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Minox ZA5 1.5-8x32 image will not stay in focus on

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atp View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote atp Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Minox ZA5 1.5-8x32 image will not stay in focus on
    Posted: May/20/2012 at 13:40
I recently purchased a new Minox ZA5 1.5-8x32 with Versa-Plex reticle. I've mounted it on a rifle but not yet fired it at all. To my surprise, I'm seeing strange blurriness symptoms:

When looking at distant sign on 8x, I cannot get the letters on the sign into focus. The focus also sometimes seems to shift when I cycle the zoom setting from from 8x to 1.5x and back; several times I got the letters as sharp as I could by adjusting the eyepiece focus, but then when I moved the magnifaction ring back and forth, the image was now way out of focus, completely blurry. Every once in a while, I'd seemingly get the sign into better focus and be able to actually read the letters, but then I'd lose it. Also, the image near the center of the reticle is almost always blurry but sometimes the image near the lower right corner of the reticle, just outside the Versa-Plex ring, was clearer, with the sign's letters in focus and readable, but only in that part of the lens.

At first I thought there was something wrong with my eyes or glasses, but then I got out two comparison scopes, a Vortex Viper 2-7x32 with Versa-Plex C3 reticle, and a Weaver 2.5-7x28 Classic Rimfire. Both were clearly superior in sharpness and legibility to my Minox, and didn't give me those weird "are my eyes playing tricks on me?" effects. Looking through the three scopes at the same sign, the Vortex Viper was the clearest, but I could still read the sign adequately with cheap $142 Weaver scope on 7x, which I generally could not do with the Minox on 8x.

That doesn't seem right. Any specific ideas what might be going on here? My only guesses are that the scope is defective in some way, or its range of eyepiece focus isn't enough for my eyes, causing my eyes to strain to focus the blury image (I am 36 years old) and thus making it seem to drift in and out of focus. I'm not sure how to distinguish between those two possibilities, but I don't have that problem with any of my other scopes though so I'm guessing the Minox is broken somehow. Is anyone here familiar with these sorts of symptoms in either Minox or other scopes? I don't see any way it could be user error on my part, but I'm definitely a novice when it comes to evaluating scopes.

Their website says that Minox repair in North America is handled in Meriden, NH, so I plan to contact them soon for warranty repair.
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billyburl2 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote billyburl2 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May/20/2012 at 14:28
Have you focused the eyepiece against a clear blue sky? The method I use is while looking through the scope at a clear blue sky, with scope set at max mag. Make set small corrections to the diopter setting until the reticle is clear...Make sure to close your eyes often for a few seconds to rest. Adjust it until the reticle is clear when you first open your eyes!
If it is tourist season, why can't we shoot them?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote cheaptrick Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May/20/2012 at 14:28
http://opticstalk.com/minox-za-5-158x32_topic32908.html

Hello! 
I'm currently evaluating the very scope you have and with the Versa Plex reticle. 

I haven't noticed any focus issues you have experienced per se, but I did notice that the image did become "swimmy", or slightly distorted the further out from the center I looked and when I moved the scope side to side, or up and down, versus near the center where you claim you are having problems.   
This is at all magnifications, but primarily on the higher end.   
If at first you don't secede...try..try again.
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atp View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote atp Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May/20/2012 at 17:28
Originally posted by billyburl2 billyburl2 wrote:

Adjust it until the reticle is clear when you first open your eyes!

My reticle is in focus, the problem is that the target is not. My other scopes don't seem to have this problem.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote billyburl2 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May/20/2012 at 17:35
The reason I ask is your eye will try very hard to focus on both the reticle, and the distant object...And if the diopter is not precisely focused it can lead to eye strain and "swimming".  

If it is tourist season, why can't we shoot them?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote billyburl2 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May/20/2012 at 17:37
BTW, how far away is the distant sign?
If it is tourist season, why can't we shoot them?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote atp Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May/20/2012 at 19:24
Originally posted by billyburl2 billyburl2 wrote:

BTW, how far away is the distant sign?

I don't really know; I'd vaguely guess somewhere between 80 and 180 yards.
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