Now and then I get a customer looking for a
magnifier of at least 8x, but one that also has a large lens diameter and long working distance. That's a tough order to fill, since both lens diameter and working distance in a
magnifier shrink as magnification goes up.
Sometimes the answer is a stereo
microscope, such as the
LOMO SF-50, but that's not going to work when a customer needs something to take in the field. Are there other possibilities? Yes, and one, surprisingly, is a
binocular.
Pentax has a binocular called the
Papilo 8.5x21 with an amazing close focus of 1.6 feet. That's right - 1.6 feet. That's close enough for a lot of serious field work and you also get the benefit of using two eyes, not to mention the versatility of having a conventional binocular at your fingertips for other applications. The Papilo is actually a special edition of the long standing Pentax UCF binocular line and, as such, optics are about as good as it gets for a
compact binocular under $200. The
Pentax Papilo is the closest thing yet to a binocular and magnifier all in one.