hi ads345, thx for your nice comments and sorry for my slow reply. The distance to the geese must have been around 150 meter (but that is a pure guess). And yess the first shot like stated is a old school 600mm equivalent: i placed it for reference so the viewers would have a better idea of the power of Kowascoping. The weight of the scope is not a heavy one to my personal taste and more then oké (thanx to the full aluminum body / the 99 is only a good 100gr more heavy then the new 88 btw). The real weight difference will be in the tripod + head combination that one uses. A digiscope rig (tripod included) is not a light one but the high magnification really benefits from a stable rig. I indead use the 45x eyepiece and not the zoom. That is just a personal choice. The zoom is also very performant. Best greetings!