If a short focal-length 10X loupe is the tool for what you have in mind, this is the one by which all others are measured.

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Also, I've picked up a couple of decent quality children/school quality microscopes at thrift stores for about $10. These are actually handier than some professional models as you can hold a rock under and focus by moving the specimen rather than the viewing depth. They aren't good for micro fossils but more than sufficient for most fossils.

Bottom line is… Seek a higher level education if you have a desire to change science. That is IF you can afford it! This ‘filtering’ down effect is crucial for the integrity of our sciences, but on wonders what has been sidelined or ignored due to the process…

He also knew that if he used a concave lens, the object would appear on the same side of the lens where the object was located. If moved at a distance, it appeared larger than the object. It took a lot of work and different arrangements to get the lens the proper sizes and distances apart, but Galileo’s telescope remained the most powerful and accurately built for a great many years.

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Galileo had no diagrams to work from, and instead relied on his own system of trial and error to achieve the proper placement of the lenses. In Galileo’s telescope the objective lens was convex and the eye lens was concave (today’s telescopes make use of two convex lenses). Galileo knew that light from an object placed at a distance from a convex lens created an identical image on the opposite side of the lens.

Look at this high quality Bausch and Lomb Hastings Triplet 10X loupe on Amazon.com. I had the same one for many years. http://www.amazon.com/Hastings-Triplet-Magnifiers-Bausch-Lomb/dp/B005MB2KO6

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Few scientists and astronomers have had the same impact Galileo had. Even fewer are regarded as pioneers in the sciences, or revolutionary thinkers who forever changed humanity’s perception of the heavens and their place within it. Little wonder then why his most prized instrument is kept so well preserved, and is still the subject of study over four centuries later.

Nevertheless, a revolution in astronomy had begun! Months passed, and Galileo’s telescope improved. On January 7th, 1610, he turned his new 30 power telescope towards Jupiter, and found three small, bright “stars” near the planet. One was off to the west, the other two were to the east, and all three were in a straight line. The following evening, Galileo once again took a look at Jupiter, and found that all three of the “stars” were now west of the planet – still in a straight line!

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Today, over 400 years later, Galileo’s Telescope still survives under the constant care of the Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza (renamed the Museo Galileo in 2010) in Italy. The Museum holds exhibitions on Galileo’s telescope and the observations he made with it. The displays consist of these rare and precious instruments – including the objective lens created by the master and the only two existing telescopes built by Galileo himself.

And at the center of it all is Galileo’s famous telescope, which still inspires curiosity centuries later. How exactly did he invent it. How exactly was it an improvement on then-current designs? What exactly did he see with it when he looked up at the night sky? And what has become of it today? Luckily, all of these are questions we are able to answer.

One fine Fall evening, Galileo pointed his telescope towards the one thing that people thought was perfectly smooth and as polished as a gemstone – the Moon. Imagine his surprise when found that it, in his own words, was “uneven, rough, full of cavities and prominences.” Galileo’s telescope had its flaws, such as a narrow field of view that could only show about one quarter of the lunar disk without repositioning.

Galileo’s telescope was the prototype of the modern day refractor telescope. As you can see from this diagram below, which is taken from Galileo’s own work – Sidereus Nuncius (“The Starry Messenger”) – it was a simple arrangement of lenses that first began with optician’s glass fixed to either end of a hollow cylinder.

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Much like our modern times, the manufacturers were quickly trying to corner the market with their invention. But Galileo Galilei’s friends convinced his own government to wait – sure that he could improve the design. When Galileo heard of this new optical instrument he set about engineering and making improved versions, with higher magnification.

However, this limited ability didn’t stop Galileo from using his telescope to make some amazing observations of the heavens. And what he saw, and recorded for posterity, was nothing short of game-changing.

The head visor is the one I use allot when I am sorting or cleaning my fossils, but mine are all Mississippian and much older marine life, brachiopods etc.

Anyways, the best magnifying glass depends on the use. Hand held? Clamp on? Prep work? Also, some optic devices also depend on your vision.

For looking at plant fossils, I enjoy using a magnifying lamp. The magnification is generally less than for a hand lens, but sufficient for looking at things like pinnule venation (if you look at shale under higher magnification, you start seeing sediment/grains, which is not that useful anyway.) In exchange for lowering the magnification, you get a much, much larger field of view. Ideally complemented by a hand lens (and a microscope) for the more detailed structures, but such a lamp is probably enough to take care of basic plant compression fossil inspection.

I find one of the best magnifiers, is a good photo of the fossil in a photo program that allows you to put the photo full frame on your computer and zoom in on it and slide it around on the screen and see different sections. I use photoshop elements ( the lower cost version for photo editing has a good full screen option, It also edits photos and resizes them for posting).

