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Posted: 7/7/2026 12:57:06 PM EDT
| Maybe I'm missing something. I read on here all the time about people who want more magnification in their optics because their eyes got bad as they got old. As I've gotten older, I've become nearsighted in my dominant eye. I'm probably about 20/40 in it. I fix this by adjusting the diopter of my scopes properly. The amount of magnification has no effect on the clarity of the image for me, from 1x to 15x, provided the diopter is adjusted correctly. I'm wondering if the folks thinking more magnification will correct for poor eyesight are just not getting their scopes set up right. Am I missing something here? |
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Originally Posted By cttb: Maybe I'm missing something. I read on here all the time about people who want more magnification in their optics because their eyes got bad as they got old. As I've gotten older, I've become nearsighted in my dominant eye. I'm probably about 20/40 in it. I fix this by adjusting the diopter of my scopes properly. The amount of magnification has no effect on the clarity of the image for me, from 1x to 15x, provided the diopter is adjusted correctly. I'm wondering if the folks thinking more magnification will correct for poor eyesight are just not getting their scopes set up right. Am I missing something here? I'm no doctor but you can have good visual acuity even while being myopic, so when you're wearing proper corrective lens or have the diopter adjusted in your scope, you're just as good as someone with normal eyesight. Unfortunately, as person ages, eyesight degrades in more ways than just eye focusing range, so compensating for degraded visual acuity by using more magnification makes some sense. |
| I haven't found myself needing higher magnification, more just the fact that I used to be good with iron sights, and now anything past 200 yards and I need some magnification. My 4x32 ACOG is still my go-to when I absolutely, positively need to make good hits at 300-500 yards. |
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Originally Posted By cttb: Maybe I'm missing something. I read on here all the time about people who want more magnification in their optics because their eyes got bad as they got old. As I've gotten older, I've become nearsighted in my dominant eye. I'm probably about 20/40 in it. I fix this by adjusting the diopter of my scopes properly. The amount of magnification has no effect on the clarity of the image for me, from 1x to 15x, provided the diopter is adjusted correctly. I'm wondering if the folks thinking more magnification will correct for poor eyesight are just not getting their scopes set up right. Am I missing something here? I suspect this is correct. My corrected vision is still pretty good (44) though I notice I can't change focal distance quite as fast as I used to, or focus on a front sight quite as easily... not optimal for irons, but has basically no impact on correctly set up optics. I've had a significant nearsighted correction since I was a little kid. |
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My problem is that I'm both near and far sighted. Try using an optic wearing bifocal lenses. I typically just run my distance glasses / lenses but then it's hard to see the lines in the scope. That's why I prefer rdb scopes. I just need to see the red dot. But then if I need holds, it can be tricky seeing the lines. So I prefer thicker lines. I prefer 1-4 through 1-8 sfp optics. Bottom line, don't get old, or have poor vision, lol. . |
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Keep that in mind when reading my comments:-)
Keep that in mind when reading my comments:-)
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Originally Posted By cttb: Maybe I'm missing something. I read on here all the time about people who want more magnification in their optics because their eyes got bad as they got old. As I've gotten older, I've become nearsighted in my dominant eye. I'm probably about 20/40 in it. I fix this by adjusting the diopter of my scopes properly. The amount of magnification has no effect on the clarity of the image for me, from 1x to 15x, provided the diopter is adjusted correctly. I'm wondering if the folks thinking more magnification will correct for poor eyesight are just not getting their scopes set up right. Am I missing something here? The lenses in your eyes can deform and can cloud up, and your corneas deform with age and can make it harder to focus, make you see light halos, etc. That's not even counting other things like AMD and glaucoma. Magnification doesn't fix everything. |
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Originally Posted By carholio: My problem is that I'm both near and far sighted. Try using an optic wearing bifocal lenses. I typically just run my distance glasses / lenses but then it's hard to see the lines in the scope. That's why I prefer rdb scopes. I just need to see the red dot. But then if I need holds, it can be tricky seeing the lines. So I prefer thicker lines. I prefer 1-4 through 1-8 sfp optics. Bottom line, don't get old, or have poor vision, lol. . What are you doing with your diopters? I wear distance correcting glasses in low light when I have to see well, like driving or boating. I don't like wearing glasses all the time and keeping them with me, so I set my scopes up for my natural vision. However, I could just as easily set the diopter to make the crosshairs clear with my glasses on, I just choose not to do that, at least for now. If I look through one of my scopes with my glasses on, clarity is degraded, but that's expected. I would think with bifocals the best course woud be to set the scope at a height that the view is through the distance portion, and adjust the diopters for that. The better option is distance only lenses for shooting, like you're doing, but I'm surprised you can't adjust the diopter for a clear image. |
