USB Microscope...which one to buy?

Just because they came from an American seller, this, unfortunately, does not mean they're American made. Somewhere around here (unless it was given away) I have a supposed "30x" that's really no more than 10x, is optically terrible, and came from a US reseller. Bulk orders can be had for very little money from China, so this is not uncommon. If you're going to spend a decent amount of time looking at coins, please do consider investing in quality glass. My main glass was Eschenbach, and while rather costly, was money well spent and my eyes thanked me for it every time it was used. Trust me on this... it's one of the wisest investments you can make.

 

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definitely agree...it can be a reseller of Chinese loupes
and yep...In addition to getting better images my neck pain is better since I stopped trying to look at thousands of coins...going to start over with a good instrument

I'm only started learning a few moths ago, but but if I can't see, I can't learn.

 

ty all you've been extremely helpful in guiding me and helping me realize even with a microscope there's limitations I"ll have to deal with

ty for your help

 

I like my USB microscope for looking at coins and want to use for photos, but it can capture too much sometimes. As in this example this is a nice looking coin but the scope captures too much detail making it look grainy, and takes away from the coin. Maybe I could use some pointers on taking pictures or this is an inhere nt problem with too much magnification. LOL

 

I can understand how it might seem to take away but I love that detail. I wish sellers could all take photos like this.

 

agree on "too much magnification" lol
heck i've been sobbing for a while (figure of speech) becase I haave a coin that looks awesome and shiny even though it's from the 1920s...when i take a pic it looks grainy lol
i wonder how they grade the coins....with magnification? or to the normal naked eye?

 

gawd as you can see ,typing is not one of my virtues lol

 

I wondered that also maybe someone can post that info, and my typing is slow and steady at best LOL

 

3x-5x tops, but can be done unaided as well.

 

that's very good news

 

It's been oversharpened by the 'scope's accompanying software. At the price point of these microscopes, they're not exactly going to have world-class optics so the software is designed to help compensate for the hardware's limitations. There should (might?) be a setting in the software for sharpening level, so you can reduce the level of sharpening applied. Or even better yet, just have it export an unretouched image which you can process using more sophisticated graphics software yourself.

 

I don't have a sharpening level and if I change resolution it doesn't seem to make a difference. I can't even tell whether I am at 10x or 50x. Not much in way of software. There is a calibration test but that doesn't make sense so here I am. LOL

 

I use a Celestron 10x-150x.
It's adequate, but if you can, get one where the LED lights around the lens can be turned off. Sometimes they create a lot of glare and I would rather side light.

 

yep glare is horrible..it's blinding

and i get better pics if i use natural daylight (more detail and coins look more like with the naked eye) and somehow it's never excessive and doesn't cause glare

fluorescent light is horrible ...lots of glare, blue color, no color on pennies...it's weird in pics... (as a woman who occasionally uses make up I should have known this would be the same for coins!)

anyway...i'm changing my desk lamp too! (i'm an after-hours coin examiner

ty again for all the info....i'm buying my microscope this weekend <drumroll>

 

I take a lot of photos and have been intrigued by the ability to tether a camera to a laptop to enable a full screen view of the image before taking the photo. I use an Aven Digital 5.0 Mega Pixel Mighty Scope, 10x to 200x Magnification mounted on an Aven Mighty Scope Stand. This is tethered to my laptop via a USB cable. This isn't really a camera but rather a digital examination scope used in medicine and industry. It is quite a bit cheaper than a digital camera and has limited uses. However it allows me to view the image on my laptop to adjust the focus and lighting before I take the picture from my laptop, by clicking my mouse. This saves a lot of time and virtually eliminates the need to retake a picture. I can move the scope up and down the stand to expand/reduce the field of view and thus the resulting magnification to adjust for different size coins.

There are a lot of digital examination scopes like this on the market, but this one is built better than others made in China. The software for tethering it to a computer isn't great, but it is simple and works OK. The focusing mechanism is not as fine as for a camera either and takes some patience to get it just right. I sometimes enlarge the image via the software to observe how well focused it is before I snap the picture. Coarse focusing is done on the scope itself and fine adjust is made like a microscope by adjusting the elevation of the scope via the adjustable stand. I've learned to save images in jpg rather than the default .bmp format and then re-save the image again in jpg when I crop the image and name it using other image editing software. This seems to greatly improve the resolution. Once you set up for a particular size coin you just replace and orient the coin and click and move on to the next one. The focus is manual. It has adjustable LED lights on the unit that provide OK illumination, but I use supplemental lighting with daylight type lamps. With the new LED lighting or even cfl lights the color rendition is easy. If I had the $ I would buy a Canon Rebel Digital SLR or a Nikon, and a macro lens. These two cameras also allow for tethering to a computer and taking the picture remotely. But they are much more expensive as well as bulky.

I've attached a photo of the device as well as an example photos of a small transit token showing lots of detail and a large medal to demonstrate the range of this device.

 

Get something you can use on more than coins. You have already invested your money so just get the most from it.

 

Yo! abuckmaster147 -- What setup do you have for your phone....iPhone? Extra lenses? Platform? Photobox? - Please assist - Thank you.................

 

You could duplicate my imaging system for roughly the cost of that MightyScope. This is downsized by half to post here:



A full-scale detail from the original of the above, to show the clashing:



Then, you increase the magnification a little (using the same lens):



And if I want real magnification, I can switch to the cheap ($25) microscope objective and get serious:



There's a lot more magnification where that came from.

If you're going to spend $250 on imaging, you owe it to yourself to see just what options are available in that budget.

 

The photo of my profile picture was taken with this. Note, I am just learning its capability, but for the price I am pleased. I was experimenting with capturing true color not detail.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XNYXQHE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

SuperDave, nice pictures. The options available now are improving all the time. Sure beats the time consuming expensive outfit I started with 40+ years ago. And then I had to wait for a week to even see if the photos were what I wanted. Here is a close up from the 5MP Aven. I really like seeing what the photo will look like on my computer before I save the image so I can modify the lighting for the effect I'm looking for. The 5MP provides enough resolution to further enlarge a photo. The lighting on this 9 was a bit too strong, but it demonstrates the magnification potential, which is achieved by simply moving the scope closer to the object and then focusing. To achieve the sharpest image I use the software digital enlargement to maximum then adjust the focusing wheel manually and the copy stand adjustment to optimize focus. The focusing wheel on the Aven is not very sensitive, allowing for a rough focus, which can be checked and fine tuned by the elevating adjustment knob on the copy stand.