Hi all what would be the most realistic cockpit zoom to have and is there any way to lock it so that you dont have to keep resetting it every time you look out of a side window at present I am useing 0.50 thanks for any help. also is there a good 737-400 out there payware or freeware it doesant matter regards to all Michael

In early fs2k2 reviews between 0.8 to 0.9 would be most realistic. 0.5 gives a 'fisheye' perspective imho.If you set the zoom factor to your required value and then save the flight as startup flight, the settings are saved.

I use 0.70Ulisses

Hi Michael,Once you have decided the zoom factor that suits you, you can make it "stick" by adding some lines to the Panel.cfg file in each aircraft's Panel folder. That way you can have different zooms for your Cessna 172 and your Boeing 747.Here is the "Views" section from Jorge 'eko' Salas's great747 panel.(VIEWS)VIEW_FORWARD_WINDOWS=MAIN_PANEL,CENTERPOST_PANEL,IFR_MAIN_PANEL,GPS_PANEL,270,THROTTLE_PANEL,OVERHEAD_PANELVIEW_FORWARD_ZOOM=0.8VIEW_FORWARD_DIR=6.0, 0.0, 0.0VIEW_FORWARD_RIGHT_ZOOM=0.7VIEW_RIGHT_ZOOM=0.6VIEW_REAR_RIGHT_ZOOM=0.5VIEW_REAR_ZOOM=0.5VIEW_REAR_LEFT_ZOOM=0.5VIEW_LEFT_ZOOM=0.6VIEW_FORWARD_LEFT_ZOOM=0.7VIEW_UP_ZOOM=0.3VIEW_DOWN_ZOOM=0.3Remember to replace the parentheses around the word "VEIWS" with square brackets. I hope that this is helpful. R-

Does that work for VCs as well? I was under the impression that it only worked with the 2D panels. I've tried it before, although it's been a while, and I think I remember it not affecting the VC zoom.As for what the most realistic zoom ratio is, I think it's pretty subjective. I find I adjust it differently on different aircraft and also tend to zoom in and out during flight a bit. I actually just mapped a rocker on my CH yoke to zoom in/out. On takeoffs and landings, I zoom a little farther out than what looks "realistic" so I can get better peripheral vision, since my eyes are mostly outside the cockpit. I find it's tremendously helpful for flying VFR and doing visual approaches. During flight, I zoom in a little more for better instrument views. Here's another fun thing, too: I mapped some keys on my CH Throttle to allow me to move the eyepoint from side to side and forward/backward. That way I can lean over the side of the plane in an open-cockpit tail dragger and keep an eye on the rwy on takeoffs and landings. It's particularly impressive with Bill Lyons' Tiger Moth and Dave Eckert's Stearman.

No, it does not (to my knowledge) work with VC. But neither is it needed in VC, in my opinion. (I like your method better, the rocker to control zoom.) I believe that this thread referred to a 2D cockpit. But perhaps I'm wrong. R-

My bad! I mistakenly thought he was talking about VCs, 'cause that's the only view I've used for quite a while. Maybe I need to get out more...

In case you need your stick for some other function, ActiveCamera allows to zoom at will with the mouse wheel (among other very nice stuff such as head movements etc.)

Many thanks to all you guys for your help its great to recieve it and its helped me no end so thanks sorry I could not get back sooner take care and regards to all