Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics 40mm vs 50mm? same scope. will I notice the difference?

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Very much agree.

I agree as well, but are you saying that a Zeiss Victory 2.5-10x42 with a 4.2mm exit pupil will be equally as bright at 10x as a Zeiss Victory 2.5-10x50 at 10x, with the 50mm having a 5 mm exit pupil as opposed to a 4.2mm exit pupil?

Cub, no that's not what I'm agreeing on. In your example (apples to apples) the 50mm will be brighter especially at dusk and dawn. What I'm agreeing with in the previous post is, the importance of good glass and coatings.

Not trying to be argumentative.

I talked with Leupold before I bought a 6.5-20x40 LR. They repeatedly said that
there is no discernible difference between 40mm and 50mm at any distance, any time, dusk or dawn, or any power.

AC, cannot say as to the Zeiss, but a few weeks back a friend and I spent the late afternoon and evening at the local range with a 3.5-10x50mm Kahles,a 2.5-10x42 Swaro PH,and a 2.5-10x42 S&B Summit,doing the usual peering 200 yards or so away, right until dark.

This was all pretty nice hardware,and all were excellent as you would expect,but there was no advantage at all to the 50mm scope. What you could have shot with one, you could have shot with the other.

Maybe it is just me but I think that I can see better in the low afternoon light turning to dusk with my old eyes and the 50mm. Not as much in low morning light. Seems with fading light my eyes do not adjust as fast and the 50mm helps. It does not totally eliminate the problem, just helps. miles

BobinNH

I can believe that if your peering through all 3 at lower to mid power range, but at the highest power (in this case 10x) I cant imagine there not being a slight advantage to the the bigger 50 in very low light. I recently sold a 50mm Zeiss that was a very LARGE scope, but the Swaro and Kahles in 50mm are so very sleek that you are not really dealing with that oversized scope issue. The Kahles CL you have is within a .5oz the same weight as a Zeiss 3-9x40 Conquest, and is even shorter by over .5" in overall length. The Swaro Z3 in 4-12x50 is also .75 oz lighter than the Zeiss Conquest 3-9x40. So a lot of guys think big 50mm when in some cases with the high end brands that is not the case at all.

The 50mm's can use more magnification with the same exit pupil size. That means you can see farther with the larger scope when the light gets really bad.
This is something I've seen time and again. A couple of guys compare a couple of different scopes trying to see the differences in the field. How do they test ? Everybody tests at the same range and, sometimes at least, the same magnification. Their results are very close.
But take two scopes, one a 40mm, and the other a 50mm, and set them on the highest possible magnification that doesn't make the image go black and the the guy with the 50mm scope can use more magnification. Since during low light the biggest change from daylight is limited range, this is where you get the benefits of a 50mm.
All that said, I'm not a fan of the 50mm scopes. Too many tradeoffs and drawbacks for me with too little practical gain. E

E, what do you think will work out for the better.

A 40mm with Xtended Twilight Lens System or a VX 50 mm without it?

For the most part I'm a 40mm objective guy. Having said that, I have got a few scopes with 50mm objectives in identical power ranges, and there is a definite difference when the light does down and the power goes up.
The old "legal light" argument doesn't hold up everywhere, since there are plenty of places where there is no such thing as quitting time. There are also varmint animals that can be hunted at night where big game can't.
I picked up a VXL in 3.5-10 x 50 with illuminated B&C reticle for a trip down to Argentina, and also for a future leopard hunt. If there was some huge disadvantage to the bigger bell in the daytime, I never noticed it.
Oh, about that question that nobody ever asked? Well I asked it.

JohnMoses,



Your are correct.

DMB,

A fifty with better glass is better than a forty with better glass. So.......why not buy wht you want if it's a fifty or a forty?

+1

AC: We played with the power ring quite a bit,and ran them all clear up and down while doing this.....what I'm saying is they were all very good;and the funny thing is the darker it got, the BETTER all three got.There were very subtle differences between them, but all were really superb.

That Kahles is a hell of a nice scope.

One curious characteristic of the Kahles is that running it from 6 to 10 power it had to be refocused between these two power settings. I would not want any of these scopes on a real "mountain"rifle,but none are really that heavy and objectionable at all.

I saw a Z3 Swaro yesterday for the first time in Cabela's,and the glass in those things has a lot of "WOW" factor......


But always remember I have 60 year old eyes now and maybe one scope will show "better" for someone else.


With todays coatings, I honestly believe the quality of glass and coatings makes more difference than objective diameter;and you really have to compare scopes of the exact same make and model to see if there is a difference.

That's kind of a complicated question SU. The Extended Twilight System uses their Diamond Coat 2 Coatings which offers alot more abrasion reisistance.
I, personally, really want the DC2 coatings. If there is a big difference between the ETS, and the older MC4 coatings on my 6X42's, I haven't noticed it yet.
The other thing is the tradeoffs between the problems associated with a 50mm scope and the smaller ones. I've never needed more than a 6X42, so anything larger is not useful to me. I suspect that even a 4X33 FXII would work well enough for my uses. E

The only place the extra magnification coupled with as large an exit pupil will make a difference is if it's dark enough for the smaller scope to go black while the larger one is still working. This is often after legal shooting hours. E

Is the Diamond Coat 2 harder because of the following?

Having fun, JW ? Those comments weren't made about the DC2 coatings. More important, that post was made a long time ago. The errors there in were discovered and corrected by me.
Just couple of details you conveniently ignored. E

That is a fact , and at the current pricing they are a steal! You are truly getting a +$1,000 glass/scope for near half price. I am going to a buddys house that has a 1000 yard personal range this week to wring out the Multizero at some long distances, it'll be intersting.

AC, yes they are a good buy...