Reasonably cheap magnifier lamp OR digital microscope suggestions

[Infraviolet]

I'm trying to decide on a magnification solution for soldering. I've used very fancy digital microscopes before for very fine SMD stuff, but am after something simpler here. The issue is I'm not sure how to select the right sort of magnifier or scope, given requirements about what would be wise focal lengths and magnification factors. And this is doubly hard when going cheap, as for this I'm probably shopping at more "consumer oriented" places without proper datasheet listings.

Mostly this will be for soldering, 0603, SOIC, or SOT-23, not finer pitched stuff.

This will be for soldering with an iron, not a paste needle. So needs a fair bit of focal length so it can be put reasonably far above the desk level.

One of the other key points is for soldering 2.54mm pitched stuff from a more comfortable position than leaning over it, so I can sit back in my chair rather than hunch over. Very easy with a digital microscope outputting to a screen, unsure what the right choice of magnifcation and focal length would be for doing this with a lense-and-lamp type magnifier.

If you think the microscope idea would be better than a magnifier, can you recommend any which can go straight to HDMI, VGA or DVI, straight to a monitor, not needing a USB going in to a computer along the way. Also I worry that anything relying on USB might give software compatibility worries.

For the magnifier option, can anyone point to a good guide on how much manification, how much focal length below the lense, and how far back your head can be from it, one gets with magnifiers?

Thanks

[Martin72]

Hi,

I got a Andonstar digital microscope:

https://www.welectron.com/Andonstar-ADSM302-Digitalmikroskop

It got enough space to solder under, the visual quality is good, with external monitor excellent.
Can make some pics from it, when it´s interesting enough.