How it works
Six steps. About a minute. No guesswork.
Place card
Set your card in the recessed cradle.
Place phone on the MagSafe arm
Open the app, set your phone on the magnetic puck — no clamp, no bracket.
Align
The app reads the calibration markers and confirms perfect alignment.
Scan front
Capture the front under precision LED lighting.
Flip & scan back
Flip the card, capture the back.
Get your PreGrade
Your Optic PreGrade™ and subgrades — computed on your device.
Why it works
Your eyes lie. Physics doesn't.
A pre-grade is only as good as the conditions behind it. Optic controls all three — light, distance, and measurement — so the result is repeatable, not a guess.
Controlled light
White LED light rakes across the surface and edges, revealing nicks, whitening, and print defects that overhead room light hides. Same light, every scan.
Fixed distance
The folding arm locks your phone at the exact same height every time. No hand-shake, no angle drift, no "was I closer last time?"
True measurement
Four calibration markers give the app known reference points, so perspective is corrected and centering is measured — not eyeballed.
The upgrade
What changes when you measure
| Naked eye | Jeweler's loupe | Optic Grading | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consistent lighting | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ |
| Fixed camera distance | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ |
| Measured centering | ✕ | ~ | ✓ |
| Subgrade breakdown | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ |
| Saved, repeatable report | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ |
A loupe magnifies. Optic measures.
No black box
The principle is public.
Your Optic PreGrade™ is set by your weakest subgrade — centering, corners, edges, surface — rounded down to the nearest half point. One weak corner can't hide behind three strong ones.
The exact measurement method is proprietary. The principle isn't: the weakest link sets the grade.
Deterministic, computed on your device. Same card, same lighting, same result — every time. No AI, no guessing, no manual grade entry.
Keep exploring
Next: see the hardware behind the measurement, or walk through the companion app screen by screen.