Loupe and closing one eye-Updated story p3

coinkat

I am not going to do a poll on this just yet- How many collectors out there use a loupe and close the other eye?

Who leaves their other eye open?


edited to add: See my story on p3

gsaguy

Always close one. Try to make myself shoot doves with both eyes open and just can't do it. Bet I'd be a better shot with a shotgun too.

bfjohnson

Yep close one eye and do it also with the rifle scope although I'm trying not to.

PerryHall

I leave both eyes open just like when using iron sights on a firearm.

19Lyds

I keep one eye closed to keep it from wandering around the room looking for purty girls!

jhdfla

Both wide open... but I have to take my glasses off.

coinkat

I appreciate the responses thus far and I will share a story as to why I even asked this

Thanks

crazyhounddog

With some of the coins I've bought, I think I had both eyes closed... I close one eye..

DoubleEagle59

both eyes open.

kurtdog

<< <i>I appreciate the responses thus far and I will share a story as to why I even asked this

Thanks >>



Please do so, I have an inquiring mind...

Count me on the side of both eyes open (looking through left, FWIW).

mozin

I keep both eyes open, but I place the lens close to the coin, not my $800 eyeglasses. Anyone else do it this way?

llafoe

I also place the loupe near the coin (it may have something to do with me holding a book a foot away to read it too)!

I used to shoot with one eye closed until I joined the military. Having the field of vision from the second eye can add many, many years to your life span!

lkeigwin

For some coins I bought years ago I'm sure I was using both eyes closed.
Lance.

kaz

Like most people, I'm right eye dominant, so I look through the loupe with the R. eye, my brain just 'forgets' the left eye is still open.

Bear

I usually close both eyes.

habaraca

both open loupe about middle from eye to coin

yellowkid

In the "old Corps" we target shot or sniped with one eye closed, I don't know how well you would do from the 500 yard line with both open. That plinking with both eyes open came a little later, probably with the m16 and "spray and pray." I use a loupe with both eyes open, and bring the piece up to the loupe.

messydesk

Both open. I actually had to check just now, because I really don't think about it.

breakdown

Left eye open. Right eye closed.

InternetJunky

Left eye closed right open

BigOrange13

right eye open, left eye closed, loupe close to my eye

thatoneguy

To tell the honest truth, I've never even looked through a loupe before, let alone touch one.

Longacre

With both eyes open, like with a lot of things that Longacre does.

llafoe

<< <i>In the "old Corps" we target shot or sniped with one eye closed, I don't know how well you would do from the 500 yard line with both open. That plinking with both eyes open came a little later, probably with the m16 and "spray and pray." I use a loupe with both eyes open, and bring the piece up to the loupe. >>



We still qualify and snipe (optics) with one eye closed. Regretfully, today's warfare is urban, close-up and fast... my right eye looks through the sight and my left eye looks everywhere else... my brain does the rest. If you miss a target, your beneficiary gets $400,000.

ricko

Through a loupe, one eye closed. Through a scope or with pistol/rifle sights, both eyes open. Cheers, RickO

etexmike

Both eyes open for me.


Mike

PerryHall

<< <i>To tell the honest truth, I've never even looked through a loupe before, let alone touch one. >>



Huh? Why not? A loupe is a basic piece of equipment that every coin collector should own and use.

seanq

<< <i>right eye open, left eye closed, loupe close to my eye >>




...though I will cop to grabbing my loupe to double-check.


Sean Reynolds

Staircoins

<< <i>Through a loupe, one eye closed. Through a scope or with pistol/rifle sights, both eyes open. Cheers, RickO >>


Same here.

bushmaster8

<< <i>I keep both eyes open, but I place the lens close to the coin, not my $800 eyeglasses. Anyone else do it this way? >>



They (optics manufacturers) recommend having the magnifying lens equidistant from the object being examined and your eye.

In other words if you have to hold your loupe 3" from the coin to bring it in focus, then you should have your eye 3" from the lens as well.

johnny9434

left eye open right eye closed. yes i do know where my firearm is as well

Steve27

<< <i>

<< <i>I keep both eyes open, but I place the lens close to the coin, not my $800 eyeglasses. Anyone else do it this way? >>



They (optics manufacturers) recommend having the magnifying lens equidistant from the object being examined and your eye.

In other words if you have to hold your loupe 3" from the coin to bring it in focus, then you should have your eye 3" from the lens as well. >>




Interesting, I'll have to try it that way.

renomedphys

Both eyes closed. Third eye open. Loupe levitating between coin and zenith of awareness.

garrynot

Interesting answers, when I learned how to shoot, I discovered my left eye was stronger than my right. I also learned to keep both eyes open. So I use my left eye and keep both eyes open. Things never change...

yellowkid

<< <i>Both eyes closed. Third eye open. Loupe levitating between coin and zenith of awareness. >>



That is good!

RichR

I use one open and one closed...but as I'm getting older, I'm not sure which one will be the "good" eye on any given day.