I was looking online for a really good magnifying glass. There are so many out there and wonder if anyone has suggestions?

Even today we have ‘Old school’ scientists who refuse to accept change. Rather like the clergy in Gallileo’s time? Such is the nature of collectivized thought. One needs reproducible evidence and bonified credentials to even be heard.

There are of course exceptions to this rule, but generally speaking.. something that shifts the scientific paradigm has to be undeniably and unequivocally apparent to the community. But you knew that….

Naturally, Galileo’s telescope had some historical antecedents. In the late summer of 1608, a new invention was all the rage in Europe – the spyglass. These low power telescopes were likely made by almost all advanced opticians, but the very first was credited to Hans Lippershey of Holland. These primitive telescopes only magnified the view a few times over.

The slide out magnifying glass used for camera cleaning. The Carson mini bright comes in two powers. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/765489-REG/Carson_PO_55_PO_55_MiniBrite.html

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Galileo’s telescope was similar to how a pair of opera glasses work – a simple arrangement of glass lenses to magnify objects. His first versions only improved the view to the eighth power, but Galileo’s telescope steadily improved. Within a few years, he began grinding his own lenses and changing his arrays. Galileo’s telescope was now capable of magnifying normal vision by a factor of 10, but it had a very narrow field of view.

I use the cheep two lens head visor from Harbor frt, or any other place with magnifiers, Walmart, in the sewing dept. has several magnifiers.

And there were more discoveries awaiting Galileo’s telescope: the appearance of bumps next to the planet Saturn (the edges of Saturn’s rings), spots on the Sun’s surface (aka. Sunspots), and seeing Venus change from a full disk to a slender crescent. Galileo Galilei published all of these findings in a small book titled Sidereus Nuncius (“The Starry Messenger”) in 1610.

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You all have had great ideas and wonderful input, and I thank you. I relate completely to the comment of the eyes not getting any younger. The fossils are mostly all very large, so a microscope would probably not work for these. It looks like I have to decide what best fits my needs as all of you have and just get one. The good thing is that they are not so expensive that I can always try something else.

I personally rarely use a magnifying glass. Even in the field, not that useful for fossils (used a lens for mineral crystal structure). At home I use a microscope for just about everything.

For almost all my prepping work I use a microscope. Only for the really large specimens that I can't fit under the microscope do I use other magnification.

Thank you both. I guess I was looking for something handheld, but honestly had not thought about it. I do not prep fossils, just want to see them more clearly. I am at the stage of life where reading glasses are a must, but they do nothing for looking at fossil detail more clearly. As for "really good", what I mean is a good quality that will give good magnification. Does this help?

Look at this high quality Bausch and Lomb Hastings Triplet 10X loupe on Amazon.com. I had the same one for many years. http://www.amazon.com/Hastings-Triplet-Magnifiers-Bausch-Lomb/dp/B005MB2KO6

In 1610, Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei looked up at the heavens using a telescope of his making. And what he saw would forever revolutionize the field of astronomy, our understanding of the Universe, and our place in it. Centuries later, Galileo’s is still held in such high esteem; not only for the groundbreaking research he conducted, but because of his immense ingenuity in developing his own research tools.

OK, so I decided to purchase a nice quality loupe and ordered it from an Amazon shop. I did not realize the shop was in Germany, so took a while to get it. The package arrived today and I was very excited to get it and try it out. Opened up the package and found a glass picture frame made in China shipped from Germany....UGH!!!!!

While Galileo was not the first astronomer to point a telescope towards the heavens, he was the first to do so scientifically and methodically. Not only that, but the comprehensive notes he took on his observations, and the publication of his discoveries, would have a revolutionary impact on astronomy and many other fields of science.

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I think the real advice you are getting here is that there are different magnifiers for each job. I have a folding 10X loop for the field. It is small and fits in my vest pocket. I also use a pair of magnifying binocular lenses used when crawling around in search of tiny things. At home I have a large magnifier on a goose neck arm for doing prep along with a stereo microscope (thanks MikeC!) And for showing stuff to friends or kids I have a nice old fashioned hand magnifier. I've been collecting for decades and all of these have been swapped out several times for something better or different when the needed.

Just try to imagine what if felt like to be the first one to see the moons of Jupiter or the rings of Saturn! Talk about mind blowing!

Thanks to Galileo’s careful record keeping, craftsmen around the world have recreated Galileo’s telescope for museums and replicas are now sold for amateurs and collectors as well. Despite the fact that astronomers now have telescopes of immense power at their disposal, many still prefer to go the DIY route, just like Galileo!

If you are coming to the club meeting Sat I will bring mine so you can compare. I have about 5 different ones, some I haven't had time to open yet.