I just can't get my head around the FSx zoom ratios in the VC.Personally, I found that the best zoom ratio to use in the VC for FS9 was 75%. I have read arguments that it should be 1.0 - but this is a Sim and you need to be able to see what the VSI is reading (etc) as you are on final approach - without excessive use of the hat swith pan. I also found in FS9 that a zoom ratio of 75% was still too large for some a/c - and you finished up with the VC panel "in your face" . Now I know that you can use the seat adjustment to move your viewing position backwards - but go back too far and it introduces other problems.Now when I startup FSx , it appears to have a default VC zoom of around 60%. So what is everybody using?? What are your thoughts? - or am I fussing too much. Does it matter if I use a VC zoom ratio of 0.30??Barry

It really depends on what aircraft you are using. Personally I use 50%.Another major factor is the size and resolution of your moniter. If, for example you had a 30" moniter with a resolution of 2560x1600 you could easily zoom out to 30% and still be able to read your instruments clealy. Thats why big moniters are so sought after - if you can afford one!

I guess I have a hang-up in that I kind of expect that the "default" zoom ratio in the VC would be 1.00 -- but at that ratio, you virtually cant see any gauges at all except by quite vigorous panning. It seems that some like to sim by simply looking out the forward window- but in real life, you can concentrate mostly on what is going on in the windscrren, but your peripheral vision allows you to quickly scan the instruments. In FS , you don't have this ability - so you need to be a fair way back from the panel to reasonably be able to see the panel gauges - or use a small zoom factor. . In FS9, I felt that a zoom factor of 75% allowed a fair compromise/balance with a lot of a/c -but with FSx , it appears that you need to use a much smaller zoom factor.Barry

So are you saying that I need to be closer or further away from the panel?Anyway, I feel that at my setting of 50% (on a 19' widescreen @ 1440x900)gives a wide view of things around me while I am still able to read the panel instruments fairly accurately. If at all I need to zoom in - I just zoom in and then back out. For me 50% is the most visually pleasing. And as you said people have different preferences.And again, with a big monitor, I would assume you could easily read the panels from a zoom of 30% without straining your eyes whilst having a good view of your surroundings.

Hi BrendanI have just done some comparisons at an airport with FS9 at 75% and FSx at 50% -- they appear to me to be very similar. I am coming to the conclusion that 50% IS the zoom factor for me to use in FSx- it does give a visualy pleasing effect whereby you can see most of the important gauges - the same as I feel for 75% in FS9. Just a bit hard for me to accept after flying FS9 for so long at 75%Barry

Until I got my TrackIR, I was running at 50% (with a 30" monitor). Now I'm at 75%; it is so natural to look down and see the gauges that I don't really need the six-pack to be visible all the time and the higher zoom level makes the external view much better. This feels a lot more realistic to me as well; I'm far less focused on the instruments and more focused on looking out the window.I do have zoom in/zoom out on my yoke and I often use it when sightseeing or on final approach. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Intel Quad Core QX6700/2.66GHz (water cooled @3.20 GHz), 2@8800GTX/768MB nVidia (SLI), 4GB RAM,2@160GB Raptor HD (RAID 0), Razer Barracuda AC-1 Audio, Dell 3007 30" Monitor (2560x1600), Track IR 4 Pro,FSGenesis USA Landclass, NA & World Meshes, MegasceneryX Hawaii & Phoenix,RealAir SIAI-Marchetti SF260, Aerosoft DHC-2 Beaver, MyTraffic X, WWII Fighters

From reading the posts above, my take on this is quite different. The default zoom is .69. This is good for getting a view of the terrain, sky and having a sense of peripheral vision. For a realistic landing view, I use a zoom of 1.0. I use the = to zoom to 1.0, then I move the seat back by using Control+Enter I believe, maybe it's Control+Backspace. Once I find the views I like, I save a flight and alter the .cfg file with my saved views in each zoom level. It's a hassle to do this, but it's the only way to have both a peripheral view when you want it as well as the accurate landing view on final approach. Doing a search for Active Camera will pull up the steps needed for altering the .cfg files.Curt

Usually 60% for me.

>Usually 60% for me.Ditto. And remember when in mouse mode the scroll wheel acts as a zoom key, so its really very simple to set up the amount of zoom per scroll wheel click to match whatever it is you need. I have mine set up so that the zoom moves 0.10 per scroll wheel click stop. With that and the preset views via the `A` key I can pretty much get the FOV I want, when I want. In or out. I find it very useful for zooming in tight on say the autopilot for making altitude adjustments or for moving the hdg bezel on the HSI, but I still tend to use the backspace key to `pop` the view back out quickly.Of course, with TrackIR4 I can just lean closer and look at the instruments, which handily solves the odd problem in FSX of non-removable yokes blocking the view of the lower panel.;)Allcott