Microscope recommendation needed

the amscope ring light i have on my boom scope has the three circles of leds at slight angles with a narrow beam, they cast somewhat of a shadow i can grab some pics if it helps, though not always easy to capture

LEDs are controlled by quadrant, each independently switched with the 4 arrow buttons. The level can be set with the +/- buttons. So you should be able to cast shadows in 4 directions.

FYI, I stumbled upon this today: https://www.inspectar.com/

yeah it’s really neat, there are a couple versions now. it’s 1K per year for the desktop app and since its in my wheelhouse i ended up just rolling my own. i should tidy it up and throw it on github, its one of those apps that has just grown in specific utility for my use case so i may try to do a specific version. it started off as an app to measure circles.

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The fact that that’s in your wheelhouse is impressive! I’d be interested in a macro version for inspectors checking large assemblies.

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apologies to the thread for off-topicness, but here is a stitched image from my eakins with an auto XY table. i’m still in dev with it but its pretty basic capture, move, capture, stitch(with helion at the moment) my next step is to have the focus stack + the xy capture.

also apologies for dust and what not, but we’re in socal so fire, and we just had insulation and drywall work so our place is dust central at the moment.

i’m driving a tinyg to control the xy, a stickvise to hold the pcb and a couple of Amazon.com held together with a 3d printed block. i didn’t overlay the pcb schematic since i’m working on the camera control side.

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I am shopping for the HAYEAR 34MP also. I have a setup with a microscope, but it’s annoying to dismantle wires etc when I need to do a modification

@ChrisGammell: Seems like you have a camera distance of at least 60cm. Do you need other special lense than than the 0.5x to do that?

I use the one that comes with it, I’m not sure if it’s 0.5x or what. It’s a pretty long lens though, physically.

One thing that helps is even if you are further away, the digital zoom will make up the difference. It’s adjustable up to 5x. There is some image degradation, but nothing terrible.

I was having a bunch of trouble with the clamp solution I was using, since it was actually two of the clamps coupled together. They really didn’t hold the position very well, especially in the “pointing straight down” orientation.

It was disappointing the manufacturer didn’t put a mounting screw hole on there, but I suppose this is what I got a 3D printer for, right?? :smiley: I modeled a couple different holding solutions and 3D printed a holder.

Pretty happy with the final product:

If anyone wants the STL, let me know

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After reading all of this and talking to a friend of mine, I purchased:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RNCQJG3/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

from this thread, but it seems I have to get extremely close to get the maximum magnification. Am I doing something wrong? I was a bit disappointed because until now I have been using something like: Helping Hands Soldering With LED Magnifier and USB Fan, 3 Brightness LED Third Hand Tool Station with 6 Flexible Gooseneck Arm Heavy Metal Base for DIY Craft Solder Detailed Electronics Repair Jewelry Office Supplies Office Instruments Magnifiers
(I can’t find the Amazon link for the one I actually bought).

I noticed that none of you guys used anything like that, but I was hesitant to jump all the way to a double boom microscope.
My helping hands magnifier seems to get better magnification without me having to bend over the board.

I suppose I have a two part question:

  1. Am I doing it wrong?
  2. It it worth the plunge to get the nice new AmScope? I just don’t want to get caught up with shiney! new! syndrome, spend a bunch of money, and then use something else.

My eventual goal is to be able to make boards with FPGA’s on them. I realize that I will probably pick and place for those chips, but I hear that I will have to be able to do rework anyway.

those just seem bulkier forms of “reader spectacles” if you have bad eyesight levels of magnification a microscope digital or analog has way more magnification i use those for some desk work assembly to help with worsening vision but yes you need to hold the thing close to your face for it to work , higher the magnification the close you have to get

i use the digital camera/monitor version the most nowadays, i have the boom trinocular amscope and a mantis scope but i just prefer the camera because it offers way more features and gets in the way less.

