B.K. Henderson-Winnie Posted October 16, 2017 Report Share Posted October 16, 2017 Ed, The magnifier looks like it's working very well- thanks for sharing. I particularly like the cicada. I am fond of insects, and cicadas are one of my favorites Bonnie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.K. Henderson-Winnie Posted October 16, 2017 Report Share Posted October 16, 2017 Well, I went ahead and did it... took the plunge and am trying out a set of Craft Optics' telescopes. I purchased the shorter focal length (10-12") with reading glasses lenses, 1.5 I've only had two carving sessions with them so far, but results are very promising. They were initially disorienting in that I am so physically used to hunching over, or having to float my hands midair close to my eyes, or drastically adjust the height of my seat often to view fine detail, that my body didn't quite know what to do with being able to see detail clearly from a straighter-spine, arms more down and relaxed sitting position. My neck and back are less tense and eye strain is noticeably reduced. Being able to flip the scopes up for regular reading-glasses enhancement is very convenient. They are a little heavy on the bridge of the nose, but I think I could get used to that. Even if I don't end up liking them so much, their return policy is very good. I did not get the additional clip-on light, because I often rely on being able to move the light around to see the shadow and light play on the work from different angles, and my bench lamp does that well enough. I need to work with them more and get used to them, but I think this was a good investment. Bonnie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janel Posted October 16, 2017 Report Share Posted October 16, 2017 Oh the things we do to be able to see the details! Those look pretty serious, and must be amazing to use. What degree of magnification to they provide? Is that adjustable? You might find some sort of padding to spread out the weight on your nose. My own solution is to wrap some cloth and then some paper tape around that part that sits on my nose. It need replacing now and then, but does the job well enough. The wire frame sits below my carving glasses, which are prescription lenses. The main part of the carving glasses is made to work for lower magnification that focuses on the carving area and the bench top, and the seamless bifocal area for focusing on the carving peg before me, that 10-12" that you mentioned. It may be a bit more flexible that those specific distances. These are Bebe Binocular loupes from 60 or more years ago, inherited from my uncle who was a dentist. They are occasionally offered on Ebay I think. With the carving prescription they offer about 10x magnification. The lenses can be positioned by the little wheel and threaded rod just underneath, to fit one's own focusing needs. Janel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.K. Henderson-Winnie Posted October 16, 2017 Report Share Posted October 16, 2017 Hi Janel, What a wonderful inheritance from your uncle. I like their look, their simplicity. The magnification on the telescope elements of the lenses I'm using are 2x (+8.0 diopter in reading-glasses terms, according to their FAQ), and can be combined with whatever reading glasses diopter magnification a person wants in the lens frames, up to +6.0, I think. Or, with a person's own glasses prescription or with plain glass lenses. I don't think it gets as powerful as 10x, but I get a great deal of magnification with just a +1.5 diopter reading lens, and would probably get super detail if I had a pair with +6.0 diopter lenses under the telescopes. The interpupillary distance is adjustable, but not the strength of the magnifying lenses, aside from flipping the scopes up and using the glasses part only. I really like them so far! They do exactly what I had hoped they would. Here's a link to their FAQ for more info: https://craftoptics.com/faq/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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