Microscope

[Slam]

Hi All, 

So my son received a gift for educational purposes for school, however I was pleasantly surprise and thought maybe I can also use it to look at coins in more detail. He got this:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/National-Geographic-Microscope-40x-640x-Smartphone/dp/B016QIPWO8

I have tried to set it up to look at coins, it seems to be zoomed into it so much that I cannot really see and everytime I put the stage (Where the coin sits) further down so its away from the mircoscope it doesn't focus. I assume its because 40x to 640x is too high to be able to use this to look at coins? This one has a phone holder to take pictures which I thought was a good feature to have.

So I am now on a look out for a microscope to purchase. Any one use anything like this and can recommend something? 

Thanks

 

[Pete]

High magnification amateur microscopes require the objective lens to literally be in contact with the object under investigation.
Some even require the lens to be immersed in a thin layer of transparent liquid ( water or oil ).
To examine coins you are really looking at fairly low magnification say x10 to x20 and getting good illumination from the side / top is very important.
Cheap scopes use cheap lenses and when viewing wider areas it becomes impossible to retain focus across the zone and also avoid chromatic aberrations.
If you ever owned a good quality SLR camera you will find the lens comprises multiple lenses, often optically contacted / glued together made from different refractive index glasses.
These are odd shapes to correct all the aberrations that occur in a wider aperture and to eliminate the chromatic errors as well.
Tiny lenses in smart phones are mass produced aspheric lenses with very small apertures so taking care of the aberrations but whether inexpensive microscopes use similar lenses I don't know, but they would be quite expensive ( more than the cost of the scope ) unless produced in hundreds of thousands.

[Slam]

2 hours ago, Pete said:

High magnification amateur microscopes require the objective lens to literally be in contact with the object under investigation.
Some even require the lens to be immersed in a thin layer of transparent liquid ( water or oil ).
To examine coins you are really looking at fairly low magnification say x10 to x20 and getting good illumination from the side / top is very important.
Cheap scopes use cheap lenses and when viewing wider areas it becomes impossible to retain focus across the zone and also avoid chromatic aberrations.
If you ever owned a good quality SLR camera you will find the lens comprises multiple lenses, often optically contacted / glued together made from different refractive index glasses.
These are odd shapes to correct all the aberrations that occur in a wider aperture and to eliminate the chromatic errors as well.
Tiny lenses in smart phones are mass produced aspheric lenses with very small apertures so taking care of the aberrations but whether inexpensive microscopes use similar lenses I don't know, but they would be quite expensive ( more than the cost of the scope ) unless produced in hundreds of thousands.

Thanks Pete for the information.

I came across this and is relatively cheap, reviews seem postive: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jiusion-Magnification-Endoscope-Microscope-Compatible/dp/B06WD843ZM/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?crid=2UFVTIPK9CX2Y&keywords=microscope+for+coins&qid=1640646170&sprefix=microscope+for+coin%2Caps%2C83&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzTVRDQjUyN0VVVDhUJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNjk0NzM3MlBWUzBMSFJGU1UxMSZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwOTM2NDYyMTZMUVFFM0RFSzFCUiZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU= 

But i did read on one of the reviews not really great for coins. 

[flyingveepixie]

Why not use an eye glass.  I found one in my Chards Mystery Box this year and it seems to get you in really close to see fine detail...Will probably only cost you a couple of £'s

Edited December 28, 2021 by flyingveepixie

[Slam]

47 minutes ago, flyingveepixie said:

Why not use an eye glass.  I found one in my Chards Mystery Box this year and it seems to get you in really close to see fine detail...Will probably only cost you a couple of £'s

Thanks for the reply, I was just wondering as I was playing around with the kids toy so was wondering about taking better pictures mainly when zoomed in, maybe Im just going to upgrade my phone so camera can take macro pictures and 120x zoom.

 

 

Edited December 28, 2021 by Slam

[Pete]

14 hours ago, Slam said:

Thanks Pete for the information.

I came across this and is relatively cheap, reviews seem postive: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jiusion-Magnification-Endoscope-Microscope-Compatible/dp/B06WD843ZM/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?crid=2UFVTIPK9CX2Y&keywords=microscope+for+coins&qid=1640646170&sprefix=microscope+for+coin%2Caps%2C83&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzTVRDQjUyN0VVVDhUJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNjk0NzM3MlBWUzBMSFJGU1UxMSZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwOTM2NDYyMTZMUVFFM0RFSzFCUiZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU= 

But i did read on one of the reviews not really great for coins. 

Two things instantly pop-up here -

"Endoscope" - really ?
Where is the light pipe / tube / fibre cable or whatever you call it that attaches to the unit ?
Cannot therefore be called an endoscope so can you trust the rest of the description ?

Then, perhaps unfairly as I haven't seen the unit, I imagine the optics quality similar to what you might find in a cheap Christmas cracker.
These sorts of units produced in China probably cost £2 or less to manufacture so expect to be disappointed.
 

[Slam]

Yeah, nearly went for it as it was cheap until I read that wasn't good for coins and also the pixels on the image that was taken were not full HD, wasn't expecting much but also attractive because it also comes with a box of 100 capsules for coins (99% off). But then again the capsules and foam materials are probably not good for the modern coins if you house them in there so wasn't sure to pull the trigger or not. 

Thanks for your help

[sjhdesmond]

On 28/12/2021 at 13:59, Pete said:

Two things instantly pop-up here -

"Endoscope" - really ?
Where is the light pipe / tube / fibre cable or whatever you call it that attaches to the unit ?
Cannot therefore be called an endoscope so can you trust the rest of the description ?

 

I think they expect you to swallow the whole unit.

 

Or shove it up your arse.

[HerefordBullyun]

44 minutes ago, sjhdesmond said:

I think they expect you to swallow the whole unit.

 

Or shove it up your arse.

Now theres a man whose been spying on me in the shower!