Yes, there are some clip on macro lens addons on
ebay for only around $12-14 'APEXEL 12/24x Macro Phone Camera Lens Kit Clip On for iPhone Android Smartphone' that we have discussed on the forum. This is because the iphone itself can take good photos actually on its own except when you want to zoom in on a part of the coin to take a photo of that part only. Attaching this can then zoom and take photo as normal otherwise. This has a 12x zoon thats plenty for this or 24x but thats not needed for the coins. I bought one from
ebay seller "apexel"
Loupes are more for grading or looking for errors/varieties rather than photos. Sometimes you want just enough magnification to enlarge for viewing... For that purpose even a Carson 5X MiniBrite LED Lighted Slide-Out Aspheric Magnifier for $13 was excellent for general use just to enlarge/read mint marks or years on currency etc easier than a loupe or scope just to id coins to see if you then need to look more deeply) and can also be used to enlarge small text on anything
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00524H8MC but if your grading led can mislead you so thats where a Bausch & Lomb Hastings Triplet 7x Magnifier - Model 816168 would be my preference and not use this at all for grading. Cheaper ones work but there are noticible differences to this one. I have tried many others including Eschenbach Mobilux LED Hand-held Magnifier - 5x but it didnt really seem worth the high cost to suggest to others.
After that you get into scopes which are excellent and can be from low cost to costly. The lowest models as an example are like the
Tomlov DM4 or DM4S with extra lights on the base typically around $50. The only issue is that you cant zoom out enough to snap the entire coin, but can look at errors/varieties and take photo/video if desired. You can however take full coin photos as well if you add later either
Tomlov Digital Microscope Extension Tube ET02 around $18 or replace the base with a taller 10 inch one -
Tomlov Digital Microscope Stand Base BS02, Taller 10 inch Adjustable Microscope Base around $39. Of course if your going to do that you can then consider higher cost models, dearborn bought one of the nicer ones I remember and several others have as well, , but was just checking if a low cost one would work for those just getting started and they do but so do those phone attachments. No reason to break the bank if someone doesn't have a huge collection.
Posted 03/28/2023 5:03 pm
