John Barsness has already done that cfran. So have many others. Barsness takes new scopes and uses a special grid to adjust them to the same actual magnification. He sets them low enough to off set any advantage a larger objective would have over a smaller one. He, of course, makes sure they are all focused properly.
He's found that Zeiss, but not Swaro or S&B, are the tiniest bit brighter. Fine. We are talking maybe 2% or even less. Want to go to all that trouble yourself ? Be my guest.
Make no mistake, magnification is the biggest factor in false readings. Just .2X off (5.8X) and a 3.5-10X40 Leupold is about 3% less bright than a Zeiss 3-9X40 when set at 6X. If the actual difference is really .3X, then it's about a 5% difference. The difference between a fully multicoated scope and one with single coatings is roughly 7-9% less bright. So, you set them at the same actual magnification or you get distorted results.
Me, I'm not going to worry about such nonsense. I've watched too many critters long before and long after legal shooting hours with not only Leupolds but other scopes as well. E
Last edited by Eremicus; 08/27/06.
