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Blind and Visually Impaired Community

Full History - 2014 - 10 - 06 - ID#2ih2ac
3
Magnifier tools (self.Blind)
submitted 8y ago by artsyfartsy-fosho
My wife has stargardt's and currently uses a jeweler's loupe at 20x to aid in reading small text. I've looked around online trying to find something more like a standard sized handheld that is 20x entirely (not just in the tiny portion of it). Does anyone have any suggestions for websites or can point me in the right direction? Has anyone had any custom magnifiers made before?
jogajaja 2 points
I usually go to the Maxiaids website to get stuff for my students. However, I just looked through there and didn't find much besides loupes that had a 20x magnification. I found some handhelds that went up to 16x, but that was about it. You may find something there though.
artsyfartsy-fosho [OP] 1 points
cool! Thanks for the website suggestion. Some of the other ones i've looked at from google look questionable
foxytit 1 points
20x?!! Are you sure she's using a true 20x loupe? If you picked up a cheap loupe online, chances are, it's not a 20x. For instance: http://www.amazon.com/SE-Loupe-LED-Illuminated-21mm/dp/B0013E3DAG => advertised to be 20x, but turns out to be ~5.5x.

I would recommend first figuring out the minimum magnification power your wife needs to read small text. Reason: There is an inverse relationship between magnification power, and depth of field and field of view. Meaning, there is no 20x magnifier that can give you a huge field of view (I have a true 20x, and dear god, it is useless to me since it can only view about 1 character at a time).

Here's an example of the tradeoff: I own several Donegan OptiVISOR headband magnifiers. At first, I ordered their most powerful model, the 3.5x. The 3.5x has a focal length of 4", and a depth of field of about 1". This means, in order for me to have a clear image of what I'm observing, I need to make sure I maintain a 3" to 5" distance between the lens and the item under observation; it was just exhausting.

After trial and error, I ended up with the the 1.75x. It has a focal length of 14", and a depth of field of about 4". Which means, I can keep the item under observation at a distance of 10" - 18", which is much more forgiving.

In case you're interested in the headband magnifier: http://www.amazon.com/Donegan-OptiVisor-Headband-Magnifier-Magnification/dp/B0068OSIIS/
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