Do any of you use digital microscopes? Which one works best? I have looked at a few on fleabay but remain undecided since this is uncharted territory for me. These are the units I have looked at on fleabay. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=180290490261 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=170264498869
www.jtv.com had then for $199.99 that a little high for one to me. I would not buy one on ebay there is no warranty on ebay
Ebayer claims to offer a one year warranty and has decent feedback. I am kinda leaning towards the 1.3MP unless directed elsewhere.
My father has bought and able to register new electronic devices from ebay. As a matter of fact he just bought an HP printer off ebay really cheap. Registered it and something broke after a week. He called HP, yes he had a little hassle and was transferred a couple of times - but they shipped out a newer model to replace the original(no longer made).
The big question is whether you are Ok with the minimal 10X magnification. Most of these do not have a focusing distance that can allow you to get all of large coins in view at the same time. There are some ( even more expensive) that allows one to easily get all coins from Morgan size on down in same screen. If you are a variety collector (such as mint mark varieties), these microscopes are extremely useful. I have a taiwan generic that was much less expensive, but at the best, it can only do a dime size coin completely. Since I like to post all size coins, especially cent size, I only use the microscope a small amount of time. I have other microscopes that can go from 3.5X up. If this is to be your only photomagnification device, I would check for the long focus type ( they usually show a complete photograph of a large coinlike a Morgan) as the price difference would increase your use for all views. Also the software ( unless it is greatly improved) was worse than freebie photo processing programs with a USB import function. It would "bloom" with the LED light source and gave false colors. I use Corel Photo pro X2, which isn't free, but I received it with a camera purchase and it works well. Jim
If I'm looking to view larger than 10X I'm not looking at the whole coin - just what I want to inspect closer. I have a QX3 (now they make a QX5) and have had it for years. It magnifies at 10, 60 and 200. I use 60X most of the time as 200X can be hard to focus. A kid's toy that has served me well.
Then this must be one with extended focusing distance. I admit I stopped reading at the end of the "features" section and didn't see the rest of the info. This is why it has the price it has I guess. Mine is almost a year old, so improvements have occurred. Jim
That's the key. These aren't scientific instruments by any stretch of the imagination. They can be useful for extreme close up views but fall far short of providing quality photographic results. 1.3 megapixels just doesn't cut it any more. For quality you need at the very least 5 MP and preferably 7 or 8.
I have a QX3, it is not very good IMHO. The Big C is good though. I fiddled around with one with pretty good results @ Fun taking pics of my fugio.
Exactly. Now with my low tech device can anyone tell these are repunched dates? http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x275/clembo1872/712.jpg http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x275/clembo1872/18.jpg
You have 7 days to test it and return it for your money back. I say go ahead buy it! Test it and let us know...
All of your post are very helpful. Thanks! My main objective in seeking out such a device is that I am hooked on roll searching, needless to say looking through a jewelers loop although fun in the beginning is in short becoming a PITA. I may use the photo capturing feature for cataloging purposes and I don't think I would want to use it for posting quality images, but then again the demo looks pretty impressive and is why I am on the fence in regards to the microscopes found on the bay. I looked at higher quality microscopes in the 5MP up arena and quickly found those to be way out of my league in the way of cost. The QX5 looks interesting! Does it have LED's?
These digital microscopes are fun and handy in their own way but my experience has shown them to be a complete waste of money. The ONLY advantage they offer is that you can view and copy an image directly to your computer without taking any steps other than pressing one key. But that will be a low quality image. I've found that the average digital camera will give you much better results. I use a Canon SD1100si which has 8 MP or resolution and will give you a detailed picture as large as 3200 x 2400 pixels. This is good enough to print out a 8.5 x 11 inch picture and still not get the whole coin. For example, this picture was taken at a resolution of only 1200 x 1600. This will fill your computer screen. This is from the cheap Microscope. It also fills your screen but the color is way off and there is a lot of "niose" in the picture.
There are several models and types of these. These two sites may help. http://bigc.com/ http://www.coinoptics.com/index.htm
Go to www.thinkgeek.com and you can find a couple of USB Microscopes. I also think they have that 1.3 mg pixil one that is listed on ebay. I have very good luck with the stuff I have purchased from thinkgeek. Mater of fact I purchased the 99 dollar USB microscope and have been happy with it. Dave
There was a table set up at the last Fun show with the Dino-Lite brand (BigC link above). I was shocked at the quality of the images they were putting on the monitors. The color and the detail here really good. They had one set up showing the workings of a watch that was so cool. These are no longer just toys. The hard part is figuring out the best one to buy. Some of the handheld models were as high as $600.
Thanks again for the input. After a bit more research thanks to you guys I have decided to get the Dino-lite 1.3MP. I will let you guys know how things go with it.. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=300269296791
Not sure what your wanting to see but, Not sure what your wanting to see but first access your skills in regards to high quality loups. Now I have no experience with the microscopes but I do search die varieties and I've never had to use anything stronger than 20x power that combined with 14x and 10x plus 5x for general grading and I can see the dust inside a "D" mint-mark. All those are Bausch & Lomb Hastings triplets. So my only caution for you is - do you know how to use the above well? Do they not give you what you want? Are you needing them for camera capabilities? Now I am camera challenged so I know nothing about that aspect of it. What I do know is many people have used over powered devices and spent months or years looking at "too much detail" when they could have just as easily got by with the other type magnification devices.
If you have two good eyes and get a stereo microscope, you can view coins in 3D. You can use a digital camera through an eyepiece or a trinocular port.
