I was thinking about purchasing the Lighthouse Phonescope magnifier -- its a magnifier for smartphones that will magnify 60x -- for taking better pictures of coins. Has anyone ever tried this product and can give a review or feedback?
My wife bought me one that isn't from Lighthouse. It is amazingly effective - I just forget to put it on my phone and use a camera instead. I should try it. It was a cheaper model and was <$20, and worked as described.
@TheFinn, it sounds like yours is a stand-alone camera/magnifier device? Or are you describing a stand-alone magnifier that works with a normal digitial camera? The Lighthouse one that I"m considering is currently listed on JP's website at $21.
The few reviews I found didn't seem all too positive, but such things should always be taken with a grain of salt. Still, when it comes to optics, one usually gets what they pay for when buying new items. My guess is much would depend on your expectations. Are you hoping to take extreme closeups or just whole-coin photos?
I would like to find out about such magnifiers for regular digital cameras. My own is quite old and cannot take a decent close-up.
Whole-coin photos. I'm not trying to take images of machine-doubling or anything that can't be seen unassisted. Just want to get good photos of the coins. But my iphone doesn't seem to cut it.
Amazon sells it (via JPs) for 21.99 free shipping (JPs charges 9.95) - there are only 3 reviews, but they're all positive - sounds like a good value - if you don't like it, you're only out $22 or re-sell it https://www.amazon.com/Phonescope-Magnification-Newspapers-Documents-Smartphone/dp/B00XQB7T5O/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1521476902&sr=8-2-fkmr1&keywords=lighthouse phone scope magnifier#customerReviews
You would be better off with other options, likely cheaper with superior optics. Any chance you've an old normal camera lens sitting unused?
You can buy if under $8 from https://www.aliexpress.com/item/60X...le-Phone-Lens-For-iphone-6-5/32354638152.html and this ad gives many more illustrations and diagrams than the others. I have not bought from this vendor.
I don't have one laying around but could probably come up with one. You thinking just put the camera lens between the coin and the iphone?
Hmm, never heard of them. They have free shipping but its 2 to 3 weeks for delivery. May check them out.
They are China's version of ebay, except they can sell US fake coins and goods. If you have 99 cent stores in your vicinity, check there, as I have seen them in mine occasionally @ 1.99. I have one I bought there somewhere, but they are mostly plastic.
Exactly. Depending on if what you have is workable, it should allow you to get closer and even the cheapest vintage nifty fifties (or close to it) are almost certainly going to have optics superior to any cheapie clip-on gadget. The key here is to use it backwards, or use your phone to shoot through the front of the lens as opposed to as it's designed to mount to the camera. It's been a while since I've played around with this, but I can promise you that using my iPhone along with a old Topcor 50mm reversed will allow the phone to focus closer and take a more detailed shot. I cannot promise this is the solution, but certainly is work checking out.
You've nothing to be embarrassed about, and anyone who would consider you such isn't worth your time, or mine.
As I noted above, I have an old Kodak digital camera that works just fine for normal photographic needs, but it is impossible for me to take a decent closeup. I checked out the Amazon link that @juris klavins provided, and found that this could not work for me, but then I saw this other listing that Amazon suggested, and it turns out that there are several different devices of this kind selling for less than $100. I have not looked into these, but they might turn out to be something worth investigating. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PEZ3GM...Yc&pd_rd_r=EXKMV8RK65N0QRX2YJXV&pd_rd_w=ifNuu