Tired Of Squinting When Flyspecking?

I've tried just about every magnifier under the sun for hunting varieties... loupes, lighted handheld magnifiers, portable digital cameras, portable video magnifiers... you name it.

While some come close to being usable, they invariably become tiring for extended usage. Small optical view dimensions means lots of squinting... which gets old real quick.

I've used a flatbed scanner, but that is VERY slow to go through many stamps.

Enter the world of low-vision aids, specifically desktop magnifiers. These are designed for people who have severe eyesight disabilities. They usually involve a video camera mounted to a stand, connected to a monitor (used to be CRT but now LCD). They usually have many levels of mgnification, different color display modes, including full color, b&w, positive, negative, yellow-on-blue, etc. They usually have built-in lighting as well, adjustable pivotable monitor arm, and a movable platform so you can pan across printed material.

They are INSANELY expensive new, usually in the US$2,000-3,000 range. However, they decrease in value dramatically on the used market, and can freqently be found on ebay for US$400-1,000, depending on age and feature set.

NOTE: You would not want to buy one internationally, only in your home country, as they are very bulky and heavy. Even domestically they run US$50-100 to ship.

Here is the ebay category I used to search for them:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/Low-Vision-...skc=50&rt=nc

Probably the biggest current manufacturer, at least in the U.S., is Enhanced Vision, who has a pretty large range of models:

http://www.enhancedvision.com/

I picked up one with a 22" LCD monitor for US$500. It really is the cat's meow for flyspecking.

It has two overhead lamps which can be turned on or off, with adjustable brightness control. 16 levels of magnification ranging from 2.7x to 78x, according to the documentation. The document table works like a charm. It slides in all directions (front-to back and side-to-side) like butter, making it very easy to pan across items at all levels of magnification. The table can be locked in any position.

The particular model I have also allows it to be used as a computer monitor. When the unit is turned on, it is a standalone magnifier; when turned off, it automatically switches to a separate video input allowing display from your computer, so it can double as a second monitor.

Unfortunately, there is not screen-capture facility, as it is a standalone device.

Newer models also feature high-definition cameras (although from what I can tell the standard camera is sufficient), or the ability to split screen between video camera and external computer signal. These newer models rarely appear on ebay, and even when they do they are quite pricey. In the global scheme of things, they are probably overkill for a hobbyist's needs.

The pictures below show the 16 different levels of magnification, from least to most. I find settings 11-13 to be the most useful and the most crisp.

I have a device of camera optics that I paid $10 for, and the seller practically tap-danced, as I think they are grossly obsolete now. It's an Asahi Pentax 8 x 30 6.2" long lens, p/n 5606728. It does a superb job, but someday I have to build a little stand for it, as trying to hold it still is really difficult.
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To flyspeck, you would of course move the stamp, not the lens, in case you're wondering.

Perfect! Perfect! Perfect!

Thanks Revcollector, this is just what I have been looking for. I have 6 loupes of different magnification and the old hand magnifying glass that I use but it has been getting harder to use them. The hunt is already on to find one.

Anything more you'd have an electron microscope! Very very nice!

Now that is very interesting,I think many people have thought about how to address quickly looking at a stamp in great detail without alot of fuss. This certainly fits the bill.

That is great, but beyond my budget. Also, I want more portability. The Celestron 44302-A USB microscope was mentioned in another thread as being decent, but no images taken with it were shown. Has anyone else tried this one?

It is available in Canada at Costco online at http://www.costco.ca/Celestron-Delu...0350931.html

Bee See that is like the one I currently use but it does take a lot of positioning the stamp to get what you want. I usually use a loupe unless very fine detail is needed then I will use it. For price it is a good buy but be aware it does take some work to get the image.

Very cool indeed. All of us old people can now have new eyes again!

Thanks for the info 1775mac. Does it take decent pictures?

Yes, they are crystal clear. Just need to focus and tweak for each sometimes.

I have a pedestal USB microscope. About the only things I use it for are finding silk threads and taking pictures of overdates on coins. Far too cumbersome to use for looking at numbers of stamps.

Thanks very much for posting your findings. It's very helpful, especially with all the pictures.

[I found it interesting to see the range of responses it received on the various sites you posted it on. I appreciate that the merits of it were discussed on this site and on the VSC. (I was disappointed that on another site it was just mocked by the forum admin.)]

-- Dave

I expect it on that board. The owner despises Americans, so anything posted by one is worthy of his ridicule.

So really there doesn't seem to be a good answer to the problem yet. I have read most of the other threads and there doesn't seem to be a real resolution to the problem yet. I'm almost 68 and not getting any younger so somebody better hurry and soon. The best I've found was a 20 power loupe at our local jewelry store. He has the scanner, Microscope with TV monitor but at $3,000for one. That's way out of my budget range.

I am not trying to replace my scanner. I want a tool that I can occasionally and quickly view loose stamps or stamps in an album and capture images if needed. Once I set the zoom level or magnification, I would hope to be able put other stamps under it without re-adjusting, or just move it over another stamp in an album.

TinMan: I think RevenueCollector mentioned this somewhere along the way (or maybe someone else did on the VSC thread), but it seems like this is the kind of thing you might find for sale on Craigslist from time to time. Unfortunately, it may be because someone who needed it previously has passed. The best the heirs can hope for is to get some cash for it. Since insurance or Medicare won't pay for used equipment (I think), there's not a very dynamic resale market for used medical equipment, except casually through Craigslist and maybe ebay. In most cases, I would prefer Craigslist, since you can physically inspect it before buying, and get a little better feeling for where it came from (and maybe negotiate a bit, too).