What Is the Ideal Scope?

In the 1970s a Japanese scientist named Okuda developed ways to study diamond light performance using colored reflectors in magnified scopes. This method of assessment became popular on the internet with the Ideal Scope, a simple magnifying tube containing a red reflector that creates a structured light environment. The Ideal-Scope was developed by Garry Holloway and shows which areas of a diamond return light to the viewer’s eye, represented in red.

In 2005 the AGS introduced the Angular Spectrum Evaluation Tool (ASET) which similarly shows light return and leakage, but the multi-colored image reveals additional information about the quality of light being returned to the eye.