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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Insider, post: 2720312, member: 24314&quot;]kanga, asked:&nbsp; If you have one or have experience with one, particularly if you have used it with coins, I&#039;ll highly value your comments.</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;ve had a little experience looking at coins with several types and brands of stereo microscopes ranging from $59 brand X to over $3000 Nikon.&nbsp; My opinions based on that little amount of experience:</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Magnification</b>: I thinking in the 20x-60x range.&nbsp; <b><span style="color: rgb(179, 0, 179)">No, no, no!&nbsp; <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0)">NO!&nbsp; </span></span></b></p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;The lower end could be...&quot; <span style="color: rgb(179, 0, 179)"><b>IS </b>the most useful.&nbsp; It depends what you are doing (authentication, variety detection, grading, interesting mint made characteristics vs PMD) as most coins are viewed with the lowest power available.&nbsp; Believe it or not, the lighting you use is almost more important than the magnification.&nbsp; Different types of light are necessary for different tasks.&nbsp; Example: Halogen light pipe used at 60+ X to detect a seam on an extremely well done added mint mark.</span> &quot;...useful but I&#039;m not sure that above 60x would be useful.&nbsp; <span style="color: rgb(179, 0, 179)">You are correct, 30X to 40X is plenty 99% of the time.&nbsp; Just looked.&nbsp; Mine is set at 7X at the moment (its lowest setting).</span></p><p><br /></p><p><b>Lighting</b>: What should I look for? Brightness. Color. Etc.</p><p>IMO backlighting (from the stage) would be worse than useless; it would be downright annoying.&nbsp; <span style="color: rgb(179, 0, 179)">I have not found any light source attached to the scope to be ideal.</span>&nbsp; <span style="color: rgb(179, 0, 179)">You&#039;ll need a florescent light for authentication and grading plus a 75 to 100 watt adjustable lamp for grading.&nbsp; I&#039;ll try to take a photo of my setup.&nbsp; </span></p><p><br /></p><p><b>Imaging</b>: <b>IF </b>I go for some sort of imaging system what type?</p><p>What capability (megapixels)?&nbsp; <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0)"><b>I&#039;m ignorant on this subject! </b><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">I have a Cannon digital camera on the third tube.&nbsp; </span></span></p><p><br /></p><p><b>Other</b>: What have I overlooked?</p><p>I remember one that allowed you to rotate the stage with a knob. That seems useful for view adjustments without actually touching the object.</p><p><br /></p><p><span style="color: rgb(179, 0, 179)">Get used to holding the coin by the edge, between your fingers.&nbsp; You can control the viewing angle easily.&nbsp; That is as important as the lighting!&nbsp; If the coin is in the wrong orientation you will still not see a scratch or hairlines at 30X!</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(179, 0, 179)"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(179, 0, 179)">PS&nbsp; IMO, at this time, those digital scopes we see all over are basically <b><i><span style="color: #ff0000">toys</span></i></b>! </span>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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