Microscope for SMD and inspecting work

[gtm]

Quote from: jfiresto on Yesterday at 20:08:52>Quote from: gtm on Yesterday at 12:57:59

I wonder if widefield eyepieces would improve the situation. The truth is that I like the optical image, it's just the un-forgiveness of it what is a pain in the neck

If your microscope has diopter adjustments on both ocular tubes, I have a pair of nice, modern, very lightly used, fixed-focus Leica 10X/23 high eyepoint oculars I am not using, you could try, that would probably help a lot (the fixed-focus version, 10447136, of this one):



[original link]

Thanks for the offer, but I've sold the microscope, I'm just waiting for it to get picked up. Apart from my low stereo vision, the main reasons for getting rid of it are that I didn't quite like the camera (noisy), the base and the boom arm it came with (a bit flimsy). So I sold the lot for a very small loss.
If I buy another optical microscope in the future, and I might, I think I'll go for a Nikon, Olympus or other brand-name second hand one.
Thanks anyway.

[jfiresto]

... If I buy another optical microscope in the future, and I might, I think I'll go for a Nikon, Olympus or other brand-name second hand one....

It will probably take more effort but if you have the patience, you can get some sweet, used "Big Four" microscopes.

[Manul]

Interesting, so according to this:

http://blog.microscopeworld.com/2011/10/stereo-microscopes-greenough-vs-common.html

Stereo microscopes with a single common objective lens (CMO) are actually more high-end then those with two separate objectives lenses (Greenough).

[gtm]

Quote from: ollihd on Yesterday at 23:40:03

Thank you for all the great answers. I'm kind of settling for this one atm:

>

;https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001038582272.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.54182f68oemC0K&algo_pvid=a4f2ff70-3abd-4500-9d18-1ef15438e381&algo_expid=a4f2ff70-3abd-4500-9d18-1ef15438e381-1&btsid=0bb0623416208533584238663e575d&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_

I can get that one delivered from Poland for 395eur. As far as I can tell, that is a pretty good price?

Thoughts:

- I know that the articulating arm will wobble a little bit, but it's a must for the space I'm going to be using the scope in
- I don't do that much of really zoomed in work, so I guess a little wobble won't bother me too much
- I can attach an external monitor for inspection work
- Has 0,5x for soldering work from a distance

Any downsides? Any experiences with Eakins? = from what I can see, almost all the chinese microscopes are more or less the same


Well, that is exactly the same scope I've just sold, same eyepieces, bought from the same Aliexpress store, different stand, similar camera, mine was 36MP, also Panasonic sensor.
In my case, the camera was crap, those 36 Megapixels are interpolated resolution, not real resolution.I got a lot of noise on the video, and not so good looking photographs, like a heavely compressed image,  I disliked it a lot.I also had the problems I mentioned earlier getting the oculars aligned for my eyes, but maybe that was a problem with me, I am malformed or something, or I just got a dud.
If it was me, I'll get one without the camera (and buy that separately), without the 2X barlow which you are not going to use,  and preferably with 10x/22mm or 10X/23mm eyepieces.

[jfiresto]

Interesting, so according to this:

http://blog.microscopeworld.com/2011/10/stereo-microscopes-greenough-vs-common.html

Stereo microscopes with a single common objective lens (CMO) are actually more high-end then those with two separate objectives lenses (Greenough).

The relation is more subtle than that, which the original page makes clear with many more interesting images and details, beyond what the above is quoting. In practice, the causation is the other way around: higher end microscopes tend to be CMO designs because once you swallow the size and cost of the more complicated common main objective, it becomes easier to much easier to do many different things further up the microscope. That includes augmenting the optics for new uses post-purchase.

Nothing says you could not make a "routine" (the polite term for low end) CMO microscope – and some manufacturers have. My father compared one against three Greenough designs, in the mid 1980s when he was shopping for a routine microscope, and two of them where markedly better for his uses than the CMO.

[jmelson]

Thank you for all the great answers. I'm kind of settling for this one atm:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001038582272.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.54182f68oemC0K&algo_pvid=a4f2ff70-3abd-4500-9d18-1ef15438e381&algo_expid=a4f2ff70-3abd-4500-9d18-1ef15438e381-1&btsid=0bb0623416208533584238663e575d&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_

I can get that one delivered from Poland for 395eur. As far as I can tell, that is a pretty good price?

That's the same scope as we have at work, except ours is white.  I don't think that stand with the multi-lointed arm looks good at all.  My stand at home is a beefy 8" lathe chuck with a piece of MacPherson strut as the arm.
The dual-beam stand at work is a bit more flexible, but still stiff enough to hold the scope in place without jiggling.
You want a base that weighs at least 20 Kg, and a stiff arm.

If their LED ring light fits below the scope body on an adaptor ring, don't get it.  You can easily build your own ring light that fits up on the side of the scope body, and is much more out of the way.

Jon

[Electro Fan]

Here is the end of a thread about a similar journey.  It’s now about half a year later and the update is that the microscope has made a big improvement in my ability to solder through hole and a huge difference in my ability to solder SMD.  The monitor is somewhere between interesting/fun and useful with the simulfocal setup but ~95% of the magic is in the optical view.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/the-ergonomics-of-microscope-soldering-direct-optical-view-vs-cameramo-257888/msg3332530/#msg3332530