The Optical Swiss Army Knife
The loupe (a small powerful magnifier) http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9429&highlight=loupe is a popular and cheap tool amongst bush craft people. You can check knife bevels, study nature in more detail, examine proof marks on sporting arms, etc. For something that costs a fiver and fits in a pocket it’s well worth having.
Recently I found something rather better: the Emoscop.
Most people have heard of the German optical company Leica - they make arguably the world’s best cameras and binoculars. Their chief optical designer was Arthur Seibert ‘the Wizard of Wetzlar’, who left the company in 1948 to start up on his own.
Seibert’s idea was to produce an optical tool that is a loupe, a microscope, a monocular and a macro camera lens, all in one. He called it the Emoscop. It’s about 4cm long and comes in a natty leather case.
The device beaks down into three parts. The bottom lens is a 10x loupe. The middle lens is a 5x loupe. Screw them together and you have a 15x loupe. Add the top eyepiece and you have a 25x microscope. Remove the bottom lens and you have a 2.5x monocular, which will focus from infinity to very close distances (about 20cm!)
I’ve also heard of people using them as macro lenses for camera, reading microfilm, etc.
It’s made in Germany and the optics and engineering are Leica quality as you would expect.
The main problem is getting hold of one. They are still being manufactured, but in China. I’m told the optical quality is good, but the housings are now plastic, not metal. http://www.emoscop.com/ At 48USD I would have bought one if I lived in the US. However, tax and shipping drove me to international eBay, where I bought an original German one for a tenner - £40-£60 is more typical though.
A loupe is much easier and cheaper to get hold of, and is an extremely useful instrument. But if you are into natural history or geology then making the effort to find an Emoscop is well worthwhile.
http://www.monocular.info/emoskope.htm
http://www.submin.com/binocular/index.htm
The loupe (a small powerful magnifier) http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9429&highlight=loupe is a popular and cheap tool amongst bush craft people. You can check knife bevels, study nature in more detail, examine proof marks on sporting arms, etc. For something that costs a fiver and fits in a pocket it’s well worth having.
Recently I found something rather better: the Emoscop.
Most people have heard of the German optical company Leica - they make arguably the world’s best cameras and binoculars. Their chief optical designer was Arthur Seibert ‘the Wizard of Wetzlar’, who left the company in 1948 to start up on his own.
Seibert’s idea was to produce an optical tool that is a loupe, a microscope, a monocular and a macro camera lens, all in one. He called it the Emoscop. It’s about 4cm long and comes in a natty leather case.
The device beaks down into three parts. The bottom lens is a 10x loupe. The middle lens is a 5x loupe. Screw them together and you have a 15x loupe. Add the top eyepiece and you have a 25x microscope. Remove the bottom lens and you have a 2.5x monocular, which will focus from infinity to very close distances (about 20cm!)
I’ve also heard of people using them as macro lenses for camera, reading microfilm, etc.
It’s made in Germany and the optics and engineering are Leica quality as you would expect.
The main problem is getting hold of one. They are still being manufactured, but in China. I’m told the optical quality is good, but the housings are now plastic, not metal. http://www.emoscop.com/ At 48USD I would have bought one if I lived in the US. However, tax and shipping drove me to international eBay, where I bought an original German one for a tenner - £40-£60 is more typical though.
A loupe is much easier and cheaper to get hold of, and is an extremely useful instrument. But if you are into natural history or geology then making the effort to find an Emoscop is well worthwhile.
http://www.monocular.info/emoskope.htm
http://www.submin.com/binocular/index.htm
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thank you.
I've no idea how old it is but the boat was built in the late 1940's and the loupe's been beside it ever since.
for the heads up, I'm off to search the world's auction sites now.
