The problem with magnifying glasses, these days, seems to be that there's no money in them. The lowest-common-demominator model is practical—it incorporates a light and two lenses of two different powers—but it costs basically as much as two cups of coffee, so how good could it be? My guess is, just short of almost adequate, like most such barely-good-enough but super-cheap-so-they'll-sell types of products. Maybe I shouldn't judge.

hugh crawford (partial comment): "If you want the finest possible loupe, and happen to have an old 50mm ƒ/1.4 lens sitting around, and boy do I ever, congratulations, you already own it."

The problem with hand-held magnifiers is that they are never to hand when needed. So, I had my eye doctor use a lens for my left eye that really cranks up the magnification in the bottom lens of my trifocals--a genuine failed age test if there ever was one. But then all this should be classified as Old-Man Problems.

Turns out it's one of those things where there's just too much choice. A plethora of different types and hundreds of different options. The many different powers of magnification, simple lenses, doublets and triplets. Coatings usually aren't mentioned. And there's such an avalanche of really cheap, mass-produced options that it can be hard to find anything else because it all gets lost in that vast seething stew of cheap stuff.

This rack and pinion is designed to work in all Detroit Speed Hydroformed Subframes, X-Gen 595 Front Frames, and 1979-1993 Ford Fox Body applications. This is ...

The "ant killing" Sherlock Holmes magnifier can be used to concentrate sunlight to start a fire. Might be useful when outdoors and when camping..... and cool way to light a Cuban cigar.

Having worked in the semiconductor industry, I am spoiled for one of these: https://www.nikonmetrology.com/en-us/product/smz800n

I'd like a high quality, elegant version of this: https://www.amazon.com/ToolUSA-3x-Leather-Pocket-Magnifier/dp/B00VUGU5GC/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=2SX4Y0BHJX0HW8HS5YF2

@John Camp. Having trouble focusing a loupe on something that isn’t flat. Turn it around, the lense works just as well that way and you can get it as close as you need to

When the electric field vectors are restricted to a single plane by filtration, then the light is said to be polarized with respect to the direction of ...

During my 20+ years of selling Nikons, they never sold this lupe except as a promo piece through the Nikon School. It was always a rebadged Peak lupe or one make by whoever actually makes the Peak lupes.

I keep an old 50mm Takumar on my desk. It makes a very decent hand magnifier, though with a limited field of view and not exactly light. But how many people can say they have an 8-element double-gauss hand magnifier?

Imre Karafiath: "Did you look in your camera bag? Nikon and Canon offer two-element close up lenses. My Nikon 6T is a better magnifier than any other that I have tried."

Herman: "If you wear glasses, the clip-on flip-up magnifying glasses work well. They generally come in strengths of 1.5 to 3 diopters."

Mike replies: These two-element close-up "filters" (as you say, they're really lenses) are also discontinued, but still find-able. I always thought they were admirably useful for people who understood what they were good for and how to use them (and had only a small penalty in the camera bag), but long experience as a teacher and writer taught me that most people would just decline to buy one. You're right about them though.

I also use a chimney finder for a Pentacon Six, which to my eyes seems as good as the Hasselblad chimney finder I have on another camera, or the Pentax 67 chimney finder. These are good for viewing negatives on a light table.

Dealing with batteries the other day—and battery packaging—I came up again against an age-related annoyance—it's getting harder and harder for me to read small print.

And as you might expect, unlike most casual consumers in this category, I'm not that interested in cheap. I'm more interested in good.

In addition to using the common Fast 50 as a hand lens, I've found that the viewing lens out of an old 120 TLR works well. I punched a hole in the bottom of a plastic 35mm film can and pushed the lens in to create a stand lupe. Mine, an f/3.5 Yashica lens, seems to work best with the front element facing the subject.

The classic that I've used regularly since the late 60s is the Agfa 8x loupe. It looks identical to the Kalt except for having the Agfa brand on it. I've still got two of them that I use when dealing with negatives or contact sheets. And, yes, also sometimes instructions on new tech products that are printed far too small (though it's too small-field for reading at length).

