hello people, i have started my course on tools for gemology i am a total newby, can you tell me what microscope would be the best buy and not to expensive, that would be suitable for gemology? i want to look at inclusions and gemstone crystal structure, what do you recommend?
Hi Rosemary,
Look up on ebay with the following words " AmScope Gem Microscope"
Is similar to what Gem-A givesto their students, but please do not count me on the quality of it, have never bought it, but for inclusions you need a darkfeld illumination.
for taking pictures, just take them with you smartphone that has a good camera likr iphone 10 or better … gives much better pictures than most microscope cameras unless they are extremely expensive
Hi Philip thank you so much for the reply, i have looked on eBay as you suggested and found it, i will take your advice and i have put it in my shopping basket, it will be my birthday present form me to me, via your help. i hope to share some photos with you warmest regards Rosemary
I would suggest, Rosemary, that you look into AmScope’s line of microscopes. They have a series of Metallurgical/Polarized scopes that would fit the bill. These can be expensive, as the one I’ve using for the past 10 years, was retailing @ $27,000.00.
You may not have the Rubles for something like this, so I would recommend the “student models.” Even with this, you are likely to experience that all things wear out. The circuit board on my AmScope fried after 10 years, and there are no replacement parts. What a waste of good optics!
My Best wishes on your purchase;
Steve
Hello Steve thank you sooo much for the help, it is a difficult subject to find out about,as a newby i am hoping to buy the equipment needed to fully enjoy this new hobby, i need to get a good polariscope, and the microscope, i have a loupe and a Chelsea filter and a jadeite filter also a dichroscope, there is so much that i need to learn about,
my top priority is a good microscope that will allow me to see inside the gem and look at the most beautiful and quite truthfully amazing world if inclusions each gem has its own unique inner world that most do not know about, i want to learn about it and understand it lol, sorry for my rambling reply take care many thanks Rosemary