Digital Microscope purchase

If you would use it for soldering, a better solution is one that gives you a 3D view. AFAICS the one linked here will be difficult to do any serious soldering with

Stereo microscope:

Cheers

Klaus

This one looks like good quality:

I'd agree, one size doesn't fit all. As Klaus says, a stereo/binocular microscope x10 or x20 is the way to go for soldering and you can often pick up a good quality used one from eBay for under a century.

Cheers

I've found magnifying devices to be difficult to recommend, since they are /very/ dependent on - individual's eyesight - specific requirements - individual preference

As an example, although I've been taking stereoscopic photos since 1984, I find stereo microscopes almost impossible to use. There is an exception to that: I found an old (?pair?) very cheaply in a college that was closing down, and it is a delight to use. I believe the magnification is 12* and 24*, but can't be sure. The lower magnification is usually sufficient for looking at joints, but I occasionally use the latter.

I've also tried cheap "digital" microscopes and am not a fan, but that is very personal.

Hence my strong recommendation is to try cheap alternatives, before spending large amounts on something that might not suit /you/.

I have found cheap head-mounted visors surprisingly useful: - can wear with glasses - choose magnification for the specific task - can have two lenses "in series" for higher magnification - use at any angle and position, as convenient

Widely available example:

I have the optivisior with a loupe installed, I use it a lot, but the down side is the more magnification you use the closer you need to get to the object, until you are to close to the work to work. I may have an addition problem, I had Amblyopia (lazy eye) as a child, they did correction between 5 and 10 yrs old, but still even with correction, they never quite get it to 20-20 vision. But even today they don't work together as well as they should. I once took a drivers eye exam and read of the first line with my good eye and she said, how about the other eye, I didn't see anything. She said it's there! I closed my good eye and saw it, read it off and passed, that was a first. Appreciate the info, but not sure I'd be happy with a stereo microscope. I have a possible lead on one I used on occaision when I was working, I'll see if it is available, for at least a test.

Thank, Mikek

All understood and accepted - and a good illustration of just how personal this is.

One other approach is that used by dentists and surgeons; it appears as if they have telescopes glued to their glasses. I have never tried those, but I would presume that it would be necessary to have both inter-ocular and toe-in adjustments.

I suspect a suitable search term is "dental loupe" or "surgical loupe".

A bit OT but I find sharpening stones the least useful option. Especially when trying to see to solder :)

NT

Yes, I have wanted those for many years, and ask my dental hygienists about the ones they wore, back many years ago when I ask, they were talking $550 or $600. I should have bought them then, I have a daughter in dental school, (I) recently paid for her loupes to the tune of $2,500. I'm sure I could get something cheaper, but to her (my) money seems to be of no concern :-) I tried them on but the "inter-ocular and toe-in adjustments" were just to far off and I could not see anything. I did call about the microscope I used to do a little work with and will know Thursday if it is available. That one will be good for soldering, but I may still want something higher power. Spending my retirement money, we saved for 37 years, time to enjoy some of it, (but not to much of it). After living a frugal life for so long it is hard to be spendy or not look at how to save money on everything.

Mikek

Yep, no need to see the edge, when it's sharp you will know. But I found it interesting while researching sharpening, seeing the actual cuts on the bevel from the grit. When I got a blade sharp and looked at the magnified bevel, I still had coarse grit cuts, so needed more medium work before the fine work and leather. I thought I had a sharp knife when I could slice paper, but then saw a video of just the blade weight cutting I needed to do better.

Mikek

ight there

t directly

ut.

hole penny

HQC2C#customerReviews

ot, but

) as a child,

en with

t.

eo

ng.

See what you can see on fleabay. In cases like this, an ounce of practical trial is a worth a pound of theorising. Particularly if an ounce only costs pence/cents!

Yes, I know that feeling /exactly/, only too well.

I console myself with the best definition of an engineer:

Alternatively, I was talking to and helping an acquaintance that had a stroke. He mentioned that he had some savings, for a rainy day. We agreed it was a rainy day.

So, will spending some money give you a commensurate level of pleasure?

