Advice request: Bushnell Elite tactical 2.5-16x 42mm - Mil Dot

[Litehiker]

I'll bet the Gold Ring spotting scope has a much larger objective than the rifle scope. This makes the exit (ocular) light greater.

Even though the human eye cannot use much more than 5 to 6 mm exit light diameter still the amount of light going out (i.e. brightness or lumens) is greater than with a smaller objective lens, glass and coatings being roughly equal.

 

[Wedgy]

When you look thru a scope in low light it should be brighter than what you see with your eyes. I think everyone will agree with that ??
The Bushnell 2.5-16x50mm is NOT, which I feel it is under what should be expected for a scope in the $700 price range. Other than that I am happy with it.

 

[bruce_ventura]

http://s21.photobucket.com/user/rwedgy/media/Mobile Uploads/20141103_153651_zps3e85cc00.jpg.html http://s21.photobucket.com/user/rwedgy/media/Mobile Uploads/20141103_153640_zps1f1f8e9a.jpg.html Here is the deer in question. This is a blown up picture so it's pretty obvious now but it wasn't then. The clear one with the antlers is the Gold Ring spotting scope and the darker on is the Elite 6500 2.5-16x50

What magnification was the Gold Ring set to?

 

[bruce_ventura]

When you look thru a scope in low light it should be brighter than what you see with your eyes. I think everyone will agree with that ?? The Bushnell 2.5-16x50mm is NOT, which I feel it is under what should be expected for a scope in the $700 price range. Other than that I am happy with it.

The scope does not make the image brighter. It increases the magnification so that your eye can see more detail at the available luminance.

Essentially, in low light the human vision system has a lot of noise. When the image is noisy, the brain can trade resolution for brightness. If either the luminance increases or the magnification increases, the brain is able to "see" more detail.

To me the two images seem to have similar brightness, but second one seems to have lower resolution. That's why I asked about the magnification setting of the Gold Ring scope.