Looking to buy a good microscope for coins capable of taking pictures without breaking the bank! Any suggestions?
Buy a jeweler's loupe from Amazon for around $10-20 and use a phone. That's what I do and it's ten times better that spending $200 on a special electronic microscope. Also if you want to take good pictures of close ups of coins, just put the coin under a bright light in a dark room, turn on HDR mode on the camera app for the phone, and zoom in close and take pictures like that. You don't get the blue-ish light that the microscopes use and make your coins look weird and you get a clear picture with spending any money (except buying a phone if you don't already have one...)
I also am presently using my phone to take photos of coins. I got one of those low end($30) USB type microscope w/led lights and all.I had a hard time with it. It did help my learning curve with lighting. I do not use it at all any more. there have been some other thread on this subject, maybe you could research them to get more info.
Well I'm currently using my phone as well. And I took apart an old pair of binoculars and use the eyepiece out of that which fits perfectly against my camera lens and allows me to take pretty good pictures but I'm just looking to get some more detail out of the pics. The binocular eyepieces work better because they have a flat side which fits against your camera lens and allows you to take some very nice pics. Anyways I don't mind spending a couple hundred dollars. If anyone has a suggestion that would be great. It's just after a couple hours of using my phone my eyes start hurting and I get a headache. By the way I'm pretty sure cocktail hour has nothing to do with the headaches! Lol
If you need a microscope to see what you need to see, it isn't worth being seen. Find a good 10x loupe, decent lighting, and varieties that are worth seeing.
With me its not a matter of "needing to" see but "wanting to". It is the "wanting to" that makes whatever it is you "do" fun and interesting.
Can you say a bit more about your intended use? What sort of magnification are you looking to achieve, and what's the intended use of the photographs?
Your budget (different banks break at different levels) and intended use are needed to comment further. Edit: Just saw your post in the middle of the thread. For a couple hundred dollars, you can get a decent stereo microscope with eyepieces just like binoculars. You can put a phone camera or other point and shoot camera up to the eyepieces and take pictures. I have a Bausch & Lomb StereoZoom 4 that I have used to take tens of thousands of photos in this manner.
There is a tremendous difference between a microscope is integrated into a photographic system and you can't change it and separate components ( magnification and Imaging). Also always get a scope with optical glass lens, not plastic. You can shoot a photo through the eyepiece of a regular microscope and the imaging resolution will depend on your camera portion. Most cells phones have more resolution than the most expensive USB combo microscope. If you still want to process it , use photoscape or other program. The pixellation will be minor if at all visible. The average new cell phone camera is about 12 megapixels, with new current high value between 16-20 mp. Next year some phones will have 32-48 mp according to the zines. You should be able to find a cheap new no-brand name chinese stereo scope at a fraction of the AMscopes ( also Chinese manufacturer) and add a plastic adapter ( under 20) to hold your camera to an eyepiece, this will do well for up to 40 X. Most of the problem will then come from bad focusing, shake and jiggle, and lighting, but that can be overcome more easily. yes, a $400+ professional scope with a third tube for a high end camera is sharper, more contrast, and smoother focus, less shake, but that is if you are wanting to be a paid "error' grader and do that all day. IMO, Jim
Thanks @desertgem for taking the time and explaining this in detail. This info will help alot in making my purchase! Have a great day!
Hi, I'm looking for a suggestion regarding what Microscope to buy. I've been looking for an inexpensive digital microscope - possibly around $30 or under. I tried one and it didn't work well. I returned it. My requirements are: usb, Mac compatible, and able to get a full quarter in the image while being able to see better than I can see with my normal eyesight. Please let me know if you're successfully using anything that may meet my needs. I don't want to use a cell phone, I use my computer. I don't need a loupe, even thought that's a good solution, I can't get an image that way. I'm not wanting to invest in a high-end setup. I've looked through lots of messages here and I might have missed the perfect answer. If you know something about this that you think I might not, please respond.
Don't get a microscope unless your doing metallurgy, it's too powerful. Get a macroscope otherwise known as an endoscope with a stand. There are many available. A computer will recognize it as a webcam but I find custom build apps or programs work better for them. You shouldn't have to spend much to get a 30 x and I think that's sufficient for coin because you tend to want to be able to zoom out occasionally to be able to frame whole Morgan. Don't worry too much about the built-in lights you'll want to use your own.
This scope hijacked my first thread. https://www.cointalk.com/threads/dimes-with-multiple-errors.350552/
Thanks for the feedback, but your suggestion ($75) is about double what I'd hoped to pay. I already have a stand, maybe I need an endoscope but I'm not sure how that would work with a Mac (re: the software) or whether it would really be practical. So, as per my previous post... I'm still hoping that someone will make a suggestion that works for me.
