Here you go @BenBhoy
Some mist started rolling in annoyingly right about when I really wanted to assess how good the colour option was but generally speaking you can accept this footage but you need to bear a couple of things in mind.
Firstly, the colour footage i think is nearly true but the black and white footage once downloaded to Youtube, has lost some of its resolution. What i can see on the actual downloaded video on my computer is much better but once I uploaded it to Youtube, it has lost some clarity. I don't know why.
Also, there is a brightness setting on the Zulus which you can use in both colour mode and black and white mode. You just keep pressing the button and it ramps up through about 5 or 6 incrementally bright settings. It makes A LOT of difference when using the scope in anger but as you can probably hear and see when viewing the videos, when I am adjusting the brightness settings, the video does not capture it. It just seems to record the base (the most dull) setting. I don't know why but you can make the image much brighter through the viewer when using the scope in anger. I should probably read the instructions but I cannot be arsed. This is likely the last video I do as standing around in a field for an hour and then **** arsing about with downloads etc is just an awful waste of my time.
What I can say is that overall I am really impressed with this scope. I can summarise as follows:
It is good enough to use in daylight for shooting out small targets (squirrels, crows etc) out to 300-350yds using the ballistic LRF thing. No issue at all
I know each day is different in terms of cloud, sun, overall light levels etc but for today, from the point of sunset onwards, the scope can be used for 25-30mins after sunset in colour. Around that time it starts getting a bit grainy and it is clear that B&W at this point provides a much better image. I cannot see an advantage to using colour anyway. B&W is a really nice image. About 5 minutes after this point, colour is useless and not usable in any way. B&W was fine today up until about 4-5mins before legal shooting ends, so a full 55mins+ AFTER sunset. That is WITHOUT using an IR torch.
For clarity, in today's conditions, against the dark backdrop of the gorse, I would have been struggling to shoot a large target like a deer with my S&B Polar T96 half an hour after sunset. With the Zulus, I could have shot a rabbit at 150yds without IR some 45mins after sunset.
Around the 55min mark after sunset, you are then getting in to the realms of needing an IR torch. Although my testing so far with IR has been very limited, it seems to resolve a very clean image with pretty fine detail using a Solaris SRX torch on flood beam.
Other notable mentions - With a Solaris on top with a tall figure 8 mount, the rifle, scope and torch still fits in an Ogdens quickslip and the zip does up no issue. All the buttons are silent in operation and easy to locate without looking. It is comically easy to use. It was on for a full hour today with me pressing buttons and doing various things and the battery bar did not budge. I have on idea how long it lasts but I suspect it won't be an issue going on what I have seen so far. I will try and take it out at the weekend and fire lots of shots at different distances using the LRF and ballistic thing to test the battery life more.
This is a very good scope for the money. I had a feeling it might be worth it and so far that decision has been vindicated. Now i've said that it will likely fall to bits.
This is 20mins after sunset. Colour (in my view) is only usable for another 10mins after this point
This is 30mins after sunset when I switched to B&W. As the 2 deer trot out of sight, the gorse just behind them is 280yds away. Resolution has been lost a little during the Youtube upload. It is not just better through the scope but is better on the PC upload direct from the Zulus.
I wish the videos would show the brightness ramping up option but it just seems to download the base level default view. Sorry if you can hear me bleating on about increasing the brightness but I was ramping up through the brightness settings to make the image clearer and brighter but it does not show on the uploads. This is 45mins after sunset
This is the very last 5 minutes of legal shooting light. A muntjac wandered across the field. It was shootable but we are now reaching the point where an IR torch would bring the image back to life. Again, you are seeing this on base level brightness default and not the brightest settings available.
Hopefully that helps. That is the end of my short cinematic career. Apologies for the crap commentary, appalling unsteady footage, clueless operator due to not reading instructions and whatever other failings came across via these productions.
Some mist started rolling in annoyingly right about when I really wanted to assess how good the colour option was but generally speaking you can accept this footage but you need to bear a couple of things in mind.
