Leupold LRT vs Black Diamond

[HoytemanPA]

Thought I'd post some comparison pics. Finding real world comparison tests seems to be hard to come by.

Just got a Burris Black Diamond, wanted to get another scope with higher power for woodchucks/1KBR.. and couldn't wait for the 6500 to come out. I found the pics to duplicate overall what my eyes see through the scope. In all three cases the eye can pick up more detail than is shown here.

What I did was set each scope for best clarity. Then set a digital camera up behind it until it was in the center of the focal range. I took five pictures through each scope and only kept the best one of each. Then I cropped an exact 1000x1000 pixel circle of each and resized it back down to 500x500. That is why the Leupolds have a darker ring around them, The focus range was back a little farther.

I just mounted the Black Diamond and should get to testing it this week. One surprising thing I found with the Burris was that the focal region was more forgiving/easier to locate target than the other two Leupolds in the test.

Will do an overcast/twilight test to see if the brightness/saturation of the Burris is helpful when it starts getting dark, or if it is just brightness without resolution. Hope my neighbor don't mind. Well heck his place is for sale anyway, listed on the web.

 

[Buffalobob]

A couple of things.
Did they have sunshades on?
The magnification is not the same on each picture which affects things.


Observations about the pictures.

1. you can see a "ring" that is about one forth diameter around the outside edge of the Luepolds. This same ring on the Burris is nearly third diameter.

2. The Burris is "bright" however this is glare and why you should use a sunshade when hunting. You will notice that the brightness washes out detail from the upper right to the lower left at the same angle as the roof shadow on the shed.

3. If you look at color transmission you will notice some green shrubbery along the base of the building. The green is much greener in the V3s and not so green in the Burris and the Burris has no blue at all. If you look at red transmission the top Lueppy and Burris look the same to me and the bottom Lueppy looks to be doing a good job of transmitting red but I suspect it is the only one with a sunshade on and that it is the glare that is killing the color.

4. If you look at the detail of blades of grass and the twigs back behind the shed then the top Lueppy is far superior but then perhaps it was just better focused.


But your pictures simply say what I always say. A V3 is a fine scope for shooting antelope far past 1K. If a deer or antelope was standing or laying under the tree in the background there would be no problem in putting the cross hairs on it. A very fine scope out to perhaps 1400-1500 yards and maybe further.

A really great post and a lot of work but well worth it in the terms of information transferred.

 

[James Jones]

I wouild like to see them compaired with 4" sun shades and also in lower light , say over cast or somthing.

I had a Burris Black Diamond and was very pleased with its brightness and clairity , for the money I think they are a great buy.

 

[HoytemanPA]

No sunshade yet for the Burris. Note in the box says to call for it, temporarily out of stock. I did have a large piece of cardboard blocking direct sun from the scopes, but no sunshades on any of them.

The top one was mounted on a rifle and the later two were setting in a sandbag.... on the white hood of my truck. Hindsight 20/20. I guess we can call those first pictures the snow test.

I will get them away from the truck and take some more pics tomorrow night, just before dark and also adjust them all close to the same power for a test.

I like the parallax adjustment on the Burris, it has defined clicks for it as well. I think it will max out around 1200 yards as adjustment for 1100 is one click away from its stop. I guess to the majority of folks 1000 yards is infinity.......Which I suppose still isn't a real problem as the available elevation adjustment range of this scope is also limited to about this range with most long range calibers.