.

That's a Unertl 8x scope mounted on a Springfield 1903A1 used by the USMC in the Pacific.


It's also one of the innacuracies in Saving Private Ryan. You see the scope in the movie, but it was only issued by the USMC and never used in Europe. It's also shown in the movie used on the army's 1903A4 version of the Springfield, and with the wrong scope mounts.

Yeah and i love how he switched that scope on the fly, like it wouldn't completely ruin the zero

I couldn't tell you the why's or the hows, but rifle scopes don't have a focus. You just focus with your eyes. Maybe the focus on binocs has something to do with looking with both eyes.

That's what i would guess, too.

 

[PUTZ]

Zoom lenses are still considered to be optically inferior to most non-zoom lenses. As a matter of fact, until the 1980's, most cameras came with non-zoom lenses.

What's wierd is that my 70-200 f/4L is sharper than my 300 f/4L IS.

It's all in the glass...crappy glass = crappy optical quality = poor light transmission = can't use alot because you will lose luminence.

 

[G0rbachev]

Wooo

 

[PUTZ]

Wooo

Hooo

 

[Mormegil]

What's wierd is that my 70-200 f/4L is sharper than my 300 f/4L IS.

It's all in the glass...crappy glass = crappy optical quality = poor light transmission = can't use alot because you will lose luminence.

Just had to brag about the "L glass" huh? I've just got the 70-200 4L, a 50 1.8 and 17-85. Just 1 L lens...


To be fair, the 70-200 4L is considered to be amazingly sharp. Maybe you can blame the optics on the IS group.


Anyways, maybe the reason the scopes don't require focusing is because their focused at infinity and probably have a pretty small aperture - so they have a sharper image.

Also, unlike a camera, the image isn't being projected on a flat plane (ground glass, sensor or film)*. It goes directly into your eye, where your own lens can focus the light.

*You can't focus with your eye in a camera, because the light isn't directly hitting your eye. It's hitting a focusing screen (ground glass), forming an image there. Focus has to be precise on the screen to see a proper image. This is required otherwise focus on the film iteself will be off. This isn't a problem with a scope.


Don't ask me why binoculars need so much focusing.

 

[TheBeagle]

We have this old topic where i mentioned some of the scopes used by the Wehrmacht, to sum it up: There's no standard. Many different scopes and many different mounts. On of the predominant, and i think the one we have in game (unable to check because i don't have the game installed atm) is the either a Zeiss-"Zielvier" or Ajack 4x90, both of 4 times magnification on a high turret mount. Some of the Ajacks used had a magnification as high as 6 times but were rather rare btw. Many hunting scopes were also used.

I missed that reply Kraut, thanks. So there was an Ajack 6x scope, eh? Do you have any pics of what one looked like? I googled Ajack 6x but all I came up with were the 4x90. I'm curious waht it looked like.

Nice info on optics. BTW, I just rediscovered my scope does have a focus knob and also an ajustable objective lens, whatever that is. I really should read more on this stuff before I go shooting my scope again.

I read somewhere the M-14 based Sniper rifle system used during Vietnam had a variable power scope.

 

[Scoobin]

Nice info on optics. BTW, I just rediscovered my scope does have a focus knob and also an ajustable objective lens, whatever that is. I really should read more on this stuff before I go shooting my scope again.

I'm sure this is what No_Aim originally meant - focus. If not he has a bit of learning to do.