Emoscop as loupe

Jason,

Yes, Emoscop is great for viewing slides and negatives, in 25x mode you can view slide for finest details at comfortable distance

from the slide with no fear of accidentally scratching the slide.

If you use ordinary 25x loupe, the viewing distance will be too close

to the slide.

<p> I have collected several Emoscops, the original made in

Germany all metal Emoskop Seibert, made in Germany Emoscop SM

and Havershill Emoscop. For more on Emoscop and Octoscope see

<p>

<a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EMO-users/">EMO user group</a>

I have an article at Minox Photography forum:

<a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=003HX0">

Wizard of

Wetzlar, Arthur Seibert</a>

<p> Arthur Seibert was the designer of Emoscop, Octoscop, Macromax 5x loupe(now Leica 5x loupe) and the famous COMPLAN lens on Minox spy cameras.

Get a real loupe. The repro emoscops are junk; I know because I made the mistake of buying one online (it's not the kind of thing you will

easily find at your local pro store).

Afaik, all users of Emoscop are quite satisfied at its performance

<a href="http://zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/archives/1998/msg17136.html">

a post about Emoscop at Zuiko list </a>

<p> Chris, what problem have you encounter, which combination gave

you problem and where did you buy the gadget from ?

<a href="http://www.micromineral.org/micromontage.html">Emosocope is

popular in mineralogy</a>

There is another loupe by EMO Wetzlar

<a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=003HXc">

EMO Octoscope </a>

<p> I have collected three emoscopes: the orignal EMO Seibert Wetzlar

all metal Emoskop, made in Germany Emoscop SM and Havershill Episcope

(not as good as the german made ones )

<p> I also have an Octoscope, which is harder to find these days

I have the EmoScop brand version available online at www.emoscop.com.

It is made in China. My impression is that it is a clever toy, but that is about all. Supposedly it is a telescope, magnifier loupe and microscope, depending on its configuration. In my use, the function that is best served is that of the loupe, because that is the only function that does not require a combination of the two longer barrels. My observation is that the loupe optics are at best fair and do not provide good edge-to-edge sharpness the way a dedicted loupe will. The lack of consistent collimation of the front and back barrel segments, because of the split barrel and wobbliness of the design make the emoscop practically useless as either a telescope or microscope. A cheap compact binocular or dedicated monocular would be better. On balance, for $40 you shouldn't expect

too much, but for that price you can get a better loupe than the Emoscop.

I cannot comment on the made in China Emoscop, because I don't have one. <p>

However, from the response of very knowledgeable people who bought the emoscop.com product, they are quite happy with it. <p> The made in Germany Emoskop Seibert and Emoscop SM both

work well as a microscope--- one of the best hand held 30x microscope

available on the market. AFAIK, there isn't any other loupe which has 30x magnification.

<p> One great advantage of Emoscop is its greater working distance.

<p> The front element of Emoscop at 25x has a distance of 25mm from the slide.

<p> A 22x peak loupe has a working distance of only 5mm, almost touching the slide.

<p> AS for the 2.5x - 3x mini telescope-- it has two unique features:

<ol><li>It is the smallest telescope

<li>

it focus as close as 6"-- AFAIK, there isn't any telescope focus

that close.</ol>

<p> If you want a "real" loup, the best one is the 5x loupe offered

by Leica. This Leica loupe was former Macromax of EMO-Optik

What other people think about the emoscop.com Emoscope<p>

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EMO-users/message/86

<p>The Emoscop.com Emoscop was designed in Germany and made in

China with machines imported from Germany.<p> From the response I saw,

the Emoscop.com Emoscop is of the same quality as the made in

Germany Emoscop, at 1/4 the price. Last year a made in Germany

Emoscop cost about US$120 on the web.

<p>

Emoscope has being around for a long time. Some veteran photographer

remembered an article written by Herbert Keppler of Modern Photography

about Emoscop. <p>

Keppler called Emoscope the only magnifier worthy of the name.

<p>http://www.submini.org/aol/2000/log0005d.txt

<h3> Very fine high-quality optics </h3>

Quote from Morris Moses and John Wade: Spycamera the Minox Story, Hove Collector Books.

<p> "Seibert went on to found EMO-OPTIC-Arthur Wetzlar in 1951, a firm

know to this day for its very fine high quality optics, including the

Octoscope 8 combination pocket magnifier (2x to 28x) , the Emoscop pocket size telescope, magnifier, microscope combination... and the

Macromax 5x"

<p> Chis, your "junk" statement is incorrect. I don't think you know

very well how the Emoscop works

Martin, you seem to be taking this personally. My observations are

based on my own use of this instrument in the model that is generally available. Testimonials are nice, but in the end are not worth more

than any other anecdotal evidence. My comparisons are based on my experience with other instruments I own and use: Schneider 6xASPH loupes, a Fujinon 4x loupe, Swarovski 10x25 binoculars, Leica bins, Pentax spotting scopes, and in my opinion, the Emoscop can't hold a candle to any of them. Nor should it: it looks and performs like a toy. For $40, what can you expect?

To the original poster, I can only say that I have viewed transparencies with the Emopscop and if you are concerned about quality viewing of a transparency, get a real loupe.

Chris, it all depend on what your standards are

6x loupe are nice to "view" slides.

But they are absolutely useless in critical viewing. They are just toys: How much detail

you can get from a 6x loupe ??

<p> A slide made from Summicron 50/1.4 resolves about 95 line pair/mm<p> Since human eyes resolves only 4 lpmm, you need a magnifier of about

25x to be able to decern the critical detail

<p> With a loupe of 6x, you can see only details of 24 lpmm. It is a joke. Nothing more than an expensive toys. They look expensive,

but perform like toys.

<p> So to the orginal poster, if you want to look a Lomo slide, get

Chris's loupe, which no matter how expensive, are just toys.

<p> If you want to be able to critically check the sharpness of slides

get a real loupe--- the only magnifier worthy of the name Emoscop.

<p>

<h3> Amazing digital macro photography with Emoscop </h3>

<a href="http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artjun01/dwemo.html">Trial with an Emoscop on digital camera </a>

A couple of comments:

Martin, thank you for your information about the emoscope, it is really invaluable.

That said, I would think that it is always good to hear from someone with a different viewpoint, e.g., Chris Henry.

That brings me to my question regarding using the emoscope as a loup.

Were you aware that there is a buy two get one free promotion in Time magazine (at least I think it is the same emoscope, I was reading it in a waiting room and do not actually have a copy of the ad)?

I was actually thinking about getting three to use as field loups/microscopes/telescopes for prospecting and mineral identification in the field.

Do you guys think they will stand up to field conditions or be useful for that purpose?

I was mainly fascinated with the idea of a telescope/microscope/loupe one could put in a pocket. I think you can imagine how this would be handy for prospecting and mineral identification.

As you say, for $50 or $60 ($58 for the 3x SME at emoscop.com) you don't expect too much--on the other hand, no one wants to spend $180 for things that will ultimately be ill-suited to be actually useful in the field.

Thanks,

-Kay Otani