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Leupold 12-40x60mm HD vs non-HD

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Len Backus View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Len Backus Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Leupold 12-40x60mm HD vs non-HD
    Posted: April/27/2009 at 17:36
Does anyone have any experience comparing the 2 versions? Can you really see game better with the HD version?

I have a 10 (?) year old non-HD 12-40x60 and I wonder if it is worthwhile to upgrade.
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rifle looney View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote rifle looney Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April/27/2009 at 19:03
They tell me yes, I asked this same question a while back. but hold on you will get more answers.Wink    Welcome to the Optics Talk forum! 

Edited by rifle looney - April/27/2009 at 19:04
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lucznik View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote lucznik Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April/27/2009 at 19:07

I'm sure what I am about to say about ED lenses is not going to be terribly popular, nevertheless...

Let me start out by saying I love ED glass.  I have a large ED spotter and I am very, very pleased with it.  ED glass absolutely will allow you to see things better.  It is especially important if you plan on doing such things as astronomy or digiscoping.  It can also assist in making difficult bird IDs where very subtle differences in plumage color make a big difference. ED glass (or whatever name your particular brand choice is using) does this by bringing all of the colors back into as close to a single point of focus as is humanly possible.  This reduces the color fringing or chrommatic abberation that is often seen in scopes and binoculars.  However, in high quality scopes, so much of this color fringing is already so well controlled (even in non-ED models) that you have to actually look for it to see it.
 
What ED glass does not do is make a scope any brighter.  It helps control light; it does not allow any more light through.
 
As a result, if your only purpose is hunting, even trophy hunting, ED glass is not particularly critical.  It might be nice.  It would certainly enhance the viewing pleasure.  But, it isn't critical to success. Assuming you are comparing two otherwise identical scopes (Leupold Golden Ring FLPs, Nikon Fieldscopes, Minox MD62s, Swarovski STSs, etc.) it will not allow you to hunt any earlier or later.  It will not allow you to see any more animals nor to "measure" the trophy potential of those animals any better.  
 
If you are going to do digiscoping, astronomy, etc., then definitely get the ED scope.
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Len Backus View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Len Backus Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April/27/2009 at 19:12
lucznik

As someone what has poor color vision, do I benefit even less than most?

"It would certainly enhance the viewing pleasure." How do you mean?
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lucznik View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote lucznik Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April/28/2009 at 09:27
Originally posted by Len Backus Len Backus wrote:

As someone what has poor color vision, do I benefit even less than most?
I am not an optometrist, an opthamologist, or an expert in vision so; I can not answer your question with any authority.  I would guess that it is possible that your limited vision would eliminate much of the benefit of ED glass and this would likely depend on exactly what portion of your color vision is deficient and to what degree.   I could however, be very wrong about that.  You should check with a vision specialist for a difinitive answer.

Originally posted by Len Backus Len Backus wrote:

Originally posted by lucznik lucznik wrote:

 It would certainly enhance the viewing pleasure.
How do you mean?
 
Originally posted by lucznik lucznik wrote:

ED glass (or whatever name your particular brand choice is using [HD, XD, Flourite, etc]) [brings] all of the colors back into as close to a single point of focus as is humanly possible.  This reduces the color fringing or chrommatic abberation that is often seen in scopes and binoculars. 


Edited by lucznik - April/28/2009 at 09:29
What if the hokey pokey really is what it's all about?
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big boar View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote big boar Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April/28/2009 at 22:18
Lucznik, thank you for that write up, you answered something I've been thinking about myself.
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muleycrazy View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote muleycrazy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May/21/2009 at 15:27
Thanks for the good info.
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