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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Alexis Powell" data-source="post: 3570114" data-attributes="member: 5327">I have read all your posts, but I assure you with the greatest respect that you do not understand something important. Field of view (FOV) generally decreases as magnification increases, but the two are independent of each other to a fair amount. You are right that when you compare the view through any particular zoom eyepiece that it will have a wider true FOV at low power (making it easier to find things) than at high power. What you don't seem to understand is that a fixed wide-angle eyepiece can have a much wider FOV at a given magnification than a zoom would at that same magnification, or even when the zoom is set at a lower magnification. I use a fixed 30x wide field eyepiece with my Nikon scope. It provides a substantially wider view at 30x (the view is a circular area 126 ft across at 1000 yards) than does the available zoom at its lowest power of 25x (the view is a circular area 84 ft across at 1000 yards), so it is much easier to find birds with the 30x than with the zoom set to 25x. The numbers differ a bit from brand to brand, but this comparison is typical of many scope systems. Some of the new top-end zoom eyepieces are designed to have a fairly competitive FOV at each magnification compared to fixed power eyepieces, but most on the market do not. It is also the case that not all fixed power eyepieces are wide angle designs. A modern wide-angle zoom can do better than a non-wide fixed, but that is a comparison of rare occurrence.--AP</blockquote>

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