Omid
Well-known member
SBB,
I was under the impression Omid was talking about the Swarovski rifle scope
Jan
Hi Jan,
As you yourself noted, I was talking about Zeiss scopes not Swarovski. Our subject here is Zeiss: a company that I love and respect very much and that's exactly why I care to critique their products. (We can also critique Swarovski product development but that's not the subject of discussion here, I do respect Swarovski and Leica too and I would, in due course, critique their products for exact same reason: I love them, care for them and wish them success.)
the reason to go for a 36mm tube is to make the possibiity to create more clicks for long range distances, something which seems impossible with a 30mm tube. The extra weight is 130 gram.
This is exactly why I called their solution "stupid". It is in fact possible to have a large elevation adjustment range in a 30mm tube scope (and even in a one-inch tube scope) and Zeiss was told about it: I have invented a new riflescope adjustment technique which allows unlimited elevation and windage adjustment in a rifle scope of any tube diameter. In my suggested method, the reticle and the erector lenses are not moved up and down inside the main tube. The riflescope's point of aim is adjusted optically using thin wedge prisms that move longitudinally or rotate about the optical axis. All the lenses and the reticle will remain fixed and centered on the optical axis. See US Patent 8,749,887; US Patent 9,164, 269 and US Patent 9,644, 920.
I have since developed even more elegant concepts that allow unlimited elevation and windage adjustment in a riflescope of any tube diameter while, at the same time, there are no moving parts inside the scope, there are no turrets, all the optical lenses are centered on the optical axis! Patent applications for these concepts are still pending
Like Dr. Dobler earlier mentioned; solutions comes with compromises.
Others might call it stupid
Well, as I demonstrated in my comments above, sometimes an amateur might come up with a better solution than a whole team of experts. Dr. Dobler is very nice man and avid birdwatcher. He is not a hunter though (as far as I know). He is not the cause of Zeiss failing financially. He is one component in a large corporate culture that prevents a manager from taking risky decisions. As a result, NOTHING NEW HAPPENS. Here are the exact words of my friend (former Director of Product Management/Hunting at Zeiss) written to me in 2013:
"The reasons for my leave are diverse – but in a nut shell – ZEISS and myself are deriving from totally different cultures: In my previous jobs I was used to work very independently based on ‘trust’ shown by the executive board (Swarovski Optik, Leica Camera) or the shareholder (Gerhard Swarvoski, Andreas Kaufmann) respectively. So we had lots of discussions in ‘qualitative’ terms (brand/line strategy, positioning, performance, features) and very little in ‘quantitative’ terms (business plans, exchange rates, volume estimates, regional forecasts). At ZEISS – dealing only with strangely aloof bean counters with no-whatsoever understanding of the sports optics market (actually of consumer markets as a whole) – every project started (and very often ended) with nigh-shift Power Point and Excel battles throwing numbers at each other just to get some ‘no-brainer’-project released. And I am not only talking a million or two investments, I am talking releases of 10,000 EURO-budgets for inititialization projects (pre-pre-development / proof of concept).
That said, many of my promising, disruptive innovation projects (including the topics with you) ended before the actual evaluation phase as my German bean counters where looking for a ‘guaranteed’ payback of each EURO spent within a year or so. Ridicolous – and not a viable business culture (at least in the consumer market world)."
That said, many of my promising, disruptive innovation projects (including the topics with you) ended before the actual evaluation phase as my German bean counters where looking for a ‘guaranteed’ payback of each EURO spent within a year or so. Ridicolous – and not a viable business culture (at least in the consumer market world)."
It seems inevitable that any big company ends up turning into a giant mechanical machine which perpetuates its initial motion under inertia. I wouldn't blame Zeiss for not adapting or making my inventions after an initial test. But they didn't even do that, they got busy inventing the next "big thing" on their own and they achieved it [literally ].
-Omid
PS. SBB, I appreciate your supportive comments in Post #15. It is good to know I am not alone in my opinion about Zeiss V8 scopes. I recently purchased about $5000 worth of Zeiss optics but they were the previous Varipoint models; outstanding products from every aspect..
Last edited: