Talk:Loupe

Loupe vs. Magnifying Glass
The difference between a loupe and and magnifying glass should be mentioned. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.193.129.99 (talk) 03:02, 20 January 2008 (UTC)

watchmakers, soldering surface mount components, etc. — Omegatron 06:48, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

The definition of "Loupe" is worded kind of strangely... D. Guinness 02:24, 14 October 2007 (UTC)

I would say it is grotesque. It should be changed to this to conform with the usual rules of syntax and grammar -

A loupe (pronounced loop), is a type of magnification device used to see more closely things one is looking at. In this respect, a loupe is a form of a modified microscope, allowing the user to be able to apply the phenomena of microscopy to his or her trade. Andrew Smith April 1009

A discussions of types of loupes based on differing optics would be helpful. For example, Hastings triplets, etc. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 52.129.8.50 (talk) 20:42, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

Please correct the spelling of "jewelry." It's misspelled throughtout the article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.234.37.148 (talk) 02:58, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

Types of loupes explanation needed
So far I have been able to identify a few basic types of loupes:

Handheld loupe
Like the kind already depicted, which is always called simply a "loupe, or some other name with the word "loupe" in it. The names "jeweler's loupe" and "jeweller's loupe", usually (but not always!) means this type of loupe. See google images:

Eye loupe
Fits in the eye orbit and is held by the skin of the brow and the cheek. Also called all the same names that a handheld loupe is called, but the name "watchmaker's loupe" seems to almost always refer to this type. See google images:

Eyeglass loupe
Attaches to corrective glasses, and contains one or more lenses that swing in and out of view. Each lens can be used individually or in combination with the other lenses.

Binocular loupes
This is the least defined category, and includes pretty much anything with stereo vision. The kind referred to almost exclusively as a "binocular loupe" is mountable to any sort of headgear you choose, usually safety eyewear or corrective glasses, but obviously can also mean any other loupe that supplies stereo (binocular) vision. The visor loupe is a shaded visor with magnifier for each eye in one unit at the front brim of the visor. A headband loupe is usually too heavy to mount to common user-supplied eyewear, and comes with it's own head mounting system. These are often referred to using the names "medical loupe", "dental loupe", etc. I'm sure this category of binocular loupes I've made here can be arranged a bit better.
 * Binocular loupe
 * Visor loupe
 * Headband loupe

Table top loupe
These can be stereo, but usually are not (stereo "microscopes" of low power dominate that category by far). They're not even called loupes if they're of the cheap quality used in toys or for reading. Nearly all the examples I was able to find are produced for the photography market, and are called a "photography loupe" (see below). A few are used in entomology (or as toys for children), and have a clear shroud that both traps an insect, and puts the loupe lens at the correct distance for viewing. Most of the photographic versions intended for viewing film and slides have a similar shroud, but obviously not for the purpose of trapping bugs.

Photography loupe
Usually used on the flat surface of a table top, but is usually as small as a handheld loupe, and may be designed to wear around the neck, possibly for handheld use. They're used to examine film, slides, etc. A "sensor loupe" is lighted, and is meant to be placed on a digital camera's body to examine the camera's sensor for cleaning.

The one thing everything with the word "loupe" in its name has in common is that it is made to serve as a professional tool, with high grade and/or multiple element optics that are more expensive than any common single lens found in items called "magnifiers". I'm not counting the under $5 knockoffs that are simply small magnifiers in a handheld loupe style case. Most of them are 10X power or lower, with a few that go as high as 20X. A real 30X "loupe" is very rare, since most portable optics marketed with that power are called microscopes. Cheap knockoffs claiming to be 30X are common, however, especially in bulk quantities for under $5.

Qwasty (talk) 12:33, 15 August 2010 (UTC)


 * I would note one whole design has been totally missed in the article. "Binocular loupes" are generally Galilean binoculars. Fountains of Bryn Mawr (talk) 12:57, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

Vandalism
"jewel looking at thingie" -- seriously? can we come up with a better title than that? 72.95.110.245 (talk) 19:50, 14 August 2011 (UTC)
 * It was vandalism. Fixed. ( Hohum  @ ) 21:19, 14 August 2011 (UTC)

What's a loupe? – eye relief
Is there any sourceable distinction as to what makes a "loupe", as distinct from other magnifiers. In particular, I'm thinking about focal distance and eye relief.

IMHO, a loupe is a fairly simple magnifier (either one lens or telescope) that is held near to the eye. It's focal distance varies by application, but can be quite long. Jeweller's loupes are high magnification and so have a short focal distance, because this is easiest to make and isn't inconvenient. Surgical loupes are telescopes with a long focal distance, but are still loupes (and expensive).

What a loupe doesn't have (and so magnifiers that do this aren't loupes) is long eye relief. A loupe is rarely placed on top of the material being viewed and, when they are, the eye is still placed just above the loupe. There are many magnifiers out there from "table magnifiers" to linen testers that thus aren't loupes.

Any thoughts? Good sourceable definitions? Andy Dingley (talk) 13:05, 14 January 2013 (UTC)

Not used in electronics
As far as I know, loupes are only rarely used in electronics assembly for PCB inspection and rework, by engineers or anyone. Certainly not inspecting a board within an inch of your face (and greasy nose), or rework (soldering) millimetres from your eyes. We use microscopes, arm-mounted magnifiers, sometimes head-mounted magnifiers resembling reading glasses more than surgical loupes, or video magnifiers, all generally with a wide enough field of view to allow rapid and unobstructed work. Assembly is done by machines which have their own magnified vision systems. Loupes are handy and portable for some applications (like looking at individual components or wire ends), but very optional. The article is correct that magnification is required these days, not so much for assembly (if you can see a grain of sand you know it's there), but inspection (soldering, orientation, markings). Surgical or dental loupes could be very useful (which is how I got here), so I thought I'd just comment here and leave the article alone for now. Adx (talk) 11:40, 25 March 2018 (UTC)
 * I agree. I occasionally worked debugging prototype surface-mount boards, and usually used a specialised microscope. A loupe could be useful for identifying small parts and checking for solder bridges. I wouldn't want to solder using a jeweller's loupe, but it would probably be possible using a dentist's or surgeon's loupe which allow you to be further from the object. I think the current text is ok, but I will change 'essential'. Verbcatcher (talk) 05:05, 5 August 2018 (UTC)

Article topic / definition of "Loupe"


I partially reverted some changes by Chiswick Chap just now. The topic of this article is magnifiers (generally high-powered) that are designed to be held or worn close to the eye. At least in American english, these devices are called loupes. Not all loupes are designed to be "worn on the head". The removal of mention of the jewellery trade was particularly puzzling to me, since "jeweller's loupes" are the best-known type of loupe. I'm suspecting that this is a British vs American english issue.--Srleffler (talk) 03:12, 14 September 2021 (UTC)


 * There may be a BE/AE thingy, but key issue is overlap ie WP:FORK of Magnifying glass / Hand lens. Do we want 1 2, or 3 articles on these? The fork can be resolved in different ways but leaving it in place isn't a good answer. I've adjusted the image caption to make this clear. All the best Chiswick Chap (talk) 04:24, 14 September 2021 (UTC)
 * It seems that much of the overlap is being created by the insertion of the term "hand lens" in both articles. Personally, I have no idea what a "hand lens" is, and don't care unless a reliable source provides a definition. A Hastings triplet magnifier is not a magnifying glass. These are two different optical devices. It doesn't matter whether it is designed to be held on the hand or "worn on the head"; it's the same optical device either way...a loupe.--Srleffler (talk) 03:10, 17 September 2021 (UTC)

Other Collectors
In contrast to the paragraph about numismatics, are the use of Loupes by other kinds of collectors worth noting? There are certainly countless potential uses in the inspection of things like antiques, so an exhaustive list isn't desirable, but a more specific example would be Trading Cards. I can think of at least one Games shop that had a loupe on hand in the event an appropriately rare card was offered to them. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 131.96.223.3 (talk) 15:52, 14 November 2023 (UTC)