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 Post subject: 50x or 100x?
PostPosted: Thu Jan 17, 2019 1:54 am 
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I am new to this, I want to buy a portable gem microscope to look for fillings and stuff, which is better, 50x or the 100x one? or may be I should get both?


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 Post subject: Re: 50x or 100x?
PostPosted: Thu Jan 17, 2019 1:55 am 
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If you're talking about hand-held loupes, the '50x' or '100x' specs tend to be a bit meaningless. Could you link to what you're looking at specifically?

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 Post subject: Re: 50x or 100x?
PostPosted: Thu Jan 17, 2019 2:04 am 
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detail.tmall.com/item.htm?id=550007113432
(it's a chinese site)


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 Post subject: Re: 50x or 100x?
PostPosted: Thu Jan 17, 2019 8:59 am 
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The working distance and depth of field of 50x or 100x microscopes is likely to be so small that their usefulness in gem work will be very limited. Get a top quality 10x and move up as you meet it's limitations.


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 Post subject: Re: 50x or 100x?
PostPosted: Thu Jan 17, 2019 12:13 pm 
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Alan is absolutely correct, but these are not actually 50x or 100x magnifiers. I'm not sure why they label them this way but they're not anything near that. I've never used the one pictured, but it is probably at least OK. It would probably be better to pick up a 10x from a well-known manufacturer as well as a darkfield loupe. That said, I do really like the extremely cheap variations (like eg this style, though I wouldn't pay more than about 3 dollars each https://www.ebay.com/itm/Currency-Detec ... 3100107264) They work well enough and I don't feel bad when I inevitably misplace them.

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 Post subject: Re: 50x or 100x?
PostPosted: Fri Jan 18, 2019 2:54 am 
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Stephen Challener wrote:
but these are not actually 50x or 100x magnifiers.

So they are not magnifiers :shock: then what are they? Darkfield Loupes? A chinese seller recommended me those and she told me that I could use those to look for fillings...(I prefer untreated gemstones so...)



Also, what kind of 10x should I get? Something like this? https://www.ebay.com/itm/20X12mm-10X18m ... 1956132057
(but it is so cheap, so I am not sure if it is a good quality one)


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 Post subject: Re: 50x or 100x?
PostPosted: Fri Jan 18, 2019 12:10 pm 
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TastyGem wrote:
Stephen Challener wrote:
but these are not actually 50x or 100x magnifiers.

So they are not magnifiers :shock: then what are they?

They are magnifiers, they just aren't as strong as quoted.

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 Post subject: Re: 50x or 100x?
PostPosted: Fri Jan 18, 2019 12:29 pm 
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TastyGem wrote:
Stephen Challener wrote:
but these are not actually 50x or 100x magnifiers.

So they are not magnifiers :shock: then what are they? Darkfield Loupes? A chinese seller recommended me those and she told me that I could use those to look for fillings...(I prefer untreated gemstones so...)



Also, what kind of 10x should I get? Something like this? https://www.ebay.com/itm/20X12mm-10X18m ... 1956132057
(but it is so cheap, so I am not sure if it is a good quality one)


Go look at the products of a top class manufacturer, Zeiss, Schneider or Belomo. They make top class loupes, not cheap, but worth every penny.


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