GIA Introduces Industry's First All-Digital-Circuitry Microscope
March 23, 04
The GIA’s debuted at the AGTA GemFair last February a new digital-circuitry microscope featuring like solid-state digitally controlled lighting for improved contrast and clarity, improved focal optics, and an overall user-friendly and stream-lined design.
 GIA’s new digital-circuitry microscope |
The microscope is the result of a collaborative effort between GIA Gem Instruments, GIA Education, and the GIA Gem Laboratory. Experts from these departments evaluated current gemological microscopes, devised a list of requirements for an advanced microscope, and also canvassed experienced Graduate Gemologists and scientists for input on the improved features they wished to see in a new microscope.
GIA President William E. Boyajian says that while it ultimately will be used in the gem lab, it is a vital tool for anyone who uses microscopes on a daily basis.
“The new microscope is a fine example of what can be created when great minds and the latest technology converge to produce a superior instrument,” Boyajian said.
According to Howard Pomerantz, executive director of GIA Gem Instruments, the new digital-circuitry microscope provides the highest quality illumination with the largest field of view possible of any microscope ever made. It also produces an even light stream for more efficient examination of gemstones and their characteristic inclusions.
“It's much easier to examine a diamond when you can see more of it in your field of view,” said Phil Yantzer, director of GIA's West Coast Grading Laboratory. “It enables you to evaluate all of its characteristics in one shot”.
The microscope's developers also considered the users' comfort. Adjustable base risers allow the microscope's height to be customized to promote proper head-and-neck positioning. An increase in stage size provides a larger working area and arm rests. The eye pieces, which feature adjustable eyeguards, have been enlarged and are set at a 38-degree viewing angle for ideal posture. And the new fixed power cord provides greater ease of use by enabling the unit to rotate without interfering with the microscope.