the mantis i prefer to amscope for rework since its “3d” but its a lot more expensive even in the used fleabay market though the mantis i have is a bit more cumbersome to deal with space wise than a boom microscope since its really meant for production setups

I use microscope for very fine stuff, but for 0402 and up I use a headband. It is much more flexible than a microscope, and fast

I use one similar to this one:

https://www.elextra.dk/da-DK/p/GS/H39225?utm_source=GoogleAds&utm_medium=cpc&gclid=Cj0KCQiAip-PBhDVARIsAPP2xc0YrOGOT_xbfPflbPytIePxXzdPPbsAt14aRuVQHwB-IanxrOwvxK8aApXREALw_wcB

I’m afraid that’s just how the optics work.

In some way, they are indeed that. I do think having a greater distance between the eye and the lens provides a more comfortable longer working distance than “eye glasses” with the same magnification.

Also, at higher magnification, you need more light, and the built-in lighting does make a difference.

There are double-lensed magnifiers (often sold as “dentist magnifiers” or “dental loupes” or similar) which have a much longer working distance. But they have a much narrower field of view, are even more front-heavy (a head strap is the best way to go), and any head movements are far more pronounced at that longer distance. When working on boards, you usually want to look from the top down – with those loupe magnifiers, it might be a challenge to find a comfortable working orientation when you’re working on placing parts on boards (versus sculpting work where the object can be placed level to your eyes).

There are lots of choices - so whatever works well for you is good! At the end of the day, they’re just lenses, served up in various configurations. I like having my variety of lenses to fit the occasion and my mood. Heck, sometimes all I need is a super bright light and my regular reading glasses to do what I need.

I do like my stereo microscope because it provide binocular vision and has variable zoom, which I find handy.

Ok I think I was doing it wrong. Or at least testing it incorrectly.

I used it to look at the “star” of resistors and capacitors on my Zedboard rather than the 0806 parts I am working with right now. I had to deform the nose bridge a bit so they fit better, but I can now see all of the detail on the Zedboard parts. I am not sure what size they are but they are significantly smaller than anything I have worked with and probably the target size I want to achieve since being able to layout a board containing a Zynq chip is my current goal. I can also clearly read all the components on top of my utlra96.

So I just learned today about how to parfocal the microscope so that the image stays focused as you vary the zoom. My diopter adjustment had gotten way out of kilter and that had me constantly adjusting the focus height.

Hopefully, this is useful information for others on this thread: How to Focus and Parfocal Your Stereo Microscope for Great Viewing | Pathwooded

This one minute tuning would have eliminated probably over an hour of wasted time fiddling the focus on my scope over the years!

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@ChrisGammell Do you still have the STL for that mount? Trying a camera out and trying to look at a few different configurations.

I recently bought one with autofocus. Really great function and an excuse for buying more gear

First of all, thanks to everyone for contributing their knowledge. This thread really helped guide my search when looking for a new microscope.

Just wanted to post another data-point about this, and share my experience. I finally had the need for zoomed in images of a PCB, so I dropped the cash on a trinocular scope. I stuck with Amscope because I’ve used several over the years, and they’re a good cost vs. performance point for me.

Thanks for this tip. Finding the newer version was a bit hard, but I was able to.

A couple lessons learned:

  1. It comes with a 2x Barlow lens, which results in a working distance of ~2cm. It really should come with a 0.5x or 0.7x Barlow lens to make the working distance more manageable.
  2. I would love to know why the fluorescent bulb light ring is still being made. I ended up not bothering to install it and just opted for an LED light ring from Amazon.
  3. I’m already considering upgrading the camera, even though I got a relatively pricey camera. Only after the fact did I see that the Flir Blackfly S 20MP Color was only a couple hundred more than the 18MP camera from Amscope. I definitely would have splurged to get a Flir.
  4. For the camera, the auto-focus is a much needed feature. Messing with the focus while the boom is extended results in a lot of wobble and patience.
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