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Originally Posted By Colt653: When I see a giant 4-12X scope on a 16" carbine, it's usually a guy who hasn't learned the fundamentals of marksmanship. A lot of guys shooting 100-200yd benchrest (even 50yd rimfire) are using FFP HPVO with 25-40x top ends. They’re all pretty good marksmen. |
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Besides loss of accomodation, which usually commences around age 40, there are other age-related changes. As we age the lens first stiffens, then develops cataracts (opacities). Density and precise location in your retinal field vary. So one old guy's experience may not match that of another. Anyway.....it's about target resolution. The reticle, as said, is a diopter adjustment. But depending on conditions, light, etc magnification helps me see what I need of the target better. Resolution is easily taken for granted when we're young. We live in a digital age, accustomed to pixelated images that do not become clearer when magnified. But glass optics aren't digital, they can provide real increases in resolution with increasing magnification. There are other things like retinal disease which can be due to diabetes, vascular disease, and a bunch of other conditions. A shooter so afflicted might find magnification helps increase resolution. |
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I wore glasses for my severe near sightedness, with that said. I had a retinal tear in 2020 in my left eye that was fixed with surgery. Retinal tear surgeries increase the likelihood of cataracts quickly. Quickly they came and were fixed, Left eye 20/25, Right eye 20/15 now, and no glasses except to read with. Can see sights better now than with glasses when I was 25. Makes shooting any weapon a pleasure again. But I do wear safety shooting glasses and earplugs. Praise The Lord for giving me my eyesight back. |
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Originally Posted By Samuel_Hoggson: Besides loss of accomodation, which usually commences around age 40, there are other age-related changes. As we age the lens first stiffens, then develops cataracts (opacities). Density and precise location in your retinal field vary. So one old guy's experience may not match that of another. Anyway.....it's about target resolution. The reticle, as said, is a diopter adjustment. But depending on conditions, light, etc magnification helps me see what I need of the target better. Resolution is easily taken for granted when we're young. We live in a digital age, accustomed to pixelated images that do not become clearer when magnified. But glass optics aren't digital, they can provide real increases in resolution with increasing magnification. There are other things like retinal disease which can be due to diabetes, vascular disease, and a bunch of other conditions. A shooter so afflicted might find magnification helps increase resolution. Go tell that to eye doctors. I'm extremely frustrated when it comes to eye exams. Everything is blurry. I tell them that the image is magnified but still blurry and they still can't get it right. Just once, I'd like to have an eye doctor show me exactly what corrected vision is supposed to look like, not the same old blurry crap that's bigger. I've had cataract surgery and my vision was great for a few years. Then I went to readers and am now back to trifocals. Opthamologist says there's no sign of eye disease, just that I can't expect to have perfect vision and my prescription is pretty mild to begin with. But still, no idea why my vision is still blurry. Punctal plugs were supposed to cure that but they haven't. |
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Originally Posted By Ohio_Man: A lot of guys shooting 100-200yd benchrest (even 50yd rimfire) are using FFP HPVO with 25-40x top ends. They’re all pretty good marksmen. Yeah, but their not putting those scopes on their 16" carbine, right? 
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Originally Posted By Piratepast40: Go tell that to eye doctors. I'm extremely frustrated when it comes to eye exams. Everything is blurry. I tell them that the image is magnified but still blurry and they still can't get it right. Just once, I'd like to have an eye doctor show me exactly what corrected vision is supposed to look like, not the same old blurry crap that's bigger. I've had cataract surgery and my vision was great for a few years. Then I went to readers and am now back to trifocals. Opthamologist says there's no sign of eye disease, just that I can't expect to have perfect vision and my prescription is pretty mild to begin with. But still, no idea why my vision is still blurry. Punctal plugs were supposed to cure that but they haven't. Not an opthalmologist, but it sounds like you need a posterior (YAG laser) capsulotomy. Takes minutes, done in a clinic setting. As it happens, my wife is scheduled for the procedure. She had great vision for a few months after lens implants, not so good now. |
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Originally Posted By Colt653: When I see a giant 4-12X scope on a 16" carbine, it's usually a guy who hasn't learned the fundamentals of marksmanship. Originally Posted By Colt653: When I see a giant 4-12X scope on a 16" carbine, it's usually a guy who hasn't learned the fundamentals of marksmanship. Originally Posted By smoothy8500: Yeah, but their not putting those scopes on their 16" carbine, right? That is really close to what every single modernized Mk12ish rifle is, and is the most common configuration at any given DMR match I'm familiar with. |
