Magnification power Digiscoping from Binos

[10ringer]

This is a general optical question when digi-scoping from Binos. For reference I have an iPhone with 5x optical zoom.


I was really hoping my phone zoom set at 5x hooked up to my 10x42 binos would give me a 50x image. Unfortunately its not the case. The image is more like 25x and Im trying to understand why. Do you lose half the magnification when only looking through one barrel?

 

[stephane]

Just a theory, but could it be that the lens your iPhone uses for 5x zoom is not the one that you’ve aligned with your binos? The phones with multiple lenses will use certain ones for certain tasks.

 

[10ringer]

Yes, on my phone we can rule that out. 1x zoom and above is one lens. Below 1x is the close focus lense.


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[BuckRut]

How are you measuring the apparent multiplied magnification? There are several factors that could be at play but I would guess the biggest factor is the distance from your phones objective lens to the binocular ocular lens.

 

[10ringer]

I had a 65 mm spotting scope along side my phone/bino setup.
The spotting scope on 25x produced a similar size image when looking at a 100 yard target.


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[BuckRut]

I had a 65 mm spotting scope along side my phone/bino setup.
The spotting scope on 25x produced a similar size image when looking at a 100 yard target.


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Not to sound like a dick but how could you tell it was similar size? Are we talking field of view? I feel it would be very difficult to compare a screen display to actually looking though the glass. A better test may be something similar to an eye test and put up something that you just can't quite read through the spotting scope then see if you can through the phone. It would be cool if someone knows of an actual test for something like this.

 

[10ringer]

How are you measuring the apparent multiplied magnification? There are several factors that could be at play but I would guess the biggest factor is the distance from your phones objective lens to the binocular ocular lens.

Good point on the phone lens to ocular lens distance. Im using Magview and there is a noticeable gap

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[10ringer]

Not to sound like a dick but how could you tell it was similar size? Are we talking field of view? I feel it would be very difficult to compare a screen display to actually looking though the glass. A better test may be something similar to an eye test and put up something that you just can't quite read through the spotting scope then see if you can through the phone. It would be cool if someone knows of an actual test for something like this.

Good question,


I’m judging a square archery target and a deer rack at 100 yards.

I pulled out my spotting scope and made the archery target a similar size in my scope. At 25X they were about even.

I know this is subjective but it’s kind of like looking at the moon through a pair of 8’s and 12’s. you can tell the obvious size difference.

I could do a resolution chart, but then optical quality becomes a factor.

I’m not sure what the official test is to verify the zoom power of an optic.


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[10ringer]

Since a picture is worth a 1000 words, here are a few pictures digi-scoping of a USAF chart at 50 yards. All with an iphone 14


Viper 10x50
5x zoom

Viper 10x50
1x zoom

Kowa 6.5 x32
Zoom 1x

Kowa 6.5x32
5x zoom

NL 10x42
5x zoom

NL 10x42
1x zoom

NL 10x42
5x zoom photo, then digital zoom to the max.

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[10ringer]

When looking through the binos on a tripod the resolution results were as follows:


Kowa 6.5 x 32…………..group -2 element 1
Viper 10x50 ……………..group -2 element 5
NL 10x42…………………..group-2 element 6


When digiscoping at 5x the results are:

Kowa 6.5 x 32…………..group 2 element 3
Viper 10x50 ……………..group 2 element 6
NL 10x42…………………..group-2 element 1



My results show an approximate loss of 1 group when digiscoping.