Who Uses A Digital Microscope, And What Do You Recommend?

As the title suggests, I'm fixing to buy a digital microscope, and I'm curious to see who uses one, and what brand/model you use or recommend?

I'm looking for a USB microscope that will also take photos. It seems most of the $30-$60 ones on Amazon will do this. What is a good magnification? Some of them are offering HUGE (read: unrealistic) magnifications and I doubt that is necessary for our hobby. What features should I be looking for? Anything to avoid?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions, ideas and feedback.

Edit to add: My intention here is to use it in place or beside my magnifying glass. To look at stamps magnified on my computer monitor. I have a good scanner, this is not to replace my scanner.

Have you considered a scanner?
The Epson family of scanners are popular.

I used a digital microscope back in the 2000s, but have abandoned it long ago in favor of a scanner


Peter

The positive with a usb microscope is the realtime image on your monitor. And, you can move the stamp around as you are zoomed in. Then get a snapshot if you want.

Also helps my old eyes from from getting tired looking through a magnifying glass looking for those flyspeck varieties.

My 2¢.
Pat

Hello, I have a digital microscope and is great, is fast and you can go through many stamps in less time ( BUT) I have an Epson XP-6100 scanner and it works great, is easier to use plus you can download the photos of course, also you scan the stamp and then you blow it up on your screen is awesome , plus you will be a able to see every detail on the stamps, the only thing you have to do is locate the stamp straight, otherwise the scan comes out crooked, you get excellent detail with the scan much better than the digital microscope, I prefer the scanner myself, anyway that's my experience with these 2 items, that scanner is not very expensive either, I hope this info will help you.

@rod222, @Petert5422, Yes I have pretty decent flatbed scanner. I'm looking for something to replace compliment my magnifying glass more than my scanner. Something I can keep on my desk, slide a stamp under and see in real time on my monitor. And take a photo when I want to.

@patg23 I think you nailed my intention

https://goscf.com/t/69091
https://goscf.com/t/18700
https://goscf.com/t/65994

In my opinion, the cheap ones will do just fine. Imaging is clear and sharp, assuming you have enough light.
• You won't need more than about 25x magnification (if that) unless you want to inspect paper fibers. My cheap unbranded one (was less than $20 three years ago) is focused manually and stays put, so I just keep the working distance fixed.
• You want hands-off ability to take images which I think most of them have (just click from your laptop).
• Mine has a cheap stand which still works just fine. You might want one more rock solid.
• You may need more light than a cheap USB scope can provide, in which case you just pull a table lamp closer to everything.
• You need to provide a work area for it near your laptop, so small units might be better in that regard. I can unplug and pack away mine in its box as needed, and very quickly.

@hy-brasil Oooh, some good suggestions here. Need to get one with enough light. thanks!

Yes,
I have never had a microscope, so ignorant of how good they may be.

What I like about the scanner, esp identifying varieties, flyspecking,
is to take 600dpi scans of a normal, and then the suspect, and "Toggling"
the two side by side images, every discrepancy can be identified.

Just an honesty FYI; also have an HP Officejet Pro Printer/Scanner I use for pages and covers.
pat

See towards the end of the thread here and also my last post :
https://goscf.com/t/56138&
Yep, the example images are somewhat out of focus and certainly could have been done better with less haste and not shot on a Scott catalog balanced on another open Scott catalog.

The scanner method works well if you're comparing whole stamps to whole stamps at one go. Like any microscope, the more magnification, the smaller the field of view. But putting a stamp in (say) a 102 card should allow you to scan large areas before finding a detailed area to check. My cheap scope is 640x480px.

I have am old Celestron USB microscope using a video camera. While it works ok, I do not like the auto gain light feature. I would like to get a better one. I purchased one but sent it back since it was no better than what I had. If you get one, I recommend one where you can adjust the light angle since some details can get washed out with lighting normal to stamp. My DLSR takes better images than the microscope or my Epson V600 scanner.

In my opinion, USB microscopes are only really useful for flyspecking. The field of vision isn't large enough to capture the entire stamp and the color accuracy tends to be horrific. I use them only for capturing blue silk threads in 1st issue U.S. revenue silk papers. Otherwise I use an Epson Perfection V550 flatbed scanner. For larger documents I have a 12"x18" Fujitsu FJ-5750c flatbed scanner, and a Canon DLSR with 180mm macro lens for plate varieties.

My thread from 2014 on the Fujitsu (still going strong!): https://goscf.com/t/36704

The digital microscope I use is a SVBONY Model SV604. Easy to use. Magnification 1x-1200x. It may be more than you need but I use it for other pursuits as well. I believe I paid about $100 US.