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Moderator
 United States
56855 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1298 Posts |
Thanks John1. I am wondering if I need an 8mp camera, or if a 1.3MP would be ok. I would be using the scope for an array of coins from Silver Eagles to 3cent and Half Dimes. Any suggestions anyone? Ham |
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Moderator
United States
56855 Posts |
Now I see why there is a $200 price difference,the camera. 8MP vs 1.3MP. If you choose to get one of these, the 8MP is the way to go. Have you read up on "the $400" set up? $600+ dollars requires some research before dropping that kind of dough. John1  |
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New Member
United States
1 Posts |
The first question to answer is, what kind of an image do you want? Because of my former profession as an art scholar and a photographer of works of art, I have several opinions to share. if you are simply cataloging your coins at 1:1 image size a good quality 12 megapixel camera with a high quality "macro" (micro) lens is all you need in the way of a camera. One piece of advice— do not scrimp on the lens. From those images you can print out an image up to about 12" x 12". sheet of paper with great clarity (depending on the printer). A stereo microscope (trinocular if you want a permanently installed camera), on the other hand, even at the lowest magnification may not be able to image a whole coin (approximately the size of a nickel), yetr a higher magnifications depending on the optics may be able to fill the frame with a sharp image of just one letter on a coin. The better the lenses (more money) and the higher the pixel count the more clarity to the image. My question is do you really need a 12"x12" image of the "D" for Denver from a coin? One place a microscope really shines is in examining the crystal structures in malachite and azurite. If there are clearly defined and appropriately shaped crystals strongly attached to the surface of a coin, it is strong evidence of authenticity of the patina.
Since I am new to this forum, I am not sure how to send photographs, I will not take time to learn how at the moment, but I will try to continue this in a few days.
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Valued Member
Russian Federation
172 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1298 Posts |
Thank you John Huntington. Appreciate you knowledge and post here. Welcome. I will postpone this purchase, and do some more research.
Justwalking. Thanks also for your input. Same goes here-I'll wait.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
715 Posts |
I've been struggling with this purchase as well. I feel pretty lost and wish I could go to a physical store to get a feel for the products before I drop big money on this. I was looking at this and wondered whether you all think this would be a worthwhile investment. http://www.amscope.com/microscopes/...-camera.htmlI do wish to take good photographs -- whole coins as well as details for variety attribution. Being able to look at the coin on a computer monitor is something I really wanted as well. But a question I have besides whether this would be a good purchase is whether I should go with halogen or LED lights, assuming that really makes a difference because I don't know if it does. Thanks for this discussion. I'd really appreciate some guidance. Edited by Oijogja
04/10/2017 2:16 pm
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Moderator
United States
56855 Posts |
That's a nice scope but high dollar. Shop around. John1 |
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Valued Member
United States
441 Posts |
Look earlier in this thread for what I use. I would like to have one of those AMScopes as well, but that's alot of coin to drop. Overall, I think I spent about $200 on my B&L stand to include an upgraded pod. Over the years I've accumulated the rigs I have and I'm pretty satisfied with my obsolete Bausch Lomb SZ4 microscope. With the 15x eyepieces, I can get 10.5x-45x. Plenty good enough to see cracks, chips, Cuds, spikeheads, etc. If I need full-coin pics or need to get more magX, I have a separate picture-taking rig that I use my T6i with and/or an 8MP HD USB cam with a 4x achromatic objective...gets in real close, but still allows a good working distance for lighting. I guess it all comes down to how much you want to invest into the hobby or business, whatever the case may be...YMMV. Edited by andywoj00
04/10/2017 5:17 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
715 Posts |
Thanks, I'd seen your earlier posts, but I get overwhelmed so easily with this stuff that the notion of trying to shop for pieces of a rig on ebay or wherever makes my anxiety spike. Anyhow, what about different types of lights? Does it make a difference that some scopes have a ring of 144 LEDs versus scopes with halogen lights? I hate to admit it, but I might spend the extra money on that AmScope to avoid the anxiety of trying to shop for a bunch of different pieces I don't know much of anything about. Some serious resistance in my brain, apparently. |
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Valued Member
United States
441 Posts |
Oijogja....lighting has always been a fight for me. The LED ring lights on the microscope work well for me when looking for anomalies. However, when using them to take pics of coins with my t6i, I can never seem to get the white balance right. AmScope has probably broken the code on this and have the proper lighting rigs and USB cam setup on their scopes that are conducive to each other. I've had my best luck taking coin pics with my T6i using the diffused Jansjos, but if the coins are super shiney, I can't get the WB and luster spot on...the in-hand coin is always better looking than the pics. No matter how much I'm schooled here, it's a fight. Ray and Rocky amongst others may have the best insight on the lighting issues...their pics always seem to be spot on. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
715 Posts |
Well thank you so much for your input. I'm hopeful that I'll be able to get some better pictures, though I'm sure I'll need to work on lighting. I've had a difficult time getting photos that not only show clarity on devices, but avoid glares and shadows and manages to portray true to life color.
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New Member
Canada
49 Posts |
Hi, I'm new to the forum and amateur collector and have been following your topic. I was confused too. I'm not at the caliber where I would need or want to invest more than 100$ into photography equipment. So I've been looking online and I fell upon this. Which looks promising, considering the price. I've seen many USB Microscopes advertised on ebay for less than 20$ but they are all for PC/Windows users. This one is for iPhone (so it would be great to bring along coin hunting, too!) This looks like it works well: https://www.olloclip.com/shop/lenses/macro-pro/The only thing missing I guess would be a "stand alone" arrangement. |
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Moderator
United States
56855 Posts |
Mariash, Check ebay,they are cheaper then they are in your link. John1 Edited by John1
04/16/2017 1:57 pm
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New Member
Canada
49 Posts |
Yeah, but on ebay it's kinda hard to determine quality. I haven't finished comparing, but the more expensive one does seem to work really well. So it may be worth it to pay more (albeit maybe not 5x more...). |
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Posted 04/06/2017 2:22 pm
