Wondering if anyone out there is having success with the galilean
style binocular magnifiers. I am wondering how these magnifiers
compare to the optivisor in magnification strength before i spend
the money to try them out. I have been using a #5 optivsor lens for
most work and now i am in need a smalboost for bead and pave when I
set 0.005 ct to 0.01 ct diamonds.
thanks goo
I have a pair of 4.5x surgical style binocular scopes that I
purchased from Designs For Vision. They were pretty expensive, around
$1250. I already had a usable microscope (not a Meiji), but wanted
something to increase my vision at stations where I had no
magnification. I’ll use the binoculars when I’m bead setting, to a
point. I’ll do layout, drill holes, roughing out seats and initial
azuring, but not for detailed azuring, final seating, bead raising or
bright cutting of stones. For those operations I still use my
microscope. The binoculars are great for soldering, polishing,
fabricating, etc. To be sure, these scopes will beat the crap out of
an optivisor. A really high end pair, like those from DFV, won’t take
any time for your eyes to adjust to, but the weight is another
matter. I don’t like wearing them all day, but will wear them a lot.
Karl Linger, a fellow Orchid member has the 6x wide field binoculars,
but they are even heavier than the 4.5’s. What I gleaned from Karl
was that the added magnification and wide field didn’t make up for
the added weight. Hope this helps.
Larry
gustavo
there was a debate on orchid about these magnifiers, in 07 I think,
pretty extensive. i was part of that disscussion and I do use a
surgeons telescope, it’s basically the same thingas the galilean, but
witha specealised bonus and added expense of the company sending out
their agent to measure and check your eyes before they put together
the unit for you specifically, I own 2 oprivisors different
strenghts, and the Orascoptic by Kerr for the dental and medical
feild. the orascoptic is by far a better and healthier tool for the
eyes, and their technology gets better every year. the reason why I
jumped from the optivisors was i was getting headaches, because we
use these things all day they need to deleiver best quality in every
way. do help yourself and check out the archives of orchid, there
are a few different companies making these things, my choice was an
american made to order unit and company.
good luck
Hratch Babikian
Atelier Hratch
I have had a set of Zeiss 4x binocular loupes for more than a decade.
They work beautifully I would recommend them to anyone.
James Binnion
James Binnion Metal Arts
I searched the orchid archives on this subject but i must have used
the incorrect keywords i only came up with discussions on optivisors
i am wondering about the specific difference between " galilean
Magnifiers " and " binocular magnifiers" and "magnifying loupe " I am
getting the idea that there is some difference here in the finer
points like field of view, depth of field etc.
well i know that the company I had bought mine from were calling them
surgeons telescopes, to my knowledge, the differences that exists in
the units and fabrication of them are that the optivisor style where
the lens is sitting far away from your face on a head band can be
flipped away/up and the medical field did not seem to deem these very
accurate or most healthy for the eyes. the other style is the type
that Rio and Small Parts Co had which is a frame that sits on your
ears like a pair of glasses but then you would have to make the lens
slide side to side ways, left to right, and angular up and down, till
it fits your head / nose size and eye distance from each other, the
3rd is the telescope /microscope lenses come solidly fabricated into
a an eyeglass lens which may be prescription glasses or just clear
safety glass. to add to this confusion is the fact that each
manufacturer usesdifferent style of lens or lenses stacking with in
the telescope units, depending on the strength of the magnification
they could run from 1/2 inch long to about an 1.5 in length which has
design issues of staying on your face comfortably. I know that
Orascoptic has taken a lot of those issues into consideration and use
lighter materials for the fabrication of the units, like more
plastic/aluminium and titanuim then steel. I am sure some of the
other companies like zeiss / Leica have the same. personally, because
of the cost; I did my homework on a lot of the units/companies and in
the end I went with the local company that had a proven good record,
which my dentists office was using and I got to try one on before I
made my call. mine cost 800. 00 in 2007, they also offer to come back
for a check up / eye exam to make sure that if your eyes have changed
in a year or 2 that they will adjust or get you a different pair.
customer service in my book is key. plug in the the names of the
companies and you will get good educational source of info to find
out what fits best for you.
