recomend a dital usb microscope/camera for coins please

Bought one already and turned out it didn't work with my Microsoft Windows v7 64 bit computer. So, the one I get needs to have compatible drivers and software.
I want to be able to make out variety types and DDOs and such without straining my neck and eyes with a loop. And to take decent pictures of details with it.
I would like to keep it under $100.
I would like at least 800x
I would like a stand that adjusts height for focus but that is not that important since I can buy a stand separately.
lots of and all suggestions are welcome.

 

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800x is way overkill. You really don't need any more than like 60x. You can get one for around $10-$15 from Hong Kong on eBay that will do the job just fine

 

800x ? What do you want to do? Watch bed mites having sex? 60-80x is sufficient.

Products from China? Good luck getting spare parts or tech support.

Chris

 

look at this one on Amazon $45 prime,
PZ01 200X Handheld USB Digital Microscope Endoscope Loupe Otoscope Magnifier with LED & Metal Stand. up to 200x

 

Why?

 

main reason its cheap

 

this is from the amazon page of PZ01. My comments in color below each of their points. Magnifying a blur 20 times gives a larger blur. There are physical limits and laws of light and optics, which do not change because of the word "digital"


Magnification: 0.1 ~ 200 times (combined optical and digital zoom)
The lens doesn't magnify much , so they use software to 'make' extra pixels and put them into the photo to make it look like it is magnifying the coin, but half or more of the pixels are not 'true', they are software rendered. So you might see things which really aren't there or may come and go from photo to photo~ a fake image.

The magnification factor increase as the focal distance decrease, and vice versa. It could be used as a web camera if the focal distance is 0.3 m or more. Because it is a limited ( probably lens of plastic), you can't focus on a specific area and alter the magnification, as to get the high magnification, they count the size of the area magnified instead of the details

0.3M pixel CMOS sensor, interpolated to 2MP definition. This is a key point. they use a .3M pixel sensor. This is the actual working part of the camera and it is less than in modern $20 webcam, and they know this so they use the software to fake it up to 2MP ( figure it out, for each real pixel, they throw in about 6 fake software manufactured pixels. Checkout the pixel count of the cheap point and shoot cameras, much higher.

Photo Capture Resolution: 640 X 480, 320 X 240. Notice how many people use these on the forum, blowing a limit of 640 x480 ( with 5/6 fake pixels up to several times in size and then asks ....gee what is that which looks like the face of kim k. on my lincoln??? It is just imaginary fake crud!! .

I do hope that if you ever need to have an endoscope or otoscope used on you that it is not this one. They may find the face of Mt. Rushmore on your sigmoid.

A good scope will cost several hundred dollars , and I recommend a surplus laboratory dissecting scope such as B & L, Olympic, etc,. which come from college labs and can serve you for decades with just dusting. The advantage of the stereo scopes is that the 2 eyepieces can be adjusted separately as to strength, so you can use glasses or not.

Yes, I know digital chinese are cheap, but they are so for a reason. The Dino-Lite long focus scopes are OK, but well beyond the PZ01.

 

I know exactly what you mean, I believe the man just wanted something to take a quick look at the surface of a coin without spending 2 or 3 hundred dollars. He did not give the exact reason he wants one, maybe he's roll hunting. Take a picture, reference that particular coin if it draws his attention then move on to the next one. If he had the money I'm sure he would have already bought a top of the line stereo microscope. It sounds like to me that he is new to collecting coins and starting to see the advantage of magnification to view a coin. That's why I gave the cheap usb scope as a starting point. I'm sure its his first and if it does not satisfy him he will move on to the Cadillac of all microscopes. You might have enough money to buy the best but a lot of collectors don't. I appreciate the time it took you to gather all the info in your definition of what makes a good scope and what makes a cheap one not work as well. I've been burned a few times on cheap crap and probably you have to. Its all a learning process, you don't come out of the womb an expert at everything.

 

Where are the "pictures "to show .
I need
"pictures"

 

800x?!?!?!

