On Sun, 07 Dec 2008 23:37:37 -0800, Square Peg wrote:

Any recommendations for magnifying lenses for very fine work?

I've used those lighted magnifying desk lamps with some success, but
they are only good for desk work. I am wondering if some sort of loupe
like jewelers or dentists use might be worth buying.

My dentist told me that dental loupes cost $1,000 or more. That's a bit
more than I was planning on spending.

How much magnification is needed or useful? According to Wikipedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loupe, jewelers use 10X magnification to
inspect diamonds for blemishes, but dentists only use 2X-5X, so
something in that range ought to be good enough for removing slivers and
soldering. ;-)
.......{snip}

I am sure you already know this:
The added cost of the doctor / dentist optical headgear is for the
distance from your eyes to the focal point of the magnification. With a
jeweler's loupe, the object must be held real close to your face to be in
focus. The high power lighted medical versions, which cost a lot of
money, have the focal point a few feet away, not a few inches. Focal
point distance is part of the specification listed for Medical surgical
optical magnification devices (at least it was a few years ago when I
looked them up.) As your dentist told you, very $$$$.