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I've got a Zeiss LRP 5-25x on the way as well as a big box from ZCO. Whatcha wanna see?

Tyler Kemp

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Aug 23, 2008
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I have the ability to take nice photos (planned) to highlight glass, which is of course subjective and some folks won't be happy, but that's ok.

Turrets are also subjective.

Going to take it out hunting and mount it in an Adversus mount on my 338 Lapua AI.

What you want to see, is what I want to show you. Going into this with an open mind, and expecting another top-tier contender.
 
the zeiss has really peaked my interest. Can you give your detailed thoughts regardless of how subjective they may be.. I’m interested in the illumination system, low light visibility, and direct comparison with ZCO. Don’t worry about giving a non-bias/ non subjective opinion. Any initial thoughts are welcomed.
 
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A big ass elk or whitetail down!!!
One so big and gnarly that a poor scope wouldn’t have ever had a chance at! Near dark, 500 yards away. Maybe 800-1k for an elk 🤣🍻
 
I have the ability to take nice photos (planned) to highlight glass, which is of course subjective and some folks won't be happy, but that's ok.

Turrets are also subjective.

Going to take it out hunting and mount it in an Adversus mount on my 338 Lapua AI.

What you want to see, is what I want to show you. Going into this with an open mind, and expecting another top-tier contender.
What do I want to see? How you can afford all that... I can't even afford ONE of those scopes. 😞
 
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Ciao Tyler, from your first Italian customer…
eyebox is the name of the game. If you can drop behind the Zeiss and grab your target as fast as with the ZCO, now the Germans will have my attention.
Both are awesome pieces of glass, undoubtedly.
 
You guys want to see some preliminary pictures now, or a whole writeup all at once?

Zeiss eyebox is at least as forgiving as ZCO, a touch better than Kahles, and a lot easier to get behind than a Tangent which I find finicky particularly at high magnification.

Resolution seems on par with ZCO, ZCO at least initially is a touch better in the CA department, again they pull away from the Kahles here.

I spent a few hours comparing these 3 in a mix of spotty sunlight to bright sunlight as the weather changed on Saturday, and plan to do more comparisons this upcoming weekend.
 
C3950B2F-9683-4E5A-A43C-07CC7B84D08E.jpeg
Very interested to see your findings Tyler. I actually feel the zco is a little better as far as resolution.
 
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The zeiss and the ZCO are the 2 optics I’ve been eyeing hard, looking forward to your thoughts
 
looking forward to seeing more, was planning ZCO for my next scope, but like the Zeiss reticle just as much, and can get it almost $1k cheaper too which makes a very tough choice
 
Thank you Tyler, if you could comment on clarity out to ELR if possible Mile+ comparing the Zeiss to the ZCO and pictures of possible would be great
 
SInce you've got the disposable income, how about throwing the new leica into the mix?
:sneaky:
 
Look at the same object at 1000yards at the same time with both scopes side by side, at the same mag range. (Preferably 18-20x). Compare the glass. The zeiss reticle is better, the zco turret feel is better. I couldn't tell much on glass difference with the brief time I had with them, but it won't surprise me one bit if the zeiss is "more clear" at distance, actually that's my gut impression. Do this and tell us what you think.............
 
You guys actin' like I don't know what you want to see ;)

Pre-Edit-gonna try a google drive link first, if that doesn't work I will upload direct pics

2000 yards, spotty clouds, tried my best to get lighting the same for every pic but impossible for absolute consistency. I've got more pics at different ranges, conditions, into the sun, etc...but I can't let you get to third base so soon:

10x Kahles (touch out of focus but only 10x i got) , ZCO, Zeiss


kahles_at_2000_10x.jpg


zco_at_2000_10x.jpg


zeiss_2000_yards_10x.jpg



25x, Kahles (again maybe a touch out of focus but mostly the glass is just not as crisp), ZCO, Zeiss

kahles_2000_yards_25x.jpg


zco_at_2000_25x.jpg


IMG_9668 (2).jpg
 

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I have some notes I took when doing pictures:

Kahles-lowest resolution at 2000 yards. Still far away better than "typical scopes" but fell behind the Zeiss and ZCO. Things looked "milkier", not as crisp, etc.

