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 Replies: 6 / Views: 3,829 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2600 Posts |
I am about to pull the trigger and buy a microscope. I have decided on a zoom in 7.5 to 35 power vs a fixed power with two magnifications. My question is about taking pics with one. I cannot decide whether to by a stereo scope or a trinocular. The trinocular has a third viewing tube that can have a camera mounted on. I am torn between a scanner, camera or maybe the microscope for taking quick pics for posting. Also, the typical microscope has a field of view of 1 1/4". You can see all of a dime, nickel and penny. A quarter is pushing it and above that in size and you are looking at a portion of the coin. You can add a Barlow lens on a pole scope and increase this to 2.25" which seems much better but now you are up in the $700 range and that seems a bit expensive. Any thoughts or experiences would be very much appreciated. Jim  |
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
I think the first thing, Jim, is to sit back and decide what you want the microscope for. If it's about getting closeups of die varieties, doubling, and such, the small field of view won't hurt you. 35x will nail all but the tiniest of varieties, and with a camera mounted, you're looking at pro-quality pics. The mic will not really help with posting pics, though, because of the small field of view. A scanner capable of doing images good enough to post can be had for less than $100; I lean towards Epson personally. Of the bunch, IMO nothing beats a camera for full-coin shots, but it's the hardest to learn and they're all different in terms of capability and what it takes to do it right.
I'd recommend a trinocular for a microscope, if only for ease of setting up the shot. An acquaintance at another forum holds his Olympus D40 up to the lens of his stereo microscope, and gets some of the finest closeups I've ever seen. He's uncanny. If it were me, though, I'd go for the trinocular.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
2600 Posts |
Thx, Dave. Your thoughts are always greatly appreciated.
Jim
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
62064 Posts |
Jim: I use the microscope you mentioned. The 7.5 to 35 power stereo microscope. With a fixed scope you can only get closeups of the item at that fixed area. But with the zoom lens option you can get the hole coin like you mentioned, the close focus or anywhere in between. You choose the size of your focal point. I don't use a tri-nocular as I hold the camera on the one lens I focus through. (Important to focus with just one eye as the two may give you a different focal point.) Also I focus on the field next to the devices I'm taking an image of. This way the filed of the coin is in focus as well as the devices. If you focus on the devices, you can have that in focus and the fields out of focus. Just something that works for me.
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
quote:
(Important to focus with just one eye as the two may give you a different focal point.)
That's a really good point, coop, and something I never thought of. It'll also let you do a through-the-lens shot with a stereo microscope, while being able to watch the coin in real time. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2600 Posts |
Thx, coop, but you arr making the decision harder. Stereo, Trinocular, Stereo, Trinocular.  Jim |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2600 Posts |
Oh, Dave, just returned from Staples with my new Epson 4490 Scanner. Playing with it now and the results are very impressive. Tomorrow I will try posting a few images.
Jim
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Replies: 6 / Views: 3,829 |
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Posted 09/08/2007 6:49 pm