My Oxford Compact Edition BigDic comes with a B&L magnifier of the type you pictured first, but the box has a drawer for it so it's always there.

Why? Well, it seems well made, it has eight LEDs in a ring around the lower side so it should be able to throw some light on the subject, and the 3.5X magnification is probably enough for most tasks while not having too narrow a field. And it takes the selfsame rechargeable AAs that started all this.

High Power Microscope Objectives. High power microscope objectives are used to increase magnification for viewing very fine details in samples.

If you live in a home, however, not a third-grade classroom, meaning you want to leave it out and you want it to look nice, try the Celestron Ambassador set pictured above. $50.

As a magnifier rookie it makes sense that I can widen the field with the “close-eye” approach but the idea that I can increase the magnifying power by changing how I use the glass is a surprise. D’oh!

Eolake: "Yes! Thanks for this, for years ago I tried to find a really good magnifier, and I was never satisfied with any of those I did find, not really. Usually I manage to sniff out the quality stuff, but not that time."

Bill Tyler: "Did you happen to notice that the name on your magnifier, 'Levenhuk,' echoes 'Leeuwenhoek,' the early Dutch microscopist?"

X Shang · 2022 · 52 — Detecting circularly polarized light (CPL) signals is the key technique in many advanced sensing technologies. Over recent decades, many efforts have been ...

The Brightech LightView pictured has an unusually high rating on Amazon, with 609 five-star and another 39 four star reviews out of 670 total. It has a 2.25X magnifier that's five inches in diameter, and the light is dimmable and features adjustable color temperature. The light is LED, not fluorescent, and is claimed to last for 20 years. The lamp also comes in white. Brightech is a U.S.-based, family-owned business, if that matters to you.

What Mike bought: Since I just need a decent-quality general-purpose magnifier to help me with the fine print on small objects, I thought I'd try this Levenhuk Zeno 500 from B&H Photo.

BTW, reading glasses from the dollar store are a good thing. I keep a pair with the temples broken off in my pocket to use when looking at prints in museums and galleries. And yes you can even tale pictures with them too.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077V5GDJR/ref=sspa_dk_detail_1?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B077V5GDJR&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=1713835751726239774&pf_rd_r=RWJKSWMVZ9Y9ND96FPDQ&pd_rd_wg=Org0z&pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_t=40701&pd_rd_w=eYoIq&pf_rd_i=desktop-dp-sims&pd_rd_r=3b418542-7bca-11e8-8a81-63eb4f64bcad

Headband magnifier. Used by jewelers and modelers—these are what we used most in the modeling room at Model Railroader magazine. Obviously, the main draw is that they're hands-free, comfortable (the lenses flip up to get them out of the way when you don't need them), and nice for their intended purpose. They'll take up a fair amount of room in a kitchen odds 'n' ends drawer, though, and, for general here-and-there use like reading the small print on medicine bottles, they might be overkill. Here's another good one.

Desktop magnifying lamp. There are about a zillion variations on this theme—remembering what I said above about high quality, this Brightech model is one of the very best and, at $70, much more expensive than even good-quality garden-variety options. Desktop magnifying lamps are widely useful for many things, especially because they are lighted so well. Most can double as plain old clamp-lamps as well, quite aside from the magnifying function—this one even features a little cover for the lens to help make it look like a normal lamp. [UPDATE: Michael Matthews points out that this is also a safety feature. Just as a magnifying glass can be used by small kinds to fry ants, it's also at least possible for it to catch stray sunlight and wreak mischief unintentionally. Unlikely that everything would align properly at random, but when the downside is your house burning down, it's worth thinking about. —Ed.]

Bahi (partial comment): "I have a (cheaper, fluorescent) version of the desktop light and it has been phenomenally useful for fixing stuff. Back when I used a DSLR, it needed occasional focus adjustment and without this lamp, I'm not sure I'd have managed it."

"Mike replied " I do vaguely remember that Nikon magnifier, but I can't find a picture of it online. Was it just like a linen tester, but with a 24x36mm opening?"

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Larry Gebhardt: "My favorite loupe is the Mamiya 3X for 6x7. Seems it's now out of production. I bought it for darkroom work, but find I use it for a lot around the house. I like the OptiVisor if I need to manipulate a small object. Finally, a regular pair reading glasses is my most used magnifying solution."

