Zeiss Scope Lens "Flare"

[Sabre]

I have a couple Zeiss scopes. I really like their clarity and the illumination is crisp.

They use a reddish tinted optical treatment on many of their optics. I believe it is on most of their sporting optics, but I have seen a couple without, perhaps older.

The end result is that their scopes strongly reflect light sources in both the objective and ocular lens and puts a red hue to them. Sometimes washing the scope out a decent bit with red light.

From the shooters side of things, it can be kind of distracting when the sun gets in the ocular lens behind your shoulder, and it really doesn't take a lot to cause it. Wearing a ball cap helps sometimes, but sometimes it is unavoidable.

Given how noticeably reflective it is, I worry that from the game animal side of things, it might spook game. A sunshade may negate some of this reflection/glare.

I am curious if anyone else has noticed this, been mildly annoyed by it, or given any thought to it.

One scope, so far I use on a gun that primarily goes to the range, and if I end up hunting it, it will be for longer range hunting.
But the other scope I got specifically for woodland hunting where animals and shots will be quite close.

 

[Sabre]

This is not my image, it was from this site. But it shows a little bit of what I am talking about.
My scopes from many other brands don't seem nearly as reflective, and of course they don't have the red hue when they do.

 

[Sideshow]

Lose the ball cap and shoot with a wide brim hat will cover it. Apart from low dawn or afternoon sun coming over your shoulder. Which means the animal won’t see you either as the sun will be in their eyes.

 

[Nhoro]

All scopes have coatings on the lenses. These are mainly to correct chromatic aberration. The coating is proprietary and usually adds a colour tint, varying with the manufacturer. I find Swarovski and Ziess tend to have a sight picture which is colder( blue green) because of their coatings. That is the red reflection that you see , red light reflected off the coating. Because the light passing through has lost some red to reflection, you will see a blue green tint in your sight picture.Basically those coatings are to reduce the rainbow halo that you see around dark objects. Other manufacturers will have a blue reflection on the lens because their coatings are different.

 

[migrabill]

I am a Zeiss guy. I have noticed what you point out when looking at the scope lens from afar (like pictured), but to me nothing beats the clarity, crispness, and color when I look thru the scope. I do 2nd what @Sideshow said and suggest using a wider brimmed hat.

 

[Sabre]

Lose the ball cap and shoot with a wide brim hat will cover it. Apart from low dawn or afternoon sun coming over your shoulder. Which means the animal won’t see you either as the sun will be in their eyes.

I am a Zeiss guy. I have noticed what you point out when looking at the scope lens from afar (like pictured), but to me nothing beats the clarity, crispness, and color when I look thru the scope. I do 2nd what @Sideshow said and suggest using a wider brimmed hat.

I do hunt with a wide brim hat sometimes, but I also like hunting with a "standard hat" sometimes as well. It seems that the combination of their lenses being a bit more reflective than most and the added red causes the washout. I can notice reflection in other scopes, but it is typically less bright, stays white or yellow, or whatever color the light is, and doesn't wash out the scope.

@migrabill I agree that the clarity so far has been worth the tradeoff for me. Which is why I haven't gotten rid of them. I like them quite a bit actually. Just one aspect that I don't prefer. Also, they get the red dot illumination right. Which a lot of scope companies seem to struggle with a lot. It blows my mind that some very high end scopes can't have daylight visible red dot illumination done correctly. Zeiss does a good job with this.

 

[migrabill]

Strange- I just bought the scope that's in the picture you showed! I totally agree with how they do the red dot. I have a Leupold HD5 and you have to have a special little cap to screw the cover off to change the battery (or have a screwdriver with you). The Zeiss V4's and V6's - one you simply push a button and dial up or down the intensity, the other you simply pull the ring out and it comes on. The Leupolds you have to press the button and it comes on at its lowest intensity - they I have to push the button 5 or 6 more times until it is as bright as I need it. The Zeiss is much more user friendly.

 

[mdwest]

Consider trying a sun shade

LRP S3 3" Thread-on Riflescope Sunshade, 50mm

sportsoptics-shop.zeiss.com

They knock the glare off pretty well…

I have a blind that faces right into the setting western sun… for about an hour each evening during deer season it is super hard to get off a shot…

A sun shade fixes that…

 

[Sabre]

Strange- I just bought the scope that's in the picture you showed! I totally agree with how they do the red dot. I have a Leupold HD5 and you have to have a special little cap to screw the cover off to change the battery (or have a screwdriver with you). The Zeiss V4's and V6's - one you simply push a button and dial up or down the intensity, the other you simply pull the ring out and it comes on. The Leupolds you have to press the button and it comes on at its lowest intensity - they I have to push the button 5 or 6 more times until it is as bright as I need it. The Zeiss is much more user friendly.

My favorite controls for illumination are ones where it has a dial that has an off between each intensity. Like the one you just bought on the classified that you mentioned. I was also considering that scope, but I just got a couple scopes and don't need another at the moment.