Ok, I'm on the fence leaning toward going for an Amscope 745 with a 0.5 Barlow, but before getting off the fence one way or another (before it starts to feel like a picket fence
) I'd like to revisit the issue of just how much depth of field there really is with a conventional/optical microscope vs an HDMI video scope.
So the question is: How much depth of field do you perceive when soldering with an optical scope?
The reason for the question is this - I had a chance today to use a USB microscope today and what I experienced was that it had some lag but what was much more disconcerting than the lag was the limited amount of depth perception. I only had about a half hour with the USB microscope and it was an entry level product that wasn't set up right for soldering but it seemed like unless I wanted to just push my imaginary iron (a ballpoint pen) and solder (a resistor lead) down until I hit something the ~iron tip and ~solder were like airplanes looking for a way to land without bouncing up and down too much on the runway.
I know that with a 35mm camera the depth of field can easily be increased by adjusting the aperture to a higher numbered f stop (ie, making a smaller aperture) but with the type of optics and controls found on an Amscope SM series microscope, how much depth of field do you perceive when soldering and working on a PCB?
Obviously, ICs are not like skyscrapers so it seems that the depth of field only needs to be within a pretty small range, but it does need to be present, yes? Can anyone describe how easy or challenging it is to get the soldering iron (and solder, tools, etc.) at the appropriate height with an optical microscope?
Is the depth of field on an optical microscope noticeably better than with a digital microscope?