Rodenstock makes a very good loupe. As does Schneider. A good loupe has at least two lens elements. The cheap Chinese hand held magnifiers have only one, and lots of aberrations as a result. I had a Rodenstock, but over the years fog started to develop between the lens elements. So I eventually retired it and got a Canon loupe. Also very good. The best loupes for photographers have two things: 1-they can be focused, the lens group can be moved closer or further in the stand; and 2-they can be used for both reflective and transparent objects. Ie prints and slides. The clear bottom sleeve (or skirt?) lets light in to view prints, and it can be covered with a black sleeve when viewing transparencies.

Globe (or dome) magnifier. These are intended to be placed on a flat surface to magnify whatever's underneath them. They look nice—like glass paperweights—but it's hard to get the light just right and I don't think they work very well. A good way to put it is that they're 50% useful and 50% annoying. I'll link to it because I used the image and fair's fair, but I can't quite imagine someone buying one and then being happy with me for getting them into it. As an alternative action plan, try this: first, put off buying it till tomorrow, and after that, forget about it altogether.  :-)

I have a 55mm f/1.2 Nikkor attached to one of these http://a.co/eWHm0Hj that makes an excellent light box loupe for 35mm film and occasionally I even use it to take pictures!

Original contents copyright 2018 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

Linen tester. A variation on the stand loupe is the linen tester, which I'm including here mainly because I like that name. It's a folding, open-sided stand loupe meant to inspect the thread-count of fabric. Most are of slightly lower magnification but better quality than a plastic-fantastic Kalt-type loupe. $9.

Tom Hassler: "This post made me grin. In 25+ years of large-format studio photography, we used magnifiers of all types for everything from close inspection of chromes and negs to verifying focus on 8x10 ground glasses. I still have a drawer full of them. The expensive ones were not always the best either. In the end my personal favorite was a small magnifying glass which (wait for it...) I wore on a string around my neck!

BTW many years ago linen testers were all the rage at Brooks Institute. They fit very nicely into a Tupperware box of film holders. When I gave my 4x5 gear to my son my trusty linen tester went with it.

I have a really nice "Sherlock Holmes" style magnifier that I've had for many years. Hmmm...I can't read the small print on it, however, so I guess I need another magnifier.

As far as safety goes, I keep a number of pairs of binoculars near windows for bird watching and am very careful to position them so they won't focus light on anything flammable while they're unattended.

Funny I went to read TOP with the Optivisor around my head (but flipped up) as I was working on my railroad models. It works really great, but notice that the versions with highest magnifications need you to bring the object quite close, certainly not comfortable for continuous reading.

Some years ago I bought a Pentax 5-11x Zoom Loupe. This was discontinued not long after I bought it. So although it was one of those spendy, unjustifiable purchases I was glad I bought it. I think of it as the Rolls Royce of loupes. Full disclosure: I've hardly ever used it.

I used a desk-mounted magnifying lamp for electronics hobby stuff for a while, but it was just too cheap to be any good. More recently, I discovered a 10x-20x zooming inspection microscope on a similar mounting, but with precision parts and an amazingly long focus distance. That was the same flea market where I found a genuine mid-40's 18K gold Jaeger-LeCoultre wristwatch, and got both for pennies on the dollar. But I have yet to install the thing (it's only been five years).

It may not ba available new anymore, but there once was an actual Leica option (search for Leica universal 5x loupe), a heavy glass and metal beast with a removable film holder. I actually bought one, mere months before my first DSLR. Oh well...

Mike, you already carry around a decent magnifier - your iphone. Swipe up from the home screen and select the magnifying glass icon. I use it all the time to read small print. In fact, I just used it this week to read the back of a button-type battery. It has the added benefit of being able to capture a screen grab of the magnified text. Handy when latering purchasing that replacement battery.

We accept returns of unopened items within 180 days for a full refund, minus shipping fees. To get your refund, send all the items you received back to our ...