 

sorry I was away for a bit. first, I should have said 80x not 800x
That aside, 712 you read me right, or at least half right. I'm not new to coin collecting, been collecting for more than 40 years. Its the eyes that need the help. 40 years ago I could see the mint mark on a dime clear as day. Now, even with 3x readers on I can't tell. So, I need help <sigh>
You were right though, I do roll hunt and so I like to look for varieties, and then I still need to see even a mint mark sometimes.
I think I want to try something that gives me fairly good but still cheep lens magnification and gets it up on the computer screen so I can look at it there. I know there is some software play with the magnification. but I can move the coin a little and get a couple of angles on close calls. Generally I won't need the full 80x.
Also note that I have a nice little 10x loop that I use now and I can see what I need to but it is tiresome. Getting it up on the computer seems like a nicer way to go.
Examples of things I want to see are
types for Ikes 1972 (v1, v2, v3)
doubling on 1974-d half dollars
WAM's on cents
mint marks, even the ones that are filled, banged up and hard to make out....
like that
thank you for your help so far. any suggestion on a reasonable price device?
Again must work with win7 64 bit. Most of the cheep ones on Ebain do not (32 bit yes but not with 64)

As I have though about this the last few days I also thought, I've been planing the purchase of a nice camera either an upper end Nikon or Cannon. I still have a great film era Nikon that was top of the line in its day and the lenses are still first rate (even if not autofocus) How practical would it be to use the camera with a tripod and a good macro lens? would it be to cumbersome to move coins in and out from under the lens? would I be able to get images up on the computer easily or would it be too many steps from coin to coin?

 

Please take this as intended to help. My county has a "Blind center", and many who use it are not blind, just vision impaired. They have some high resolution setups for people to read books, small instructions, legal small print, hand written ( yes still) letters or notes, and one stamp collector. The center is not very crowded, and anyone who professes a vision problem is welcomed. You might check if there is one near you~ at least see how they set things up for such imaging.

 

I turned 69 this last October and only have sight in my left eye so I know what you mean about vision loss. You might want to look for one of these, I have found this to be very helpful with coins and closeup work.
http://www.amazon.com/Headset-Loupe-multi-function-Magnifier-Visor/dp/B00JOGLX5C/ref=sr_1_7?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1418701451&sr=1-7&keywords=magnifier headset
I just bought a scope on Amazon for $45 and it works pretty good with my computer which is win 7pro x 64bit with no problems. The scope is with a USB plug. It comes with a program disc. What's good about Amazon is that if you don't like the product you can return it for a full refund, they even give you the return postage to print on your printer. The URL for the listing is http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JXFSWC6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I have a Canon XSI digital SLR camera and it works perfect for me. You can buy the plastic macro tubes to get some nice closeups with the camera. I bought it used on Amazon for under 300. This works great with a Fotodiox Canon EOS Macro extension tube set for extreme closups. You can look these up on Amazon. Hope I've helped, let me know if you want more info. I use a tripod some also but I would rather hold the camera braced against something. The tripod is cumbersome and I'm afraid that I'll knock the whole thing over and ruin my camera.
The stand that comes with the scope is a little crappy but the scope works good

 

Softmentor
I'll take some pictures tomorrow with the Amazon scope and post them here for you to see before you buy one. I'm just really beat tonight and I'm hoping for a good nights sleep.

 

Thanks, Gem, that's a good thought. 712, that one on is almost exactly like the one I got on ebay except mine didn't come with compatible drivers and software. Looks like that one on Amazon may be the ticket.
RE camera, I'm leaning toward the Nikon 7100 I have some nice old glass (old school manual era lenses) to work with it. And I'll pick up 2 lenses with the new camera. I'm thinking a stand like the one with the Amazon microscope but more heavy duty of course.

 

This is the image from the scope I told you about. It looks like
1952-S/S 25C RPM FS-501, I'm not sure maybe I can get some opinions. The picture is great at 97kb

 

perfect. that is plenty of detail for what I need
Thanks !!

 

I like it too. Exactly what I was looking for, just a cheap 'lemme see it now without a lot of trouble' lol

 

Interesting posts. Do you have a photocopier/printer/scanner under your PC. I have one and i simply can on high resolution (pixels) and then I can zoom in.

 

Hi, welcome to the club, I don't have a scanner like that, what is the model so I can check it out