Zeiss and ZCO both had significantly easier eyeboxes and discerning any difference in resolution was impossible at 2000 yards. Looking with the naked eye is easier because you get a snapshot in time of the mirage which could vary fairly significantly say with 100 pictures of each taken in a burst mode over a few seconds.

Colors were also really similar with the Zeiss at ZCO at that range.

Next up I've got 400 yards into the sun, under bright sunlight, looking at a cattle shed with a white roof. Really hard test under the worst conditions that showed some CA differences, resolution differences, and differences in looking under a bright as hell roof with a dark interior underneath.

Will post pictures tonight.
 
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The first thing that jumps out at me is how well designed the Zeiss reticle is. It draws my eye to the center much better than the other two. But they kind of screwed it up with the 1,2,3 marking on the right side above the main aiming point. Should have done what they did below with just a 2 on each side of the vertical, cleaner and you keep perfect symmetry. You can also lose the 1s on the main horizontal as they're not needed.
 
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To my eyes, the Zeiss looks crispy with more vibrant colors in the leaves. It may be just the camera but that’s how my eyes see them. Thanks for the pics. Been eying a new scope for the RimX so this is much appreciated.
 
I have some notes I took when doing pictures:

Kahles-lowest resolution at 2000 yards. Still far away better than "typical scopes" but fell behind the Zeiss and ZCO. Things looked "milkier", not as crisp, etc.

Zeiss and ZCO both had significantly easier eyeboxes and discerning any difference in resolution was impossible at 2000 yards. Looking with the naked eye is easier because you get a snapshot in time of the mirage which could vary fairly significantly say with 100 pictures of each taken in a burst mode over a few seconds.

Colors were also really similar with the Zeiss at ZCO at that range.

Next up I've got 400 yards into the sun, under bright sunlight, looking at a cattle shed with a white roof. Really hard test under the worst conditions that showed some CA differences, resolution differences, and differences in looking under a bright as hell roof with a dark interior underneath.

Will post pictures tonight.
Can you give a comparison of performance at dusk?
 
You guys want to see some preliminary pictures now, or a whole writeup all at once?

Zeiss eyebox is at least as forgiving as ZCO, a touch better than Kahles, and a lot easier to get behind than a Tangent which I find finicky particularly at high magnification.

Resolution seems on par with ZCO, ZCO at least initially is a touch better in the CA department, again they pull away from the Kahles here.

I spent a few hours comparing these 3 in a mix of spotty sunlight to bright sunlight as the weather changed on Saturday, and plan to do more comparisons this upcoming weekend.

you have 'standard' kahles or DLR?

and didnt find; are Zeiss's turrets locking?
 
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by my notes kahles 525 has main reticle thicknes of 0.035 MIL, Zeiss 525 0.03MIL and ZCO 527 0.034MIL.

did you find some reticle being more thick than others? because I like thick reticle...
 
you realy can't judge based on pictures from camera... it's totaly different
Oh I agree but that’s all we have to go on. You have to get behind the scope to be sure but based on the photos that is my impression. Unless you have access to all 3, which I don’t but still appreciate the photos.
 
Hola everyone,

Will be posting more pictures after this weekend where hopefully things are cloudy all day. And I'll share some later today that are at 400 and 650 yards. I agree the Kahles being out of focus wasn't fair, which is why I mentioned it. The Kahles glass is still the worst of the 3 with by far the most CA though. Great glass still, but not as great.

In my semi-professional opinion, you can totally ascertain certain things from photos.

With locked settings, the color difference you in different scopes DOES match real life. Perhaps your monitor isn't truly color accurate, or the warmth of the photos don't represent exactly what one would have saw in person, but with those locked settings the differences are captured.