Magnifying glass. The "iconic" (sorry, but think Sherlock Holmes) single-element, large field simple lens on a handle, usually 2X, that police inspectors in old movies and cartoons use to signify that they're busy inspecting. In real life, however, the classic magnifying glass is mainly used for reading. And killing ants on the sidewalk, an activity that's fun exactly once if you're not older than six (or are going to grow up to be a serial killer).

Tim Bradshaw: "I have the Peak 8x loupe which I can vouch for. I got it specifically for looking at 35mm negs and contact sheets, and it is ideal for both. I also have a linen tester, which I use to focus a large format camera: it's not better than the Peak loupe, except that it folds flat, which is quite nice."

The only lupe they listed in their catalog was a 7x "comparitor" style. It was cylindrical, adjustable focus, and had a clear base with a metal retainer for a reticle. The same was, at least for a time, sold under the Peak brand as well. I have one of these and its excellent though the field covered is rather narrow.

It's like you snatched this entry out of my brain. I don't have much trouble yet seeing small print, but yesterday I was trying to find the right electric cord for an amplifier, in a tangle of other cords. I didn't want to blow the damn thing up. The problem was, the specs on the back of the plug were in type so small that I don't think anyone could really read it. My only magnifier to hand was one of those long half-round things used to read lines of type on flat surfaces, but I couldn't get it to focus on the rounded electric plug. I'd also gotten one of those dome-shaped magnifiers as some kind of gift from a book store, and that was useless. The problem with those magnifiers that have stands like those old photo loupes or the linen tester is that they require the thing you're magnifying to be at a precise distance, and that's not always easy to do, especially with things that are not flat. The Sherlock Holmes device isn't bad; you can work with it. An illuminated one would be even better. Unfortunately, I have neither, but I do have a small pocket magnifier that comes in a leather cover, and that works okay. About medicine bottles -- some of them have necessary instructions in type so small that I think that few people could read them. I wonder if accidental misuse could then be a basis for a lawsuit?

It arises from the unequal magnification of the peripheral part of a lens (or a mirror) from that of its central part. In barrel distortion, image ...

Magnifying Glasswith Light canadian tire

Mike replies: That one's another classic, but expensive enough that it was predominantly used when somebody else was paying for it, e.g. in graphic arts departments.

The trouble with standard spectacles is that they only work for particular distances. I have a great optician who helped me out. I can see everything in pin sharp focus 4-5 point type to infinity with one custom made pair of these. https://www.zeiss.com/vision-care/en_us/better-vision/better-vision-with-zeiss/your-individualized-zeiss-lens/how-do-i-find-the-right-progressive-lenses.html

Judging by the case, it's probably made in the same Pacific-rim factory where all the other magnifiers are made. Not that that's a bad thing.

"Here's a little trick to make the 'plastic knuckle' loupe more usable: flip it around and put the 'wrong' end up to your eye. Move your subject closer or farther away until it appears sharp. Now, by moving around your head and/or the object being viewed, you can get sharp focus almost anywhere."

You forgot one that nearly everyone has with them these days. Get a magnifying app for you smartphone, and use that to read the fine print etc.

There's actually a good version, the Peak 8X stand loupe, for $49. If you want one, get that instead. I had a professor who wore one around his neck on a string.

Tom: "Deserving of an honourable mention is the Nikon magnifier, the staple of picture editors until the arrival of digital. It came complete with lanyard and the wise wore it around their neck to stop it walking. Mine also had my name painted on it in a belt and braces measure. It was properly 35mm shaped, unlike the linen tester. My personal watershed came when I found myself on the telephone to Apple support pointing out to the help that the engraved serial number on the back of my iPod, without which he would not help me, was too small to be visible to my then 40 year old eyes. Tail between my legs, I used a magnifying glass to read it over."

As far as the classic types like the one pictured above, I've found that 2X isn't very useful—too close to no magnification at all. I'd consider 3X to be the baseline for a reading glass. Here's a decent one of those for $11.50.

