Readers of this blog may think that we are the world’s number 1 Ideal-Scope fans. To counter-act such claims, we’ve made this list of top 10 reasons why the Ideal-Scope sucks.
1. It’s too hard to take pictures. Compare it with using a Sarin or OGI machine, where you just have to centre the diamond on the stage. Whilst you get better after practice, it is still a pain. Plus the”rapid photo” trays are only sold with very expensive software.
2. The Ideal-Scope army isn’t strong enough. Whilst the army’s base is strong, they need to be more George Bush than Barack Obama, and declare war on bogus retailers.
3. It’s too expensive. $50+ for a piece of plastic and a light means that someone is making a lot of money.
4. The AGS ASET has more colours. The greater the colours, the greater the accuracy and customer satisfaction.
5. The “ring of death” isn’t noticeable. The ring of death is a white ring around the table. It occurs when the pavilion is too deep.
6. It doesn’t take into account fire or brilliance. If you want to predict or analyse fire and brilliance, then you can look at the diamond’s proportions, or use tools such as the BrillianceScope.
7. There’s no pouch, carry bag or box. If you want to transport the Ideal-Scope and Ideal-Light, you’re left high and dry. Unlike the AGS ASET.
8. It doesn’t work as well with fancy cuts as it does with round brilliants.
9. It hasn’t gained any widespread recognition, leading to Ideal-Scope haters saying things like “it was invented by a nut in Melbourne”.
10. Diamcalc is an easier alternative when it comes to Ideal-Scope images, and is very accurate.
AUD 
August 10th, 2007 at 5:54 am
The Ideal-scope is based on a principle discovered by Mr Okuda in the 1970’s. A 10x lens with a hot red / pink reflector in front of the diamond has a central viewing hole, which allows you to see just how much of the red / pink light refracts back from the diamond.
The instrument is a simple brilliance gauge; white areas in a diamond show light transmitted from behind the diamond; often called leakage – the enemy! The blackness of the lens mimics an observer’s head blocking out the light. The most brilliant diamonds look bright pink/red with a black star and minimal white or pale areas. Most ideal cuts have small ‘V’ shaped white leakage features at the girdle.
Invented originally for brilliance assessment, the ideal-scope also shows a diamonds symmetry. Diamonds with perfect symmetry and good proportions show a black eight-pointed star. Hearts and Arrows (and H&A’s viewers) are a by-product of Mr Okuda’s discovery.
In December 2001 the American Gem Society (AGS) announced it will work with Firescope™ owner Richard von Sternberg to develop a new diamond cut grading system. “We strongly believe that a quantifiable cut grade for fancy shaped diamonds is now within reach,” said Robert W. Bridel, AGS executive director and CEO.
May 13th, 2008 at 3:44 am
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you.
June 8th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Dear Nikhil,
Regarding you opinion of Ideal-scope; I would like to go through your comments one by one:
1. It’s too hard to take pictures. Compare it with using a Sarin or OGI machine, where you just have to centre the diamond on the stage. Whilst you get better after practice, it is still a pain. Plus the”rapid photo” trays are only sold with very expensive software.
GH>>>it is very easy – but please do not use macro – just place the ideal-scope over the diamond with very good backlight and put the camera or mobile phone lens right up close to the lens – even hold ideal-scope and camera as a unit and click.
2. The Ideal-Scope army isn’t strong enough. Whilst the army’s base is strong, they need to be more George Bush than Barack Obama, and declare war on bogus retailers.
GH> strong? it might not survive a hummer driving over it, but we never had any broken ones returned????
3. It’s too expensive. $50+ for a piece of plastic and a light means that someone is making a lot of money.
GH> actually when you pay $10k each for a few plastic mold making fees and sell 50 a month, it fits the idea of a niche service product and can save you many thousands of dollars. I have a couple of B&Mstores that pay for the costs or making ideal-scopes and the lights available. It does not pay one persons salary.
4. The AGS ASET has more colours. The greater the colours, the greater the accuracy and customer satisfaction.
GH> for round diamond IS wins. For all fancy shapes ASET rules! I made the very first hand held ASET for AGS – which they then incorporated into a desk top $500 unit. the hand held unit they sell for ?$35? has far too small an opening and gives different readings for different sized stones. And the blue is useless.
5. The “ring of death” isn’t noticeable. The ring of death is a white ring around the table. It occurs when the pavilion is too deep. However, even these guys had a tough time.
GH> that is a really odd comment Nikhil?
6. It doesn’t take into account fire or brilliance. If you want to predict or analyse fire and brilliance, then you can look at the diamond’s proportions, or use tools such as the BrillianceScope.
GH> It is not designed to show fire – but it does give you all the info for brilliance.
7. There’s no pouch, carry bag or box. If you want to transport the Ideal-Scope and Ideal-Light, you’re left high and dry. Unlike the AGS ASET.
GH> the box has instructions on it. The device is hard to break.
8. It doesn’t work as well with fancy cuts as it does with round brilliants.
GH>I agree – see above.
9. It hasn’t gained any widespread recognition, leading to Ideal-Scope haters saying things like “it was invented by a nut in Melbourne”.
GH> actually the concept has been around in Russia for a very long time and was developed into an expensive large ddesk top plug into power device in Japan in the early 1980’s. I was one of the first white people to get one – did my GAA Diamnd Diploma thesis on it and developed a cheap portable hand held after that.I am refferred to as CutNut (my chosen AKA) and some people think I know a bit about the topic. Google me 🙂
10. Diamcalc is an easier alternative when it comes to Ideal-Scope images, and is very accurate.
GH> Actually until the next DiamCalc update comes out we have a glitch in the ideal-scope view. I say “we” because I am in charge of global marketing for DiamCalc.
Sincerley
Garry Holloway
December 25th, 2013 at 7:08 am
I really like your images! As a digital photographer I understand it is usually tough
to find the right shots but they’re great. I use several Lightroom presets to maintain some consistency with my own.