Telescopic Sight - Parallax Compensation

Parallax Compensation

Parallax problems result from the image from the objective not being coincident with the reticle. If the image is not coplanar with the reticle (that is the image of the objective is either in front of or behind the reticle), then putting your eye at different points behind the ocular causes the reticle crosshairs to appear to be at different points on the target. This optical effect causes parallax induced aiming errors that can make a telescopic sight user miss a small target at a distance for which the telescopic sight was not parallax adjusted.

To eliminate parallax induced aiming errors, telescopic sights can be equipped with a parallax compensation mechanism which basically consists of a movable optical element that enables the optical system to project the picture of objects at varying distances and the reticle crosshairs pictures together in exactly the same optical plane. There are two main methods to achieve this.

• By making the objective lens of the telescopic sight adjustable so the telescopic sight can compensate parallax errors. These models are often called AO or A/O models, for adjustable objective.
• By making an internal lens in the internal optical groups mounted somewhere in front of the reticle plane adjustable so the telescopic sight can compensate parallax errors. This method is technically more complicated to build, but generally more liked by parallax adjustable telescopic sight users—unlike AO models, which are read from the top, the sidewheel's setting can be read with minimal movement of the head. These models are often called side focus or sidewheel models.

Most telescopic sights lack parallax compensation because they can perform very acceptably without this refinement. Telescopic sights manufacturers adjust these scopes at a distance that best suits their intended usage. Typical standard factory parallax adjustment distances for hunting telescopic sights are 100 yd or 100 m to make them suited for hunting shots that rarely exceed 300 yd/m. Some long range target and military style telescopic sights without parallax compensation may be adjusted to be parallax free at ranges up to 300 yd/m to make them better suited for aiming at 300 yd/m+ ranges. Scopes for rimfire guns, shotguns, and muzzleloaders that are rarely fired at 100 yd/m+ ranges will have shorter parallax settings, commonly 50 yd/m for rimfire scopes and 100 yd/m for shotguns and muzzleloaders. Scopes for airguns that are commonly used at short ranges are very often found with adjustable parallax, usually in the form of an adjustable objective, or AO. These may adjust down as far as 3 yards (2.7 m).

The reason why scopes intended for short range use are often equipped with parallax compensation is that at short range (and at high magnification) parallax errors become more noticeable. A typical scope objective has a focal length of 100 mm. An optical ideal 10× scope in this example has been perfectly parallax corrected at 1000 m and functions flawlessly at that distance. If the same scope is used at 100 m the target-picture would be projected (1000 m / 100 m) / 100 mm = 0.1 mm behind the reticle plane. At 10× magnification the error would be 10 × 0.1 mm = 1 mm at the ocular. If the same scope was used at 10 m the target-picture would be (1000 m / 10 m) / 100 mm = 1 mm projected behind the reticle plane. When magnified ten times the error would be 10 mm at the ocular.