We are fortunate in Europe to have Eschenbach. A company specialising in good quality optics in magnification. as an optometrist I use them on a regular basis with my Low vision patients although your iPhone is one of the easiest mag devices ever thought of. Take a photo - pinch it -easy as pie. Many Mags these days are task specific (linens magnifier for thread viewing) so as long as you have a specific task in mind it’s an easy choice. Another option is the “mono mouse” a electronic device that plugs into a pc or tv and magnifies whoever and whatever you have in front of you and displays it on the screen. Very handy indeed....

I just use stronger reading glasses. Pretty much the same thing as the OptiVisor without all the bulk. I normally use 1.25 diopter for reading/computer, but have 1.5 and 2.5 diopter ones for closer work.

Are you gonna try to light your July 4th fireworks with your new Levenhuk Zeno 500? Reading, ants, fireworks. The possibilities boggle the imagination. I have a nice, rectangular magnifying glass with a handle. Like my cell phone, it seems to be on the other side of the house when I need it. When I read printed books these days, I have a head-band light I wear to help read. Strong light gives back a lot of my lost eye sight when trying to read small print. I keep the strap of it wrapped around the book I'm reading so it's always available for the task. While at the ophthalmologist yesterday, and looking for new frames, I also took time to admire the glasses cords/chains as a possible way to keep up with my glasses. I went with a basic black, fabric cord, instead of the "bling" like chains favored by high school librarians of my youth.

Being partially blind for all of my 57 years, I have some level of familiarity with hand magnifiers. Many of the ones mentioned are cute, but for actual, practical, everyday, constant use, I prefer the COIL 6x (20D) hand magnifier. It's got a single element, bi-aspheric acrylic lens. Mine lives in my pocket, gets pulled out constantly, scratched, dropped, and generally abused. It's a tool for me - but a very good one! You can pay twice as much through low vision suppliers, or you can go to AAA Industrial Supply (https://www.aaaindustrialsupply.com/coil5206handmagnifierwithbi-aspheric6xmagnification.aspx). For those of you who are encountering mildly impaired vision later in life, and don't need a magnifier small enough to fit in your pocket, COIL also offers 3x and 4x versions with a bigger lens. Good stuff!

If you want a very high-quality pocket loupe, there's a "Leica option" (I mean that like "a Rolls-Royce option," not something actually made by Leica): the lovely 7X Hastings Triplet (coated) made by Edmund Optics. Flat-field, corrected for three colors, and mm-mm good. $99. There are higher-power options available too.

robert e: "May I point out that your iPhone is a handy magnifier as well? Just call up the camera. Even my ancient 5c is around 2X at a couple of inches, I'd say, and of course you can snap a photo and zoom in and scroll around at your leisure. It also has a big advantage over old fashioned optics-only magnifiers in that, thanks to its picture-taking ability, it can see around corners, in crevices, and even behind things. And of course you can save the image for future reference. Other tricks: you can enhance the image for easier reading, do OCR, and translate text. I'm sure there's more I'm not thinking of. Of course, it's just plain fun to hold up a magnifying glass, and they do go better with pipes (the smoking kind)."

I am NOT saying that a high number of 5-star reviews on Amazon is necessarily fraudulent, but you might want to listen to the NPR Planet Money podcast No. 850, which is all about fake reviews on the interweb.

Mike replies: Thanks for the reminder. To enable the magnifier app on the iPhone, go to Settings > General > Accessibility, then toggle "Magnifier" to "On." to access it, triple-click the home button.

Perhaps a safety note may be appropriate, to remind potential users not to leave any of these where direct sunlight may fall on them - risk of burning things, or causing a fire, etc. That's one of the reasons that desktop magnifier has a cover, along with keeping the lens relatively free of dust... in my house.

If you want the finest possible loupe, and happen to have an old 50mm f/1.4 lens sitting around, and boy do I ever, congratulations you already own it.

Mike replied " I do vaguely remember that Nikon magnifier, but I can't find a picture of it online. Was it just like a linen tester, but with a 24x36mm opening?"

I’m 61 and have been having the same frustrating eyesight-related difficulties. Sometimes applying a very bright light source allows me to see small print unaided. The worst seems to be driving at night and trying to look at a dimly lit map. Yes, despite onboard nav, I still like checking the route on a paper map! I’ve solved my problem with a pair of folding 2X reading glasses. I’ve seen advertisements for some that fold up into a credit card sized case—very thin. That might assist in portability as I don’t need them very often but I do need to have them with me. I suppose eventually I’ll need to step up to 3X ...

