Welcome to OpticsThoughts!
The website you are looking at is sort of a “OpticsThoughts 2.0”, although as far as look at feel goes, it should not be a major difference from the original site. We did change the backend for the site and, hopefully, it will be a bit easier to maintain.
Most of the material here is on the subject of sporting optics: riflescopes, binoculars and spotters. I will occasionally add some general musing on the firearms, knives and whatever else occupies my mind at that particular time. Since my day job is in electro-optics and digital imaging, I will also add some camera gear recommendation here and there.
I started this site primarily to have a venue for my thoughts on sporting optics, but it has expanded some. Aside from writing about things that interest me, I also serve as an editor for others whose work occasionally appears here.
If you want to know more about how this site came to be and who are the people behind it, look into “About OpticsThoughts” on your right.
If all you are looking for is a quick product recommendation here is a shortcut to some of my favourites, by price: Riflescopes, Binoculars, Spotters.
Also, as I go along, I record my impressions on video and upload them to YouTube here. Alternatively, you can simply search for DLO Reviews.
If you would like to comment on any of the articles you need to create an account here. Contact me if you need help with that.
Lastly, I keep advertising very light and only insert a few Google or Amazon Ads here and there. I do not have any control of what is actually in the ad, as it reflects whoever is browsing. If you click on the ads every once in a while, maintaining this site will be easier for me. If you will be buying something from Amazon anyway, click on the Amazon banner on this website. It makes no practical difference to you, but every little bit adds up for me.
Where appropriate, I’ll add product links to retailers here and there. Where the links go will vary a fair bit. I have an affiliate contract with a few places (Amazon, Brownells, Adorama, etc).
If you would like to help me keep this site up, use the links, click on the ads or donate via Paypal at paypal.me/DarkLordOfOptics
With all that out of the way, I hope you find something useful here and if there is something you think I should add to the site, do not hesitate to let me know.
Thanks for visiting!
ILya Koshkin
Copyright Notice:
Unless otherwise noted, copyright on all information on this website is owned by ILya Koshkin.
Please do not copy it anywhere without my permission.
A few days ago I received a very polite e-mail asking for scope advice. If memory serves me right, the gentleman who sent me the e-mail, was debating whether to keep his Razor HD LH 1.5-8×32 that he got a screaming deal on or to pick up a similarly priced 1-6x scope of some sort. […]
I spend a lot of time messing with scopes that qualify as LPV: Low Power Variable. This term really came about when decent quality 1-4x scopes finally came down in price to the point where mere mortals can buy them. Now, the market is absolutely flooded with LPVs of all sorts made on every continent […]
A little while back I swore that I am done looking at MOA-based riflescopes and that generally I will hold off taking on any unplanned reviews for a few months until I finish off the write-ups for everything I have on hand already. Well, I lied. I didn’t mean to, but Maven announced a new […]
If this was an AA (AR-addict Anonymous) meeting, I would have to get up and loudly announce: my name is ILya Koshkin and I am addicted to building ARs. They are kinda like Legos for gun nuts. I am really picky about my ARs, but it took me a lot of experimentation to finally figure […]
As is often the case, I get my inspiration from various arguments on different forums where I am active. This video is to address some questions I get on the Hide. If something is not clear, please ask and I will do my best to explain it better. The question of magnification comes up a […]
General disclaimer: I am more of a shooter than a hunter, As I get older, hunting appeals to me ever more and I do hunt, just not as much as I would like. Perhaps, my reticle ideas on the subect will morph as they go along, but I do spend a lot of time peering […]
This was inspired by a few more discussions on SnipersHide. Let me know if any of this makes sense or if you want me to go into more details on anything. And I am still trying to get a grip on the whole video/audio thing. The first video is from Z-cam E1 camera with an external […]
I am somewhat active on several forums, one of them being SnipersHide. The gentleman who runs it is a very accomplished military trained long range/precision shooter, so a big part of the forum leans toward the precision side of the shooting world. While my personal interests span most of the shooting disciplines, I really lean […]
I answer quite a few questions via PM on different forums where I participate and every once in a while, I take one and make a blog post out of it. A little while back, I received something I though was worth exploring: Most comparisons don’t compare across price lines, except for your fun “if […]
I recently saw a question on the Hide that I thought was worth addressing. The guy was asking whether dialing the side focus turret for the sharpest image will also result in a no parallax condition. The answer is: not necessarily and here is my attempt to explain that: