What Tools Or Equipment

I think it's always better to get the best you can afford, don't worry about the 300kb size, larger image files are better, you can always crop the image or use an editing program (Photoshop, or similar freeware) to resize the images for the web (CCF also provides an optimizer app on the upload area that works nicely. Sometimes you want the size to show off a smaller area enlarged. There are many USB camera microscopes that work quite nice these days for little cost. You really don't need as much magnification as most people think, my main loupe (magnifying glass) for visual is a 7x, even when I'm using my stereoscope I'm under 10x 90% of the time. The 200x is way, way too much for all but extreme close ups of mint marks, I find. When I use my DSLR my main two lenses are a 100mm macro and a 75mm lens on a bellows for real close-ups (that lets me shoot at around 2.5x) which I can crop down for varieties I'm shooting. 95% of the time I use the 100mm at about 10-12" away which is just enough to fill my camera frame with a Morgan dollar, for smaller coins I can just lower the camera to around 6-8" from the coin.

My issue with equipment is I'm on a fixed income. I have some magnifying glasses, but that's all I've been able to get thus far.