A couple of days ago my 98year old mother in laws electronic desktop magnifier expired after 16 years of good service. This lead me to an internet shopping adventure searching for aids to the visually impaired. I found her several choices in a replacement but also learned about hand held electronic magnifiers. In some applications they might present a useful alternative to a conventional magnifying glass.

Adam Richardson: "I have a Mamiya 3.5X loupe that I originally got for looking at 645 transparencies. It's absolutely gorgeous—visually, optically, haptically. But a bit large and cumbersome for your average grab-and-read need. It's a shame I don't shoot transparency film any more as I rarely have a need to use such a wonderful object."

I have a (cheaper, fluorescent) version of the desktop light and it has been phenomenally useful for fixing stuff. Back when I used a DSLR, it needed occasional focus adjustment and without this lamp, I'm not sure I'd have managed it. For reading tiny text, I've mapped triple-click on the iPhone to the built-in magnifier. You can adjust the magnification strength and also force the torch on, which often helps, even in daylight.

My wife has solved this whole magnifier problem long ago; she hands tiny print stuff to me to read for her. (My near vision is eerily superb, nearly that of a microscope.)

I really need to go get my eyes checked and get a new prescription. Anyway, when I need to read tiny print (and my daughter isn't around to read it for me !) I use ... drumroll please ... my iPhone ! No app, just the stock camera.

electric field is defined as the direction of polarization). Most light sources in nature emit unpo- larized light i.e., light consists of many wave trains ...

Loupe. A "loupe" can be any eyepiece magnifier, but in photography and editing the baseline is a loupe like the dreaded Kalt 8X (above), a super-cheap plastic simple lens on a clear stand that is only sharp in the middle of its field. These were all over the place back in my student/teacher days, because they're cheap as chocolates and they serve, sorta kinda, for seeing if a B&W negative is sharp or if you've got the grain focused in a B&W print. They cost $9.50 so it doesn't matter too much if one falls behind the sink or wanders off in a student's backpack. I kinda have a genial low-lying loathing for these overly-familiar cheap-crap knuckles of plastic, so I'm not going to link to it. There are already enough of them in the world. We don't want to encourage their further proliferation.

GKFroehlich: "Very useful post, Mike, thanks! Of course, this one’s likely to cost me! If you find yourself needing higher magnification, you might consider this BelOMO 10x triplet. I’ve had mine for several years now, and have yet to see its equal. The field of view is pretty wide considering the magnification, there’s no perceptible distortion, and the image is sharp from edge to edge. In fact, I keep one in my car, one at my desk, and I carry one in the field."

I also use a Pentax Super Takumar screw-mount 50mm f/1.4. Very clear and sharp. But I find the Eschenbach clip-on magnifier even more useful for close work, as it's light and so easy to see past it to get a normal view of the surroundings. And thanks for the iPhone tip - it was news to me.

If you have an iPhone it has a built in magnifier. Once it’s turned on you just press the home button three times and there you are, a magnifier with adjustable magnification. Also has a built in light if you need it.

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Now that I've pasted the 2/3rd century milepost, I seem to have settled on two pet choices: 1. An ancient (real) Agfa Lupe, cheap enough to leave lying around. 2. A couple of pairs of dollar-store "reading" glasses. These are +1.5d and +3.5d and function well as more comfortable and compact replacements for the magnifier hood that seems to never be dragged out of the closet it inhabits.

Then we discuss solid-state lasers, how we categorize them, and details on the various sub-types we offer. Finally, we have a section dedicated to helping you ...

For small mechanical work, I have Bausch and Lomb eye loupes, in 4X, 7X and 10X, with head wires. I prefer them to the headband magnifier, since at such distances I lack binocular vision in any case.

William Schneider: "I have many of the magnifiers that you mentioned, but my favorite one dates back to my darkroom days. I continue to use it now for things requiring a bit more magnification than most magnifiers. It is an Edmund Deluxe 6X Wide Field Magnifier with two achromatic groups, and AR coated. It has a wide field of view and decent eye relief. I just looked on the Edmund Optics website and it is still available. It's hands-down my favorite, and I often wondered why I didn't see more of them around."

