Riflescopes Explained : Field of View

When looking through a riflescope, the widest dimension of circular viewing area that you can see (the width of the horizon) is described as the field of view (F.O.V.). This is usually measured either in terms of linear metres at a 100m range or as an angle. As a general rule, the field of view will decrease as the magnification increases so a powerful 24 X riflescope will usually have a smaller field of view.

For observing at close quarters in deep woods, scanning the sky birds or for picking up fast moving objects such as rabbits, a wide field of view is desirable. If you have too large a field of view (over 150m for instance) the object you want to observe may become lost amid the confusion of its surroundings.