Looking for a better Microscope solution

Borgmac

Borgmac

Tinkerer
Dec 21, 2021
68
82
18
71
Richmond, KY
Hi,
I have been using a LCD microscope for a while now, and it has been very helpful.
Unfortunately, when it comes to check the traces, the lack of stereo view is definitely an issue. The camera is also very sensitive to the lightening, making difficult to see details.
I was using then an Amscope binocular that I bought second hand last year for $35 but it is difficult to use for a motherboard. I decided therefore to do some “basic” support and now this is my working place. Both microscopes can be moved on the wooden plate.
Workspace.jpeg

BUT, this starts to be very awkward and not very time efficient.
Being retired, time is not a problem, but anyway.


Turning 70 in a few months, I am really considering for my birthday gift an Amscope trinocular that , @Branchus, @Mac84, have been using for a while.
I would probably go for the SM-4NTP-144

SM-4NTPX-144.pdf

But I have a couple of questions
  • Is this still a very good equipment? @Branchus, @Mac84, would you go for it still today?
  • What do you consider as a good working distance? Basically, this eqpt has 4” and can be increased to 6.5” using a 0.5 Barlow lens. I am planning to go for the Barlow lens but is it enough? Would a 0.3 be better? What is the impact on the luminosity?
  • Regarding the luminosity, I was planning to use the 144 led ring light but there are a lot (64, 96) with or without intensity control. Any suggestion?
  • I am not really interested to record video of my work, (not at the level yet) but I am interested to have a camera to be able to connect a monitor and check my job at the monitor rather than through the binocular.
  • The HC210 is the cheapest one and do 1080 60 fps 2MP. It looks like the perfect solution. Is the remote version necessary to prevent camera shaking?

Camera HC210.pdf


The HD102-M is almost at the same price and has 720p 30fps 2MP but has a newer design. Any reason to go for this one?
Camera HD102-M.pdf



Any other suggestion for a camera?

Thanks for any other suggestion.
 
Last edited:
Drake

Drake

TinkerDifferent Board Vice-President 2023
Staff member
Sep 23, 2021
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782
93
Borgmac said:
Hi,
I have been using a LCD microscope for a while now, and it has been very helpful.
Unfortunately, when it comes to check the traces, the lack of stereo view is definitely an issue. The camera is also very sensitive to the lightening, making difficult to see details.
I was using then an Amscope binocular that I bought second hand last year for $35 but it is difficult to use for a motherboard. I decided therefore to do some “basic” support and now this is my working place. Both microscopes can be moved on the wooden plate.
View attachment 9214
BUT, this starts to be very awkward and not very time efficient.
Being retired, time is not a problem, but anyway.


Turning 70 in a few months, I am really considering for my birthday gift an Amscope trinocular that , @Branchus, @Mac84, have been using for a while.
I would probably go for the SM-4NTP-144

View attachment 9211
But I have a couple of questions
  • Is this still a very good equipment? @Branchus, @Mac84, would you go for it still today?
  • What do you consider as a good working distance? Basically, this eqpt has 4” and can be increased to 6.5” using a 0.5 Barlow lens. I am planning to go for the Barlow lens but is it enough? Would a 0.3 be better? What is the impact on the luminosity?
  • Regarding the luminosity, I was planning to use the 144 led ring light but there are a lot (64, 96) with or without intensity control. Any suggestion?
  • I am not really interested to record video of my work, (not at the level yet) but I am interested to have a camera to be able to connect a monitor and check my job at the monitor rather than through the binocular.
  • The HC210 is the cheapest one and do 1080 60 fps 2MP. It looks like the perfect solution. Is the remote version necessary to prevent camera shaking?

View attachment 9210

The HD102-M is almost at the same price and has 720p 30fps 2MP but has a newer design. Any reason to go for this one?
View attachment 9212


Any other suggestion for a camera?

Thanks for any other suggestion.
Click to expand...

Take a look at my alternative setup, not to sway you from the Amscope gear (great stuff). Tom Barber also has the same scope setup as myself now and it's more than worth it.
 
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Borgmac

Borgmac

Tinkerer
Dec 21, 2021
68
82
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Richmond, KY
Elemenoh

Elemenoh

Active Tinkerer
Oct 18, 2021
384
374
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Bay Area
I also have the Amscope trinocular on the boom stand. I bought it during a Black Friday sale of there's a couple of years ago. You may want to considering waiting a bit to see if they do that again. I have the HC210 camera and really do not like it, but am not sure which options would be much better. One thing that did help make that camera more bearable was changing the Amscope .5x reduction lens out with a generic .35x reduction lens. That improved the field of view and made the image quality in the camera a bit better for me. And FWIW I also tried a smartphone adapter, thinking that the image quality on a modern iPhone is so much better than a lot of the purpose-built cameras. Unfortunately the adapter is difficult to position and I wasn't able to get a good field of view adjusted.
 
Borgmac

Borgmac

Tinkerer
Dec 21, 2021
68
82
18
71
Richmond, KY
Elemenoh said:
I also have the Amscope trinocular on the boom stand. I bought it during a Black Friday sale of there's a couple of years ago. You may want to considering waiting a bit to see if they do that again. I have the HC210 camera and really do not like it, but am not sure which options would be much better. One thing that did help make that camera more bearable was changing the Amscope .5x reduction lens out with a generic .35x reduction lens. That improved the field of view and made the image quality in the camera a bit better for me. And FWIW I also tried a smartphone adapter, thinking that the image quality on a modern iPhone is so much better than a lot of the purpose-built cameras. Unfortunately the adapter is difficult to position and I wasn't able to get a good field of view adjusted.
Click to expand...
Very interesting. The main reason for me to switch from the LCD microscope is the quality of the video so I am concerned that it could be the same with the HC210. On the other end, when I see videos from @Branchus and @Mac84 , they look pretty good.
I found also this very interesting article even if it is a little bit old.
https://microsolderingsupply.com/bl...croscopes-everything-you-ever-needed-to-know/
The author is suggesting this HAYEAR camera
https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Indu...ee-20&linkId=a0ae4aaba981b4140737fae4f0a0a71c
Is anybody using it?
HAYEAR Camera.jpg

Any comment @Branchus or @Mac84 ?
 
Elemenoh

Elemenoh

Active Tinkerer
Oct 18, 2021
384
374
63
Bay Area
The main reason for me to switch from the LCD microscope is the quality of the video so I am concerned that it could be the same with the HC210.
Click to expand...
I was having a lot of issues with glare and sharpness. I recall @Branchus saying he had similar issues but just had to keep fussing with it until it looked good. No amount of fussing with mine could get it looking as good as his. That might have come down to the reduction lens. Consider getting the microscope directly from Amscope to save some money and the camera stuff from Amazon so you have an easier time returning it if you don't like it. IIRC, Amscope charges a restocking fee.
 
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