Re: Nightforce Reticle Focus
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: sniperaviator</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The Nightforce dioptor focus does more than just focus the reticle...</div></div>
<span style="font-style: italic">"The Nightforce dioptor focus does more than just focus the reticle."</span> Can you hear yourself? The reticle focus is just that - <span style="font-style: italic">reticle focus</span>. As long as the Lockring is properly tightened the reticle will remain in sharp focus even when turned in conjunction with the magnification ring.
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: sniperaviator</div><div class="ubbcode-body">...Focusing on a blank wall or blue sky doesn't work with a nightforce...</div></div>
This is incorrect - focusing the reticle against a blue sky will work with any riflescope. A blank wall will also work but a clear, cloudless sky is preferred. The NightForce Owner's Manual is partially to blame for confusion of how to correctly adjust the Ocular Lens (reticle focus). Instructing people to <span style="font-style: italic">"look through the riflescope eyepiece at a light colored background such as a white wall..."</span> isn't the best way to focus the eyepiece / ocular / diopter.
Why? Because the best way to adjust the reticle is to adjust it <span style="font-style: italic">without distraction</span> to the eye, and the best way to eliminate any distraction is to have nothing else in the view except the reticle. This is why the Ocular should be adjusted while viewing the reticle against a cloudless sky (or at least a clear area of the sky). A blank wall is "OK", but clear sky is best because the reticle will be the only visible object within view.
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: sniperaviator</div><div class="ubbcode-body">...Put the unit on full magnification and look at something at "infinity" (very far away, like over 1000 yards. Put the parallax on infinity. Then turn the diopter focus until it is in focus...</div></div>
Again - for clarification, no objects should be within view except the reticle, <span style="font-weight: bold">so the scope should be viewed against a clear, cloudless area of the sky.</span>
Below is the correct procedure for Diopter (Ocular/Eyepiece) adjustment for both fixed and variable power scopes. The procedure is the same regardless of scope manufacturer, or whether the objective/parallax focus is on the objective ring or is a side focus type.
<span style="font-weight: bold">NOTE:</span> If the scope is a fixed power unit skip steps 1 and 2 as they do not apply.
(1) Turn the magnification ring to maximum (highest power).
(2) Turn the Parallax focus to "Infinity" (the symbol for Infinity looks like a figure eight). <span style="font-weight: bold">NOTE:</span> Most non-side focus scopes use a ring on the objective bell to adjust parallax, and the distances are usually numbered. Side focus parallax adjustment knobs may or may not have distances marked.
(3) Turn the ocular bell/eyepiece all the way in.
(4) Aim the scope at a cloudless section of the sky (you don't want anything except sky in the view, or else your eye will naturally attempt to focus on the object in the view beyond the reticle.
(5) Look at something nearby, but not too close, then look through the scope at the reticle. If the reticle is out-of-focus turn it a bit to begin to focusing the reticle, but look away from the scope. <span style="font-weight: bold">Never look at the reticle for more than a couple of seconds when adjusting the eyepiece</span> (if you look at the reticle for more than a second or two your eye will naturally begin to adjust to bring the reticle into focus - and you don't want this to happen. <span style="font-style: italic"><span style="font-weight: bold">You want to be able to look through the scope and see a sharply focused reticle immediately with your eye relaxed</span></span>. This cannot be achieved by continuously looking through the scope and turning the eyepiece into focus in one continous motion because your eye will have already begun to adjust.
<span style="font-style: italic">Remember, look away every few seconds and make small adjustments to dial-in the Ocular/Eyepiece focus.</span> Once you have achieved this, you should not adjust the eyepiece at all, <span style="font-style: italic">except to maintain sharp reticle focus</span> as your vision changes over time <span style="font-style: italic">(it always does).</span> You may want to put a pen mark on the eyepiece indexed to the index dot on the scope tube - if the tube doesn't have an index mark use a pencil. That way, if someone else shoots your rifle and adjusts the Ocular you know where to return the adjustment to.
However, if you still cannot achieve simultaneous reticle and image focus after following the above directions for Eyepiece/Ocular Focus, it is <span style="font-style: italic">possible</span> that there is a problem with the scope.
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: sniperaviator</div><div class="ubbcode-body">...You will have to refocus the parrallax when you go to less magnification. Also the diopter focus interacts with the parallax focus. That is how my Nightforce 5.5x22 works anyway.
Hope that helps. </div></div>
If the the scope was set at <span style="font-style: italic">high magnification</span> and the parallax was correctly adjusted (zero parallax) reducing the magnification really shouldn't require that the parallax be re-focused. The need to re-focus the parallax would be more likely if the parallax was adjusted at <span style="font-style: italic">low magnification</span>, and then the magnification was increased, magnifying the parallax error.
Also, if the Ocular (Diopter) was correctly set initially (see my tutorial above) and the Lock-Ring sufficiently tightened, the Ocular/Diopter focus should not change as the Parallax knob is turned (an exception being that <span style="font-style: italic">if the Ocular / Diopter is set to either extreme end of the Diopter's adjustment range</span>).
Keith
