What is magnification?

You probably have an innate understanding of magnification, a magnifier makes things look bigger right? Yes, absolutely, but how does that work? A simple optical magnifier uses a lens to bend light and create a magnified image of an object. Not all magnifiers are created equal though. The quality and type of lens changes the image you will see and the power alters how big your subject will be.

So what power is the magnifier you have in your desk drawer? There are two standard ways to measure the power of a magnifier. One is called times and the other is dioptre. Times (X) is a measure of the enlargement of the image. If a magnifier is a 3 times the image will be 3 times larger than the original.

 

Dioptre is a measurement of the strength of the lens. If you go to the chemist and buy a ready made pair of glasses they will be marked in dioptre, which is not the same as times. A ready made pair of glasses would have to be 16 dioptre in order to make the image 4 times bigger.

All of our Eschenbach magnifiers have markings on them with both the magnification/times (X) and dioptre (D). For example an Eschenbach magnifier with '3X 12D' on it, has 3X magnification and a 12 dioptre lens. 

We hope this was a helpful summary of magnification, please reach out if you have any questions.