Variation in Equivalent Scope Magnification between Brands

[Louisiana Deerman]

So I was very surprised the other day. I ordered some Zeiss Conquest V4 scopes, some in 3-12x44 and one in 4-16x44 and compared to my Vortex Diamondback and Leupold VX-3i scopes. I was floored to find out that my Vortex Diamondback 3-12x42 scope at max magnification (12x) offers the same "apparent" optical zoom as the Zeiss 4-16x44 model at max (16x) magnification. In other words, I had to crank the Zeiss up to 16x to get the same apparent distance to the target as the Vortex on 12x. My Leupold VX-3i 3-14x50 scope on max magnification (14x) acually feels like I am closer to the target than the Zeiss 4-16x44 at max magnification (16x). Call me ignorant, but it appears that magnification specs between scopes are subjective and just from this little experiment the Zeiss scopes offered less "apparent" magnification. The Zeiss 3-12x44 scope at max magnification (12x) put me farther away from the target than my Vortex Diamondback 2-10x50 on 10x as well. Have you observed this as well? What am I not understanding here??

 

[Alex Genereux]

Is it actually closer or is it just a difference in field of view?

 

[N8H]

I would check field of view specs for your scopes, it's may just be a difference of FOV that leaves an impression that your closer with one than the other. I'd be curious as I have felt this way about a scope but never wanted to sit down and look up the specs on several scopes.