What's the best Zoom Level?

[nnd816]

I have a question for anyone who has flown a real aircraft, what is the best zoom level in FSX that conveys the most realistic view and feel? (I have a 24 inch with native 1920 x 1080 res.)
Right now I am flying at 0.4 but I also like 0.5. Last year I was playing at 0.3 because I assumed the least zoom's the most realistic but the runways appear too small, and at 0.5 zoom or higher my approaches were always high when using the runway approach lights. Is 0.4 the best zoom?
Thanks

[Skunkworks]

I can only tell you what works for me running 3x25"

In the config. file under [Display]

WideViewAspect=True

In game,

Interior=0.60

Exterior=1.00

No fish-eye effect!

[Howellerman]

+1 on the WideViewAspect - really changes things.

I usually run interior 0.5, exterior 0.7. I like a little perspective, but then again I am full GA - no big iron.

[garymbuska]

I use different views while flying in spot view I like to get back a good bit so I can see every thing around me.
In the cockpit I use the default zoom it seems more realistic to me. But to honest with you I have not really messed with it so who knows there may be a better view Perhaps I play around with it

[nnd816]

Thanks to all replies, I just edited my FSX.cfg file and the view is spectacular.

[sg38]

With wide aspect enabled I use 0.7 for 'standard' ops for the VC as it seems to produce the best compromise between perceived speed, peripheral vision and VC overview compared to RW flying.
For low level high speed runs and aerobatics I use 0.3.

[Bass]

Just a note.
With WVA enabled, you wont get the right view as if you were sitting in a real cockpit

[sg38]

Well, I can only speak for myself but to me 0.7 looks realistic and I did a lot of FSX/RW comparison to achieve the best zoom level. (using a 16:9 screen)

[Daube]

I agree with the above comments.
Zooms like 0.4 or 0.5 produce too much "fish-eye" effect. Because of that, the perception of distance gets altered: as soon as something gets 50m away from you, it looks like it's already 500m away. The surrounding terrain seems too small, especially mountains. And the worse effect can be experienced during the final approach: the runway seems like it's still at a comfortable distance, but suddenly you're flying above the threshold :/

The zoom which is the more "true to life" regarding the perspective, the shapes, the sizes etc... is the 1.0x zoom. Unfortunately, on a single screen, such a zoom is simply unusable.

The best balance is offered by zooms like 0.7 (by default) or 0.8.
Of course, if you have a wide screen (as most people today), the modification of the variable "WideViewAspect" to the "True" value in the FSX.cfg is absolutely mandatory.

[Bass]

Well, i wont argue on the WVA, but if sitting in a real ex f-16 cockpit, you are very close to front, and need to turn your head right/left down to see and use "instruments".

[jandjfrench]

Hi,

If they had named WideAspectView Wide Angle View it would have prevented a lot of confusion. By setting it to True the view that you get by pressing backspace is what you would see with a zoom level of .7 with WideAspectView set to False. It has nothing to do with the aspect ratio of the monitor. This is so obvious and easy to verify that that I'm always chagrined when I see posts indicating otherwise.
Setting WideAspectView to False and the zoom level to 1 results in a view that most closely emulates what you would see in the real world; neither telephoto nor wide angle. Unfortunately the VC cockpit view is not at all realistic. I've sat in the cockpit of a C172 and while holding a 35mm camera set to Normal zoom I took a picture of the instrument panel with the camera at my eyepoint and saw considerably more than I see in FSX. I don't know why this is. In MS Flight the view seems much closer to the real world view. No C172 so I can't compare with certainty but it appears to be the case.
Incidentally, I have button 1 (trigger) on my joystick set to "View forward (3D cockpit). This allows me to use the hat switch to check the instruments and instantly return to forward view without much effort. Our eyes don't process much of the intervening data that they see when looking at one thing and then another.
Jim F.

[Daube]

The real impact of the "WideViewAspect" parameter is how the picture is stretched on the window.
If you want to clearly see the difference between true and false values, there is a very simple test:
- switch the sim to windowed mode
- modify the shape of the window, in such a way that it becomes very large but very thin. For example, extend it on the whole screen width, but reduce its vertical size to make it just 10 cms high.
- see what happens.

