Microscopes will change your life.
There are many cheap microscopes on the market. My personal experience is, don’t waste your money.
Good optics are exactly that. good optics. The Meiji EMZ-5 Microscope with Acrobat stand has been the standard for the industry for a long time. These are crisp to the edge of the viewing area and will make your life easier. Zoom ranges from about 7X -22X with the objective lens and you have plenty of room to work under the scope. Higher magnification gives you a very short depth of field. Meaning if you focus on one prong, that is what is in focus. To see the rest of the ring or prongs near by, you have to re-focus.
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The Leica® A60 Microscope Kit with Acrobat™ Versa Stand has brighter clearer optics and a greater depth of field. This means that when you are focused on say, one prong. The entire ring or most of it is in focus. This saves time and the depth of field is incredible. For the money, this is a jewelers dream scope! The depth of field and a wider viewing area makes stone setting and engraving much easier. The extra expense will be made up for in time savings in a very short period of time.
I found that Optivisors were not doing the trick for me any longer and got a scope. I wished I had done it years ago.
Phillip Scott G.G. GIA
Graduate Gemologist
Technical Support Specialist
Rio Grande, A Berkshire Hathaway Company
1.800.545.6566