Resolution is the hardest thing, you can definitely get a good idea from photos, but the mirage is always varying to a small degree which throws things off unless you had a burst of photos to compare over a few seconds.

Eyebox is the easiest thing to tell being the person taking a photo, although that isn't represented in the photos themselves, just how much of a bitch it is to get a good view through them with the camera.
 
Interesting, to my eyes in the photo at 10x the ZCO looks better (notice the green scrub in the left foreground) than the Zeiss. But at 25x the Zeiss is slightly better.
 
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Hola everyone,

Will be posting more pictures after this weekend where hopefully things are cloudy all day. And I'll share some later today that are at 400 and 650 yards. I agree the Kahles being out of focus wasn't fair, which is why I mentioned it. The Kahles glass is still the worst of the 3 with by far the most CA though. Great glass still, but not as great.

In my semi-professional opinion, you can totally ascertain certain things from photos.

With locked settings, the color difference you in different scopes DOES match real life. Perhaps your monitor isn't truly color accurate, or the warmth of the photos don't represent exactly what one would have saw in person, but with those locked settings the differences are captured.

Resolution is the hardest thing, you can definitely get a good idea from photos, but the mirage is always varying to a small degree which throws things off unless you had a burst of photos to compare over a few seconds.

Eyebox is the easiest thing to tell being the person taking a photo, although that isn't represented in the photos themselves, just how much of a bitch it is to get a good view through them with the camera.
In person actually looking through all 3 I couldn't tell a difference. Maybe the Z was slightly brighter looking. Maybe you just have younger eyes and can thus tell more at that level of glass.
 
Hola everyone,

Will be posting more pictures after this weekend where hopefully things are cloudy all day. And I'll share some later today that are at 400 and 650 yards. I agree the Kahles being out of focus wasn't fair, which is why I mentioned it. The Kahles glass is still the worst of the 3 with by far the most CA though. Great glass still, but not as great.

In my semi-professional opinion, you can totally ascertain certain things from photos.

With locked settings, the color difference you in different scopes DOES match real life. Perhaps your monitor isn't truly color accurate, or the warmth of the photos don't represent exactly what one would have saw in person, but with those locked settings the differences are captured.

Resolution is the hardest thing, you can definitely get a good idea from photos, but the mirage is always varying to a small degree which throws things off unless you had a burst of photos to compare over a few seconds.

Eyebox is the easiest thing to tell being the person taking a photo, although that isn't represented in the photos themselves, just how much of a bitch it is to get a good view through them with the camera.
Tyler..............
We "need" photos.................

Got a Zeiss in the crosshairs here for blackfriday
 
Which of the 3 had the best eyebox? I have some eye issues and was wondering how you personally ranked the three in that area.
 
ZCO and Zeiss both had nice eyeboxes, easier to get a view through than the Kahles, which also has a nice eyebox....but not as nice.

More pics incoming. Sadly I did not get the chance for more pics this weekend but I should before the scope goes back to Zeiss.

We will offer these for some Black Friday deals this week, preorders shouldn't be more than a month before scopes show up!
 
Alright, this time there's a Zeiss photo out of focus. 400 or 450 yards (I think 450) into the sun for most pics, a few you can tell when clouds darkened things up.

I think some information can be gleaned for this, notably that Kahles has the most CA, and a bit of resolution differences can be seen if you focus on roof bolts, the white tree behind the roof, etc.

5x, Kahles, ZCO, Zeiss

kahles_at_400_5x.jpg


zco_at_400_5x.jpg


zeiss_at_400_5x.jpg


10x Kahles, ZCO, Zeiss

kahles_at_650_10x.jpg


zco_at_400_10x.jpg


zeiss_at_400_10x.jpg


25x Kahles, ZCO, Zeiss

kahles_450_yards_25x.jpg


zco_450_yards_25x.jpg


zeiss_at_400_25x.jpg