Hratch
I have had a set of Zeiss 4x binocular loupes for more than a decade. They work beautifully I would recommend them to anyone.
FYI…I bought a pair of these and loved the idea of wearing them all
the time, looking over them when I didn’t need them and looking
through them when I did. Unfortunately I could not adjust them to
match my eyes. I even took them to my eye doctor and asked him to
help, he said they would need to be made to match my prescription,
the distributor agreed. So sadly I had to return them and go back to
my old optivisor (which works fine w/o my glasses.
I can’t help but think that their might have been another way to
make them work for me.
Mark
I don’t know about those, but I can tell you that I am very satisfied
from the Eschenbach. They are German made, binocular magnifier, 4X
and they use the same type of lenses found in a telescope. No eye
stain and very comfortable. If anyone is interested I am selling them
because I bought a scope.
Were the ones you got galilean or binocular loupes? The galilean
type are often mounted right in the lenses of a pair of glasses and I
can see how they would be a problem without prescription correction.
The binocular mount like a optivisor on a headband or on a special
set of frames and are very adjustable
http://www.ganoksin.com/gnkurl/ni
Did you deal directly with Zeiss? I would think they would have been
able to help you on this. I found them to be very helpful.
I have prescription glasses I wear for astigmatism and
distance/closeup focal correction. I wear my prescription lenses and
my binocular loupes over them on a headband mount.
James Binnion
James Binnion Metal Arts
This is the kind of challenge that a university that trains oculists
might take on. Just a thought.
Kind regards Barbara on Prince Edward Island where the frogs are
croaking every night that it’s spring!
Hello
I don’t know about those, but I can tell you that I am very
satisfied from the Eschenbach. They are German made, binocular
magnifier, 4X and they use the same type of lenses found in a
telescope. No eye stain and very comfortable. If anyone is interested
I am selling them because I bought a scope.
Were the ones you got galilean or binocular loupes? The galilean type are often mounted right in the lenses of a pair of glasses and I can see how they would be a problem without prescription correction.
To make a distinction between galilean and binocular, is to make
distinction between vegetables and a cucumber. It is a nonsensical
distinction, which frankly should never be made. There are two
distinct types of optical systems - one is known as Galilean and
another is Keplerian. Both can be binocular and monocular. Galilean
optics produce erect images, or right side up, while Keplerian
optics produce inverted images. Zeiss glasses called Galilean,
because they do produce erect images, but they employ Keplerian
optics in combination with Porro prism, which erects inverted image.
The expression “galilean or binocular” is a sheer nonsense, because
both of these descriptive characteristics are not mutually exclusive
of each other.
Leonid Surpin
my experience so far is that ziess does not list the dealers any
place (kind of an unobtanium sort of thing going on here) outside of
what is availble from otto frei. I called the number you sent me (
JB) and was refered to a sales rep who has not returned my call. so
far i tried the eschenbachs 4x those would not center properly over
my line of sight but they way the work looks when you can look
through them is clear.
then i tried the ziess 2.3x from frei and those work great but
require a clean bright white led style light source as the colors can
get abstracted plus some effort to practice looking through them
because of the perifer al area while attempting to focus attention
on what one is seeing in the magnified area. At first its like trying
to bead set in a row boat, any how its going to be a trip to the
optometrist for support this week.
After some searching here in Perth, Western Australia, I found Ziess
surgical binoculars… the first pair had a focal length of around
40cm, too long for me, but the sales rep, who was getting quite
interested in this (to him) novel application, found me a pair with a
30cm focal length. They come with a pair of spectacles, and once my
prescription lenses were fitted, what bliss - I can see stuff I quite
literally could not see with the optivisor. Yup, they cost an arm and
half a leg (I got a discount because the 30cm focal length is not
popular with the medicos) but the benefits far outweigh the expense -
no eye strain, better work, and, in fact, I think my eyes
are actually better for using them instead of straining.