Firstly, the colour footage i think is nearly true but the black and white footage once downloaded to Youtube, has lost some of its resolution. What i can see on the actual downloaded video on my computer is much better but once I uploaded it to Youtube, it has lost some clarity. I don't know why.
Also, there is a brightness setting on the Zulus which you can use in both colour mode and black and white mode. You just keep pressing the button and it ramps up through about 5 or 6 incrementally bright settings. It makes A LOT of difference when using the scope in anger but as you can probably hear and see when viewing the videos, when I am adjusting the brightness settings, the video does not capture it. It just seems to record the base (the most dull) setting. I don't know why but you can make the image much brighter through the viewer when using the scope in anger. I should probably read the instructions but I cannot be arsed. This is likely the last video I do as standing around in a field for an hour and then **** arsing about with downloads etc is just an awful waste of my time.
What I can say is that overall I am really impressed with this scope. I can summarise as follows:
It is good enough to use in daylight for shooting out small targets (squirrels, crows etc) out to 300-350yds using the ballistic LRF thing. No issue at all
I know each day is different in terms of cloud, sun, overall light levels etc but for today, from the point of sunset onwards, the scope can be used for 25-30mins after sunset in colour. Around that time it starts getting a bit grainy and it is clear that B&W at this point provides a much better image. I cannot see an advantage to using colour anyway. B&W is a really nice image. About 5 minutes after this point, colour is useless and not usable in any way. B&W was fine today up until about 4-5mins before legal shooting ends, so a full 55mins+ AFTER sunset. That is WITHOUT using an IR torch.
For clarity, in today's conditions, against the dark backdrop of the gorse, I would have been struggling to shoot a large target like a deer with my S&B Polar T96 half an hour after sunset. With the Zulus, I could have shot a rabbit at 150yds without IR some 45mins after sunset.
Around the 55min mark after sunset, you are then getting in to the realms of needing an IR torch. Although my testing so far with IR has been very limited, it seems to resolve a very clean image with pretty fine detail using a Solaris SRX torch on flood beam.
Other notable mentions - With a Solaris on top with a tall figure 8 mount, the rifle, scope and torch still fits in an Ogdens quickslip and the zip does up no issue. All the buttons are silent in operation and easy to locate without looking. It is comically easy to use. It was on for a full hour today with me pressing buttons and doing various things and the battery bar did not budge. I have on idea how long it lasts but I suspect it won't be an issue going on what I have seen so far. I will try and take it out at the weekend and fire lots of shots at different distances using the LRF and ballistic thing to test the battery life more.
This is a very good scope for the money. I had a feeling it might be worth it and so far that decision has been vindicated. Now i've said that it will likely fall to bits.
This is 20mins after sunset. Colour (in my view) is only usable for another 10mins after this point
This is 30mins after sunset when I switched to B&W. As the 2 deer trot out of sight, the gorse just behind them is 280yds away. Resolution has been lost a little during the Youtube upload. It is not just better through the scope but is better on the PC upload direct from the Zulus.
I wish the videos would show the brightness ramping up option but it just seems to download the base level default view. Sorry if you can hear me bleating on about increasing the brightness but I was ramping up through the brightness settings to make the image clearer and brighter but it does not show on the uploads. This is 45mins after sunset
This is the very last 5 minutes of legal shooting light. A muntjac wandered across the field. It was shootable but we are now reaching the point where an IR torch would bring the image back to life. Again, you are seeing this on base level brightness default and not the brightest settings available.
Hopefully that helps. That is the end of my short cinematic career. Apologies for the crap commentary, appalling unsteady footage, clueless operator due to not reading instructions and whatever other failings came across via these productions.
I note you've recorded them all in the 4K setting - any chance you could do the same in FHD mode? I believe they've added this for low light situations.
The FHD mode is lumped with a higher refresh rate, so is better for faster moving targets and for low light performance.
