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Because of convenience, price, and portability, the loupe is probably the most commonly used tool by gemologists and jewelers. Most loupes offer magnification of 10x but, 20x models are also available. 10x is usually enough to judge clarity and cutting but it may not provide enough magnification for positive gem identification.
Lenses of many diameters and many magnifications are used in jeweler’s loupes. The best of these are triplets corrected for spherical and chromatic aberration. The correction places the entire field in focus at once and eliminates the confusing color fringe visible around magnified objects seen thru an uncorrected loupe. The wider the field of a 10 power loupe, the more light it transmits to the eye thus increasing its usefulness. |
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