Certainly the gemological microscope is one of the most important gemological instruments and many gemologists find themselves lusting for a high quality, high resolution microscope sometime in their careers. Binocular microscopes from Zeiss, Leitz and Wild are usually the most sought after and in many cases an older unit that was produced in Germany and Switzerland before production was outsourced to Asia, has the best optics and build quality. On the second tier older Nikon scopes, Olympus & Meiji scopes of any age followed by the less expensive binocular units from Bausch & Lomb and American Optical round out the most common microscopes on a wish lists.

It is remarkable to me that someone will spend several thousand dollars on a high quality microscope and then set up a jury rigged illumination system with a fiber optic ringlight or other set-up. Listen carefully, “In gemology there is no substitute for a high quality darkfield/brightfield illuminator made specifically for a gemological microscope.” Please note that all darkfield illumination systems are NOT created equal. Most darkfield set-ups are for biological slides and are nearly useless for gemology.

The difference between a microscope with mediocre optics and one with superior optics is not always obvious - but the difference between a good darkfield illumination system and a poor one is hugely apparent.

The GIA gemscopes, the Meiji gemscopes as well as the European offerings from Krüss and Eickhorst as well as the less expensive GemOro scopes all have decent darkfield illumination systems but retrofitting higher quality optic heads is not always easy.

I am a big fan of Jeff Wildman’s Gemology Pro base. It is absolutely superior in all respects to anything else that I’ve encountered. Jeff offers quality optics that can be fit to his base at a reasonable cost and if you’ve picked up a Wild 420 or a Zeiss Stemi he can fit your optics to his base.

Please note: I have no commercial interest in the Gemology Pro products.