USB Microscope

Bryan1315

I used to use the QX5 quite a bit myself but since I have a nicer camera it just sits there right now and figure if someone else can use it I would be more than happy to let them

I really like my DinoLite 314T, although it depends on what you consider "inexpensive". I got a good deal on mine 100 versus a couple of hundred bucks. Here are a couple of the close-up images;


1875-S/S Twenty Cent Piece


1954 S/D Jefferson nickel


1864 Two Cent Piece Repunched Date

Bryan1315 that sounds great, I would pay shipping for it! I also need to learn to use my Nikon d200 but until that time, I'm sure I'd put this to work. I don't think I can Pm yet to being relatively new edited to remove email address

Bryan 1315, never got an email, checked my spam as well. email was removed but of course period was spelled out after b. and it's all lower case. Thanks

@oih82w8 Thanks for sharing those photos. Seems much cheaper than upgrading my Canon EOS Rebel with expensive lenses.

Here's what you can do with a DSLR and $25 lens plus adapters...Ray

briank...FYI I have a 105VR Micro as well but I don't use it much. Occasionally I take it outside for flower shots but I never use it for coins. It's really big in diameter which makes it hard to get the lights in the right placement. It also won't go above 1:1 so you can't get high mag shots like I show above. For that shot, I used a 4x microscope objective on a bellows. Bellows are not really needed with microscope objectives since they require a fixed extension of 160mm total including the camera register distance, but bellows will give you more flexibility.

Since you are shooting Nikon, here's what you would need:

Camera >> Nikon-M42 >> 120mm M42 extensions OR bellows >> M42-RMS >> 4x objective

The Nikon-M42 adapter is ~$5 on ebay. Get a "macro" type that does not have any glass in it. For M42 extensions, they come in sets of 3 or 4 that total up to about 50mm, so you'll need to buy 3 sets. Those might cost you as much as $15 per set. If you go with M42 bellows they will cost you a bit more but give more flexibility in the long run. Finally you need a M42-RMS adapter, which will be $15-$25 depending on type. There is a cool "cone" type on ebay for $25 or so that would probably allow you to only buy two sets of extensions since the cone has a fairly long extension itself. For the 4x objective, I got mine at microscopenet.com for $24.95. Ironically the cheapest one they have is the best.

WORDS OF WARNING AND CAUTION...

You will need to make the setup very rigid to avoid blurry shots at 4x
Your Nikon camera will require you to use special lighting techniques (delayed flash, delayed long exposure, etc) or the shots will be blurry
You will need to do focus stacking. The shot above is a stacked composite of 5 images. Without stacking you will only have parts of the image in focus

One of the advantages of the USB type microscope cameras with high magnification is they have no shutter to cause vibration problems. But their image quality is not as good as what you can achieve with a DSLR and microscope objective. So you have to decide what you want...good image quality that takes a lot more effort, or mediocre image quality that's relatively easy...Ray