But I do know that one day my arm might not be long enough for me to adjust the focus enough!!!

lcoopie

<< <i>

<< <i>I keep both eyes open, but I place the lens close to the coin, not my $800 eyeglasses. Anyone else do it this way? >>



They (optics manufacturers) recommend having the magnifying lens equidistant from the object being examined and your eye.

In other words if you have to hold your loupe 3" from the coin to bring it in focus, then you should have your eye 3" from the lens as well. >>



interesting,
I put the loupe up to my eye, and thought everyone did.



One eye for me.

mdwoods

I got mugged and hit in the head and all they took was my loupe. "Yes, it's true, I was knocked for a loupe"

RWB

I have this same problem with every cantaloupe – have to close one eye so it doesn’t get squirted by cantaloupe juice. It can take a while to decide which eye to close.

However, I prefer to go into a coin deal with both eyes open, so never eat cantaloupe at a coin show.

zas107

I leave both eyes open.

cmerlo1

Both open. I shoot and hunt, and do the same with guns...

morgandollar1878

See below in sigline.

grip

A scope and trypod.How can you miss

coinkat

Thanks for the responses- now for my story- tough to believe but true...

I have been criticized for using a strong loupe- and I am okay with that criticism because I like what I use- and it seems to work for me. I have never been criticized for how I use it...until recently

I was instructed on how to use a loupe and was told that both eyes should remain open. I was told closing one eye or squinting can cause an issue with how the image is processed and ultimately there could be a descrepancy in what is seen and what is actually there. In other words... you may not be buying the coin you think you are based upon how images are processed.

I know today is April fools day- this event happened well in advance of this so this is not a prank or a joke. Before I lashed out saying this was complete nonsense, I decided to say nothing mainly because I thought remaining polite was the better course of action. And now that I think about it- perhaps others should think about how they look at coins and whether there is something to this.

I know we have some medical experts here that may be able to shed some light on this...

BigE

<< <i>

<< <i>To tell the honest truth, I've never even looked through a loupe before, let alone touch one. >>



Huh? Why not? A loupe is a basic piece of equipment that every coin collector should own and use. >>



I never use one either. I hold the coin way up close and see all the detail I need to see. When I went in for new glasses(I am so near-sighted it is scary, coke bottle lenses even though I get the slim ones) the optometrist told me my eyes magnify close up. She has never seen anything like it. Made me decide not to have lasik surgery--------------BigE

RWB

Da oblivious solution is to close both eyez....what are youze looking for anyway? It's been graded and checked and cataloged and photo’ed by a pile of experts, so the pile must be right. Right? Right! Ya got to trust 'em -- just like youze trust d'at street sign what says "WALK" and is meaning youze

Youze don' need no stinkin' magna-fracations.

BigE

I didn't need any to see that Peace dollar you posted a whilze back, when youze gonna selz it to me?----------BigE

renomedphys

I will chime in again, not as the sarcastic ba$tard that I am, but as a resident physicist, with a specialty in medical applications.

When you look at things with both eyes open, you process them as nature intended, as a stereoscopic version of the thing itself. The processing is natural and the image perceived is easily understood by the brain. Breaking it down into what is seen by the right eye as distinguished from what is seen by the left however, you get this:

The right eye sees the light reflected from an object as it travels from the light source, bouncing off of the subject, and into the right eye. The left does the same.

So, how does this apply to viewing coins? Simple. Keeping both eyes open allows your brain to combine both inputs into a single image. The natural, two eyes open view allows for harmonic combinations of light to form in the mind's eye, forming a more complete and accurate representation. This is especially important to consider when viewing coins (themselves) and coin images.

Basically, when we view coins using a single light source with both eyes open, we hold the coin so that the light is most revealing of the coin itself, usually upright, with the light coming in from out in front of your head. Coin collectors have innately trained themselves to see this as the "natural" look of a coin. This is why photographs of coins with axial lighting, or lit from below look unnatural. Since the light is perceived slightly differently by both individual eyes and then combined for the final mental image, closing one eye does in fact reduce the input and will actually change the mental image of a coin, albeit ever-so-slightly that you may not notice.

One thing that I did discover when learning to photograph coins is that having a light source at 10 and 2 o'clock will yield the most accurate representation of the coin on film. This is because those light positions mimic what the eyes see when they are both open. If you think about it, this makes sense. The 10 o'clock light provides the lighting that is representative of what the left eye sees. The 2 o'clock light gives the right eye info. Combined, it looks natural, and most like holding the coin in hand under a single light.

I hope this helps.

bushmaster8

morgandollar1878: where is your eye protection?

You'd not be allowed on any of the ranges around here w/o it.

jhdfla

I've used a telescope for years, and keep both eyes open while viewing with it as well. The generally accepted notion is that it prevents eye fatigue. Whether this applies when using a loupe or not I don't know, but it seems to make sense when viewing large numbers of coins.

morgandollar1878

<< <i>morgandollar1878: where is your eye protection?

You'd not be allowed on any of the ranges around here w/o it. >>




Good eyes bushmaster. The pic of me is at a private family gathering in the middle of the country. No excuse for not wearing the eye protection on that excursion, but I do noramally.