I need a magnifying glassfor reading

Mike replies: I do vaguely remember that Nikon magnifier, but I can't find a picture of it online. Was it just like a linen tester, but with a 24x36mm opening?

Michael Matthews: "Another purpose for the lens cover on that desktop magnifying lamp is to block sunlight. If you leave one uncovered in the path of direct sunlight and it happens to be in just the right spot you may be frying more than ants. I found that an old, circular Tupperware container top serves admirably for the magnifying lamp on my wife’s drafting table."

Once again I'm learning something new. I've never used loupes or magnifiers much and currently own a cheap plastic Waltex 2.5x-5x (Bifocal) and a dollar store 3.5x that’s shaped like a frog. Everyone seems to love the frog. Anyway, Wikipedia tells me that “The highest magnifying power (MP0 = (0.25 m)Φ + 1) is obtained by putting the lens very close to one eye and moving the eye and the lens together to obtain the best focus”. I’ve never used magnifiers that way. I’ve always put the magnifier close to the object and adjusted its distance to the object for focus. “The eye can then be a larger distance away, and a good image can be obtained very easily; the focus is not very sensitive to the eye's exact position. The magnifying power in this case is roughly MP = (0.25 m)Φ.”

Since the "L" word was mentioned, I thought I'd share this little jewel which was given to me by a Leica rep several years ago. 29mm dia x 20mm high and finished like a modern M lens:

I've had the Peak 8X since forever, along with a 10X Hastings Triplet my uncle gave me ages ago. Recently got the amazing SMC Pentax 5.5x, which is my fave for slides and negatives.

Allan Ostling: "The Hastings 7X Triplet looks like a fine product. Most magnifiers in that range are two-element lenses, which provide a good view with little fall-off of sharpness at the edges. The Hastings, with three elements, should be even better. The focal length of the Hastings is 40mm, and the objective diameter is listed as 0.875", or 22mm—it is therefore a 40mm ƒ/1.8 lens. You probably don't have one of these in your collection of unused lenses. But if you have a 50mm ƒ/1.4 laying around somewhere, you can use this as a 6X loupe, of very high quality. It would not be as convenient (or as powerful) as the Hastings, but for some, it will suffice."

I once left my Nikon S2 (rangefinder) on a window sill for a few minutes. After a trip to Marty Forscher’s shop for a new shutter curtain, all was well, and I learned a valuable lesson.

Mike replies: I used to keep a 50mm ƒ/1.4 Pentax Super-Multi-Coated Takumar (screwmount) around for that purpose. Wonder where that went? Pretty narrow field, though.

Or you could open the iPhone camera app and zoom. As long as there's enough light and you don't try to zoom too close it works good.

Mike replies: Yeah, this category is tough. And complicated by the fact that most magnifiers are tailored to various different purposes and uses. One that's perfect for one task might be fairly useless for another.

Only possible problem? Appearance. This would look fine in a utility room, on a garage or basement workbench, in a student dorm or study room, or any kind of workroom (or room at work); it's just that it might not be perfectly at home in the perfect home. You might not like this at the other end of the table from your reproduction Louis Tiffany, or clamped to the edge of your beautiful solid walnut leather-top desk.

I once worked for a company that made electro-mechanical chart recorders and printers. About half of the engineers had desktop magnifying lamps in their work areas. This may be why none had solid walnut leather-top desks.

I have various loupes for photographic reasons, and I too suffer from degraded eyesight, but my often-used solution is to resort to my smartphone. Sounds clunky I know, but it works

There's a loupe/magnifier mode in the iPhone (and possibly others). It uses its camera to digitally restrict the FOV thus magnifying the image. It also illuminates the object in dark surroundings. Click the Home button 3 times (quickly).

Mike replies: Was the Mamiya originally made by a company called "Cabin"? That's how the boxes were marked anyway, once upon a time. The earlier version was 3X and the later, 3.5X. Like the Pentax 5.5X, you can still find these on eBay.