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Originally Posted By DVCNick: That is really close to what every single modernized Mk12ish rifle is, and is the most common configuration at any given DMR match I'm familiar with. Originally Posted By DVCNick: Originally Posted By Colt653: When I see a giant 4-12X scope on a 16" carbine, it's usually a guy who hasn't learned the fundamentals of marksmanship. Originally Posted By smoothy8500: Yeah, but their not putting those scopes on their 16" carbine, right? That is really close to what every single modernized Mk12ish rifle is, and is the most common configuration at any given DMR match I'm familiar with. I'm not talking about benchrest, nor DMR, I'm talking about the guy who's new to guns, buys a basic AR at Meglomart, sticks the biggest tasco scope he can find, because he's unsure of his marksmanship skills hold the carbine like this, shoots at a 20yard indoor target and can't figure it all out  |
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Originally Posted By intheburbs: I haven't found myself needing higher magnification, more just the fact that I used to be good with iron sights, and now anything past 200 yards and I need some magnification. My 4x32 ACOG is still my go-to when I absolutely, positively need to make good hits at 300-500 yards. This is kind of what happened to me as i got older and worse vision. I dont really need "more magnification". I just found that I need some. 1x and irons are just kind of hard for me to see detail on things further than say 50 yards. Probably wearing prescription glasses might help me with. But behind any of my scopes or ACOGS things are pretty good even with say 2x or 3x. |
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Originally Posted By Brahmzy: There’s also the whole target identification thing too. Can be tough at distance without mag. Can be even tougher “under pressure.” This. Some people don't like to admit that they really only shoot on a range with well defined targets clear of obstructions at known distances and praise the ability to hit a 500+y gong with an rds. Then they try doing the same in a more realistic scenario with camoflaged targets at unknown distances and realize how wrong they were. They relied on too heavily on the ballistic arc to save them when they could see the target, ignoring being able to find the target first in real world or less than ideal scenarios. This is usually accompanied by not wanting to glass targets and having binos for finding targets, the later never making sense because you had to use magnification to find the target, but then switched to no magnification to shoot it?!? Not always, but more often than most want to admit, it's a euphemism for that. |
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Originally Posted By cttb: Maybe I'm missing something. I read on here all the time about people who want more magnification in their optics because their eyes got bad as they got old. As I've gotten older, I've become nearsighted in my dominant eye. I'm probably about 20/40 in it. I fix this by adjusting the diopter of my scopes properly. The amount of magnification has no effect on the clarity of the image for me, from 1x to 15x, provided the diopter is adjusted correctly. I'm wondering if the folks thinking more magnification will correct for poor eyesight are just not getting their scopes set up right. Am I missing something here? I use to wear glasses because I was very near sighted. Right in the middle of COVID I had emergency retinal surgery for a torn retina. Then In 2022 the torn retina led to early onset cataract in that eye. Fixed that eye with cataract surgery and a month later did cataract surgery on the other eye (slight cataract) to make them equal. Now, praise the Lord I have 20/15 in my dominate shooting eye. And 20/25 in the eye that had the retinal surgery. I had to readjust to shooting with a scope and readjust my scopes. Shooting with irons now is a pleasure I've never really had before when wearing glasses. I do wear safety glasses. |
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Originally Posted By smoothy8500: That's unusual. Not enough "+" diopter adjustment on your scope? Originally Posted By smoothy8500: Originally Posted By wildearp: I put my readers on to clear up the cross hairs. That's unusual. Not enough "+" diopter adjustment on your scope?  I kinda forgot about that. Focus ring has really helped making all of the scattered red dots into a single one. I will remember this next time I am shooting long range things. |
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Originally Posted By Piratepast40: Go tell that to eye doctors. I'm extremely frustrated when it comes to eye exams. Everything is blurry. I tell them that the image is magnified but still blurry and they still can't get it right. Just once, I'd like to have an eye doctor show me exactly what corrected vision is supposed to look like, not the same old blurry crap that's bigger. I've had cataract surgery and my vision was great for a few years. Then I went to readers and am now back to trifocals. Opthamologist says there's no sign of eye disease, just that I can't expect to have perfect vision and my prescription is pretty mild to begin with. But still, no idea why my vision is still blurry. Punctal plugs were supposed to cure that but they haven't. Around 5 years ago, about 44y/o, I started wearing readers when I needed to read something closer than arms length because someone pointed out to me that I'd began holding me phone or blueprints further and further away. Started with 1.5's. Now I wear them all of the time because everything within about 30 feet becomes fuzzy. If I am not wearing them and you're within 10 feet, there are two of you and both of them are blurry. My optometrist says "your eyes are fine, you're just getting old". |
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