Hello all, Preliminary report on my new USB microscope. Although almost entirely made from plastic, I found it to be well made. The scope that I ordered is a 20-800 times magnification unit, not a perfect choice. I think that a much lower value would have been better 5-50* or maybe 10-100* I did find a 10-500 but at a cost of near $1000. Far too much for my budget. Good to perfect points - The rack & pinion focussing covers the full range of focus, Brightness control. Not so good points - The lens protector made of clear plastic has a removable (optically poor) cover. Either remove this or replace with an optical glass slide cover. (I have in the UK). I have this morning altered the focus of the Objective Lens (not recommended if you are unskilled at this type of work) I now need to move the rack and pinion post up by 60mm (2½ inches) to allow the full range of focus at the new focal length. To allow me to focus on a standard size stamp - just. I believe a 5* or 10* microscope would be far better for stamp inspection. All for now, I hope this has been informative. Please feel free to ask any questions. More tests to follow when modifications completed. Regards, James.
_____________________________________________________________ The experiment with the digital microscope had been put on hold for a while. The microscope that I purchased was definightly the wrong one! minimum magnification is 20 times. I would say it would be much better at 5 times. At 20* it difficult to cover a single small stamp. Although I managed to alter focus of the objective lens it proved to be not enough to make a dramatic alteration to the final images. Back in the UK I have a number of "secret" pin-hole lenses (for door entry systems) I may be able to use one of these to modify the objective lens on the m/scope, but the UK is still a couple of months away. Before you buy a microscope, try your webcam. mine is a £2 -3$ - 3€ - 1.3mp camera that does quite a reasonable job. Once focussed at about 150mm (6") you can use the supplied software to zoom from about 1 (large stamp) image to about 4 stamps. Possible side by side comparisons?. I think that this is a serious contender. I have a spare one of these because I bought an extra one for my daughter but she swapped to a laptop before I returned from England, so it is still in its delivery box. I may mount the webcam on the m/scope stand for a little versatility. Regards, James.
Keep up the reports... I for one am interested. Thinking I am going to move back to Tennessee in the next 3 months so I will get one after I return... have an optical scope for now which does well for inspection but not worth a darn on capturing pics until I mount a camera...
