jrpark22000
Premium member
I asked for this viewer as a Christmas gift after some positive comments from other reefers on the forum.
http://www.ivsportal.com/
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I’ve been able to play around with it for a few days now and also give it a positive review. It’s a pretty cool little gadget. It’s built well and tested in on ¼” and ½” glass. The glass cleaner function is just like a mag-float so it works well enough but not as good as a high end glass cleaner.
The unit itself has 2 halves, one for outside the tank which hold the glass magnifier. The other half goes in the tank. The magnets are plenty strong for ½” glass, but likely wouldn't be enough for ¾”. For corals (or other things in the tank you want to magnify) object close to the glass are easiest to see using the portal viewer. The focal point of the viewer is such that they are big, bright and have a full field of view with a good amount of magnification. See some photos taken from a galaxy S4.
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For objects further back, you must move yourself further from the glass to focus on them. I’m able to magnify object on the back of my 2’ thick tank without difficulty, but it’s not like looking at an object in the front of my tank. The object are only focused in the center of the viewer, not a full field of view.
Photo taking is great for objects close to the front of the tank. The camera phone is able to see just what the eye can. For object half way back or further in the tank, a camera phone can’t see what my eye can. Images appear as they would with the naked eye (without the viewer) at the same distance.
Overall I like the viewer. It’s construction, ease of use (just drop it in and move it about,) the decent glass cleaner feature are positive features. It really helps to see the details of coral or other stationary object (think if you needed to see redbugs, aefw, or other parasites) but for the everyday it’s fun to see the polyp extension of coral in such fine detail. Using the viewer is like looking at TopDown Macro photos that we all see on this and other forums. The detail just pops right at you.
Value for the price…? It’s not cheap at $75 on amazon. The build quality is well worth it. If you find yourself wanting to see the detail of you coral in person it’s a cool toy. If you want to inspect your coral or nasties this should get it done. With that, You make the decision.
http://www.ivsportal.com/
View attachment 7512
View attachment 7513
View attachment 7514
I’ve been able to play around with it for a few days now and also give it a positive review. It’s a pretty cool little gadget. It’s built well and tested in on ¼” and ½” glass. The glass cleaner function is just like a mag-float so it works well enough but not as good as a high end glass cleaner.
The unit itself has 2 halves, one for outside the tank which hold the glass magnifier. The other half goes in the tank. The magnets are plenty strong for ½” glass, but likely wouldn't be enough for ¾”. For corals (or other things in the tank you want to magnify) object close to the glass are easiest to see using the portal viewer. The focal point of the viewer is such that they are big, bright and have a full field of view with a good amount of magnification. See some photos taken from a galaxy S4.
View attachment 7515
View attachment 7516
For objects further back, you must move yourself further from the glass to focus on them. I’m able to magnify object on the back of my 2’ thick tank without difficulty, but it’s not like looking at an object in the front of my tank. The object are only focused in the center of the viewer, not a full field of view.
Photo taking is great for objects close to the front of the tank. The camera phone is able to see just what the eye can. For object half way back or further in the tank, a camera phone can’t see what my eye can. Images appear as they would with the naked eye (without the viewer) at the same distance.
Overall I like the viewer. It’s construction, ease of use (just drop it in and move it about,) the decent glass cleaner feature are positive features. It really helps to see the details of coral or other stationary object (think if you needed to see redbugs, aefw, or other parasites) but for the everyday it’s fun to see the polyp extension of coral in such fine detail. Using the viewer is like looking at TopDown Macro photos that we all see on this and other forums. The detail just pops right at you.
Value for the price…? It’s not cheap at $75 on amazon. The build quality is well worth it. If you find yourself wanting to see the detail of you coral in person it’s a cool toy. If you want to inspect your coral or nasties this should get it done. With that, You make the decision.
