I went through the same issue several years ago. I bought several cameras but none of them worked very well. I resorted to the "poor man's microscope" using 2 people one holding a loupe and the other snapping the picture. The loupe magnified the image well enough to get a well magnified image, but the problem was that it never gave clear full images. I almost bought a microscope, but they were bulky and cumbersome to get certain images. In the end I found and purchased a DINO-LITE digital microscope and have never been happier. It is a hand held microscope/camera which allows great magnification and SUPER clear pictures. Their home page is
http://www.dinolite.ca/ if you want to take a look. I have attached a photo too...
