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 Replies: 11 / Views: 1,933 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4541 Posts |
Hi guys
I am new to the microscope arena and would like to know what is a good one just for looking at die variety's. I have done a search but haven't came up with much. Am I right in some take pictures? any help would be appreciative
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
You will find equal proportions of people who swear by relatively inexpensive (1ess than $150) microscopes which tend to connect directly to your computer, and more expensive versions which allow for mounting of your own camera via adapters.
Me, I feel very strongly that with any optics, you get what you pay for. I have a QX-5, a sub-$100 unit which connects directly to the computer. It is only at the limits of my ability to postprocess that I am able to convert its' images to something even approaching my personal standards for quality.
Maybe I'm a snob. I dunno.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1213 Posts |
I have an Apple Mac and have had trouble finding anything under $200 that will even work w/ my computer. I'd love to find something that does.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
860 Posts |
The USB type of microscopes can be quite useable in the upper price ranges ranges. Most of the sub-$150 type use webcam type of lens/sensors, and the photos from them suffer accordingly. The question I would pose here is your interests and real needs. If one says just to photograph a mint mark or such a few times a year, and it is just a hobby, then a low grade chinese ebay type will suffice. If one says I am a dedicated collector and I want to post highly detailed photos on the web, use it for effective sales, and expect to use it most coin sessions/free time I can have, then consider a long range view. I use B&L Binocular Stereozoom scopes. They are commonly found on auction and sale sites under lab equipment. Once you see their resolution, you would never get a USB scope. They cost much more, but, I have had one of mine for 25+ years and use it often for coins, stamps, gems, etc. A triocular is best , so a camera can attach to it separately, but I find no problem in taking photos through one lens with a canon A590. The nice thing if you use one for a long time, is that you can add eyepieces and objective add-ons to have a magnification for all sizes of coins. You can get a whole Morgan in the photo or a 60X blowup of a mint mark. If 30 mp cameras become cheap in the next years, a camera update can occur separately. I have spent 40 yrs using microscopes in my profession, but even I fell to the lure of an USB scope , which is now gone, because the ads were better than the experience. Jim |
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
Nicely put, Jim. For many, a simple USB microcope will be sufficient. Unfortunately, I ain't one of them.  A Search of this forum (search: "microscope") will turn up a lot of discussion as to what the "quality" inexpensive units are. For a good idea of what a real microscope will do, look here: https://goccf.com/t/66113Something like that will run $300-ish to your door, plus the relatively minor cost of the adapters necessary to affix your camera to the 'scope. In return for that $300, you'll have an instrument capable of absolutely professional results. If your interest does not lie in photographing - and note, a good dSLR/Macro lens combination is easily capable of an effective 5x magnification without a microscope - then a "standard" student microscope is relatively inexpensive and will give you absolutely accurate viewing at any magnification you like, the tradeoff being the inability to light for photography because your working distance to the coin will be too short. It's another possibility. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1298 Posts |
I just bought a Dino-Lite Am-411T. It cost a few hundred dollars, but I like the results so far. Here is an example. I have not done any corrections to the image.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4038 Posts |
For microscope viewing I use B&L Stereo-2 with 15X eyepieces, for 30X. I actually own a bunch of microscopes, mostly StereoZooms (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, no kidding!) and I have found I prefer fixed to zoom as the convergence is easier to maintain. But what I use the microscope for mostly is looking through BU rolls for varieties, so I am looking at a lot of coins for a specific purpose. A few years ago, I would replace the microscope eyepiece with a photo eyepiece with a Nikon 990 mounted for photos, and this worked pretty well. Quality is a bit better than the best of the USB cameras out there. Lately I've converted to a B&L MonoZoom for all my micro photos. The results are quite good, but the system is expensive and requires I maintain two setups. But as I said I do a lot more looking than taking pictures, so having a dedicated setup doesn't bother me too much. It would be about the same amount of trouble if you had a photo eyepiece you had to install when you want to take a picture. StereoZooms and fixed Stereo Bausch & Lombs go cheap these days, so you can probably get a good deal, but you need to set up the lighting and the photo arrangements. I would recommend going this way only if you are like me and do much more looking vs photography.
Contact me for photographic equipment or visit my home page at: http://macrocoins.com |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
4541 Posts |
Thanks a lot guys! I am going to see what I can find
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
Quote:
The results are quite good, but the system is expensive and requires I maintain two setups. One for looking, one for shooting? Given that these instruments actually push the limits of the eye's ability to resolve, I'd think that for your purposes a StereoZoom at a specific (relatively) minimal zoom would serve your looking needs while the MZ filled the role of photographic optic. Or have you spoiled yourself with these wonderful toys? Trust me, I get that. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4038 Posts |
Exactly, one for looking and one for shooting. They have very different requirements so it's hard to optimize one setup for both. I'm actually using the Stereo-2 with 15X oculars for total of 30X magnification when searching for varieties. It's difficult with any of the SZ models to get low enough magnification for full-frame imaging of larger coins. You can add a 0.5x objective but that makes the working distance impractical. I have a Stereo-1 that I use with 10X oculars for lower mags (grading, etc) but that is still too high for full-screen dollar imaging. Cents are fine, and that's my collecting specialty, but for general use many folks will want more flexibility. A SZ4 is probably the best overall bet, since it ranges from 0.7 to 3X, so with 10X oculars will go 7-30X. This is a nice range for many uses, though it STILL won't give you full screen dollar imaging! I've never found a decent pair of 5X or 7.5X widefield oculars, so the lower mag must come from the scope body if you want to grade dollars. The only option is a 0.5X objective...
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4038 Posts |
Another issue to consider is viewing angle. If you use an eyepiece camera adapter on a SZ or similar stereo microscope, the field is not flat. In stereo viewing, this is compensated for in your brain since when one part of the field goes out of focus in one eye, it is in focus for the other eye, so is not so bothersome. But when you are trying to take a picture through one eyepiece, you are actually taking it at a slight angle and DOF field problems can arise. Trinoculars also look through one side of the stereo view, but better ones have a lens that compensates the focus so the field if flat. I have a B&L SZ-6 "Photo" scope that does this, and I believe the SZ-7's do as well. I don't know what the less expensive Chinese trinoculars do. But in no instance have I been happy with the field flatness and resolution produced by these trinoculars, which is why I use the MonoZoom instead. Before I started using the MonoZoom, I built a tilt adapter that tilted the coin the right amount to compensate for the viewing angle from the eyepiece, and this was a good solution but required that I:
- Remove an eyepiece
- Attach the photo eyepiece
- Attach the camera and cable
- Place the coin on the tilt stage
- Re-frame the coin and shoot
Having the separate scope with camera always attached is much more convenient!
Contact me for photographic equipment or visit my home page at: http://macrocoins.com |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10038 Posts |
okiepb said: Quote:
I have an Apple Mac and have had trouble finding anything under $200 that will even work w/ my computer. I'd love to find something that does. I am not sure how old you Mac is. But remember if you have an Intel one, you can install Windows as a native operating system or under something like Boot Camp, VMware Fusion, or Parallels. I run VMware with XP on mine so I can run a Windows-only graphics program. You probably will be able to use a Windows USB microscope this way since, again, an Intel Mac IS a Windows machine. Also, an added benefit - I do not allow Windows to "see" the internet on my machine. I download everything in the Mac environment and drag it into Windows. This way I get no malware/viruses/etc in Windows (OS X is 99.9999% immune to these - for now). In other words I have a truly safe Windows environment!  |
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Replies: 11 / Views: 1,933 |
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Posted 07/31/2011 3:02 pm