With WideViewAspect set to False, the sim will always keep the same "lhorizontal" view angle. So if you reduce the height of the window, then you will reduce the visibility of the cockpit. And if you extend the witdh of your window, you won't get a larger angle of view, and your cockpit will be even less visible.

With WideViewAspect set to True, it's the contrary. The sim will always keep the same "vertical" view angle, but the lateral one become unlimited. So if you reduce the vertical size of the window, you will still see your panel, it's not going to dissappear below the lower end of the window. And if you extend the width of the window, then your lateral angle of view will get larger ! (thus the "wide" view).

Anybody flying with a large screen should set the WideViewAspect to "True". You will still have the same visibility of your cockpit, but you will gain some additionnal visibility on the sides

That being said, for a given zoom value, the "amount" of cockpit you can see with True or False is different. Most likely, when you switch from a value to another, you'll have to adjust the zoom value to get your cockpit visibility as it was before. However, if you take a look on various forums, you can often spot some topics created by new users who have large screens, and complain about the lack of cockpit visibility even with extremely small zoom values like 0.40x !! Then these guys get told about the WideViewAspect that should be set to "True" when using wide screens, they try this, and when they come back for feedback, they always say that they now get good cockpit visibility even with zooms like 0.70x.

Of course, this is valid ONLY for people who are flying on widescreens (16/9 or 16/10), and for people that use several screens side by side, to create one very wide screen (triplehead etc...) For people with a single regular 4/3 screen, the WideViewAspect should be set to False.

[Skunkworks]

Of course, this is valid ONLY for people who are flying on widescreens (16/9 or 16/10), and for people that use several screens side by side, to create one very wide screen (triplehead etc...) For people with a single regular 4/3 screen, the WideViewAspect should be set to False.

...otherwise the left and right screens in eyefinity or surround are stretched or OUT of proportion and impossible to correct with zoom levels when WVA=false!

If you use, say, Ezdoc also, all your zoom levels are customisable with both key and joystick buttons...flexible and convenient when fully immersed.

Again this is what works for me, your mileage my vary!!!

[jandjfrench]

Hi,
I only fly full screen. I've verified the following on 4:3 and "widescreen" monitors.
Set WideAspectView to False.
With the aircraft parked set the zoom level to .7 and maneuver so that clearly identifiable objects are on both the left and right edges of the screen. With the aircraft stopped save the flight. Take a screenshot if you like.
Set WideAspectView to True.
Load the flight and press the Backspace key to set the default zoom level. Compare what you see in both situations.
That should work. I actually have done this parked at the default departure end of 31 at KSNS on both a 17" 4:3 monitor and a 24" widescreen flat panel. (As I recall the aspect ratio of the flat panel is close to 16:10)
By the way, a 100 foot runway will appear as 70 feet wide at the default zoom with WideAspectView set to True. If one was concerned about transferring what they see in FSX to the real world they should never have WideAspectView set to True. Imagine parking a car in a perpendicular spot wearing glasses that change what you see to a .7 wide angle view.
Jim F.

[nnd816]

Hi,
I only fly full screen. I've verified the following on 4:3 and "widescreen" monitors.
Set WideAspectView to False.
With the aircraft parked set the zoom level to .7 and maneuver so that clearly identifiable objects are on both the left and right edges of the screen. With the aircraft stopped save the flight. Take a screenshot if you like.
Set WideAspectView to True.
Load the flight and press the Backspace key to set the default zoom level. Compare what you see in both situations.
That should work. I actually have done this parked at the default departure end of 31 at KSNS on both a 17" 4:3 monitor and a 24" widescreen flat panel. (As I recall the aspect ratio of the flat panel is close to 16:10)
By the way, a 100 foot runway will appear as 70 feet wide at the default zoom with WideAspectView set to True. If one was concerned about transferring what they see in FSX to the real world they should never have WideAspectView set to True. Imagine parking a car in a perpendicular spot wearing glasses that change what you see to a .7 wide angle view.
Jim F.

That's very interesting, so even with a 16:9 screen I should not set WideAspectView to True?
When asking the question I was more concern with the outside view from the virtual cockpit rather than the cockpit view itself. Right now I got WideAspect = True and the outside view looks great, but is it "realistic"?
Anyway thanks to all comments especially the real world pilots, Happy July 4th to US flight simmers and Merci to European ones.