I have mid-quality dual loupes. I rarely use them, because they are not prismatic, so I need to cross my eyes to use them and that's tiring. The expensive eye telescopes used by surgeons have prisms to allow you to look straight ahead at a highly enlarged image that's close, but not too close (to allow your hands to work). I would buy a pair of those if the price was reasonable, but mostly I just use the headband magnifier (over my reading glasses, for astigma correction).

Clifford Heath.

Consider an optical stereo microscope (dissecting microscope); this will let you see the components AND the iron AND the joint, with enough depth perception that it'll be easy to stab the tiny tip of the iron at the grain-of-salt-sized component, without undue attention to feeling the tiny pressures while half-blind.

Digital microscopes could do well, but there aren't any inexpensive ones that do 3-D (there's no easy way to get real-time synchronization of the cameras). Digital microscopes have a major focus problem, because your eye's accommodation does nothing for you; it is possible to focus your eyes on the screen, but that won't de-blur the image unless the camera has some kind of autofocus feature as well (some digital cameras DO have this, and a point-and-shoot digital camera might be combined with a closeup lens).

A lens in front of your eyes has the autofocus feature of... your eyes. So, it's easy to use for a soldering iron slightly outside the focus (which will normally be on the PCB and its solder fillets).

Many available 'digital microscopes' are just low-res webcams that have a close-focusing lens. Ideally, you'd want autofocus, high resolution, and illumination direction control, as well as a large easy-to-see display. What you get, is an illlumination dimmer knob.

The surgical optics things are basically just opera glasses with very good fitting. They're good at one distance, for one user, and this is the kind my dentist likes

On Tuesday, July 23, 2019 at 2:58:08 PM UTC-4, Lasse Langwadt Christensen w rote:

right there

n't directly

out.

whole penny

KCHQC2C#customerReviews

ar

ion

MJ0JW2

lot, but

to

ye) as a child,

even with

rs

ow

rst.

ereo

ng.

hing.

My god those have to be crummy things. I'm sure they have cheap plastic le nses. I buy inexpensive magnifying lenses and they aren't worth having. I f you aren't paying at least a few hundred the lenses will be crap.

I'll let you know how bad or good it is, I spent an extra $3.20 to purchase it stateside.

If I purchase a microscope or magnifying camera I'll get a kick out of looking at whatever I see, I'm just curious, so it will be neat. Once the money is spent I don't think about it. Well sometimes, I just gave a lawyer $4,000 to get clean title to a property I sold years ago. After I get the title and resell, then I get to go after the deadbeat for any money I lost. I'm having thoughts about trying to get a job as a bill collector just to learn how to squeeze a deadbeat, that already told me he was uncollectible, And btw he lives in an over $1,000,000 home in not a HCOL state.

A second response. Just thought I'd add, one of the pleasures (we) do get is, we're paying college tuition for both of my kids so they will not have any student loans to start life with. If the democrats get in and make tax payers payoff student loans I'll be pissed. I could go off on a rant, but I won't unless someone else starts. :-)

s right there

an't directly

out.

a whole penny

KCHQC2C#customerReviews

ar

tion

MJ0JW2

a lot, but

to

eye) as a child,

even with

rs

ow

rst.

tereo

ts

ing.

thing.

I bought the 2.5X version of these ($25):

They are optically quite passable, but 2.5X proved a bit too low for SMD work.

The big advantage is the extended working distance.

Cheers, James Arthur

A couple of weeks ago I picked up a worn-but-still-sound B&L StereoZoom 4 microscope for all of $50, with a set of Zeiss 12x wide-field eyepieces (in place of the original 10x) and an industrial-inspection-type stand. Even 'though I wear eyeglasses, the field of view is wide enough that it's no strain at all to look through it. With those eyepieces I end up with a zoom range starting at about 10x and going up to about 40x... the low-zoom setting looks as if it's going to be very good for SMD soldering.

It needs an illuminator (I've bought a few 3, 5, and 10-watt LEDs to experiment with).

For modest soldering jobs I've been quite happy with an Optivisor, but it looks as if this scope will let me work comfortably on smaller workpieces.

There are a lot of these older StereoZoom 'scopes on the used market... B&L and its successors sold a lot of them. You can buy professionally-refurbished ones for over $1000, or used ones for a song, or anywhere in between.