Entry level trinoculars that won't give me instant buyer's remorse?  - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: peps1
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2024, 09:59:43 pm
content: Hi, I have a 7" digital microscope that I find really handy for fault finding, but not so much for repair work.I really need that 3D view and all the help I can get with my awesome combination of bad eyesight and an essential tremor.Does anyone have any recommendations for AliExpress special trinocular microscope?Seems most videos on YouTube on the topic are AI affiliate link top-5 channels.From using the search function here, it seems Amscope keeps popping up, but don't know enough about the topic to know if Amscope and Eakins are all just whitelable scopes?Could really do with some advice here, both on picking a unit and what lens setup I should be starting with for electronics work.Thankyou for your time.

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2024, 10:13:53 pm
content: Give remorse?Remorse is a negative feeling, isn't it? Why would you wish that?Quote from: peps1 on December 30, 2024, 09:59:43 pmSeems like you are inside a bubble search, maybe clean all the browser cache and cookies, log-off from your current search engine, change the search engine, or alike.AFAIK Amscope is just a rebranding of generic trinocular microscopes (Indian made or Chinese? don't recall). Sometimes AMscope might be a good choice because they are already available in local stores around various continents of the world. But if you look for lower price and don't mind waiting for delivery, search for Indian/Chinese made microscopes with glass lenses that looks the same as your preferred Amscope model.Look for trinocular simulfocal, in case you may want to take pictures or filming, too, at the same time while looking through your microscope.

author: peps1
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2024, 10:33:57 pm
content: Quote from: RoGeorge on December 30, 2024, 10:13:53 pm"that won'tgive me instant buyer's remorse"Thank you for your advice, sincerely appreciated

author: Hydron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2024, 10:41:34 pm
content: Watch out for shipping; decent microscope stands are very heavy and the reason why I ended up going for an Amscope black Friday deal - price was no better than many AliExpress options (probably the same item with a different label as noted above) but free shipping from within Europe was key. I did then get accessories from AliExpress a lot cheaper than from Amscope, though one of the Barlow lenses I got had a serious optical defect (everything else was fine, including a second from the same seller, probably just bad luck).

author: NE666
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2024, 10:57:10 pm
content: For stands, seeing as you are located in the UK and shipping costs for heavy items on Ali et al aren't trivial, I think you could do worse than this;https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/126602713367I purchased one recently and as I far as I can discern, it's not distinguishable from the Amscope branded version (as has been said already, it seems that Amscope probably use white label suppliers for some of their products). As with the Amscope, it's equally far from perfect and from a true laboratory grade unit. However, for light hobbyist use, I've yet to find a problem and it's the cheapest I've seen such a stand being offered for.I already owned a trinocular head and lenses but they too look very much like, if again not identical to, the unit being offered by the same supplier for an additional ~90 GBP.

author: NE666
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2024, 11:01:27 pm
content: Oh, and you will NEED a x0.5 Barlow lens, if you want any kind of useable working distance from the PCB (for soldering etc.). However, don't go to a Barlow x0.3, as that would require a much greater working height than these types of boom stand can accommodate.

author: Conrad Hoffman
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2024, 12:28:59 am
content: The Chinese scopes are just OK at best. Mechanically they're pretty junky if it ever comes to alignment or repair. If you want a better view, go German or Japanese. They're going to be expensive, so used is a good route. For new, I recommend Meiji-https://meijitechno.com/As above, you'll want the 0.5X accessory lens. It can also be hard to find a good but inexpensive head on the stand you want. I'd rather have a cheap Chinese stand with a good Japanese head, than the other way round!

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2024, 12:49:45 am
content: Quote from: Conrad Hoffman on December 31, 2024, 12:28:59 amhttps://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/microscope-barlowreduction-lens-help-me-choose-0-5x-or-0-63x/msg5711615/#msg5711615

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2024, 01:10:41 am
content: Amscope/Eakins just re-branded china microscopes, they dont actually make their own AFAIK. So there are other ways to order exactly the same thing as you get with Amscope but cheaper. I guess there is higher risk going directly to china seller rather than through Amscope if anything goes wrong. But i've ordered many from Luckyzoom on aliexpress without any issues.- LuckyZoom on aliexpress (https://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale-luckyzoom.html)- pay for DHL shipping, (Don't use slow/rough china shipping for a microscope, they are heavy and contain glass)- Make sure you get a 0.5 barlow lens attachment, so the working distance is good.- Get a lens adaptor for the camera trinocular port. Well.. they may have fixed it but the image out of the trinocular port used to be quite wide, wider than the camera sensor so you only saw the center of the image. A lens was needed to reduce the size so the sensor saw more of the image, but you can always order that part later if needed.- Consider if you need the camera port to work at the same time as both eye pieces. "Simul Focal" means all 3 port work at once. If its not "Simul Focal" then one eye port switches (via a push/pull lever) between being an eye port or the camera output. Simul Focal is good if you want to look in it while also recording/viewing the camera, but you do lose a little quality due to the extra optics. So if you don't need to use them at the same time non-Simul Focal is probably better.

author: Electro Fan
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2024, 02:52:49 am
content: I’m pretty sure a properly configured Amscope SM745NTP can do what you want. Here is some info posted after a similar journey.https://www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/the-ergonomics-of-microscope-soldering-direct-optical-view-vs-cameramo-257888/msg3313228/#msg3313228

author: eeproks
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: December 31, 2024, 02:25:54 pm
content: Quote from: peps1 on December 30, 2024, 09:59:43 pmYou too? Annoying combo. How many times have you been told "soldering surface mount is easy...anyone can do it"?

author: KE5FX
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2024, 05:26:36 pm
content: Make sure you really need the trinocular capability. There's a good chance you don't, given how good phone cameras are these days.Put it this way: don't sacrifice any optical or ergonomic features for trinocular support. You want a microscope first, and a camera platform second.

author: jfiresto
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2024, 06:52:08 pm
content: Quote from: KE5FX on December 31, 2024, 05:26:36 pmIf you want to document what you see or shoot videos, having a third, photo tube can be very helpful. It should not sacrifice the eyepiece view if the microscope was competently designed and made. It can be tricky enough getting the lighting and view just right: to capture a 3-D image with a 2-D camera. Mounting and fiddling with a cell phone over an eyepiece can be a serious distraction.For example, I have attached a couple images I took through a trinocular photo tube, that I had to take to make it absolute clear that the camera someone sold me had been dropped. Note the nested arcs in the first and the spidery crazing lines in the second that show a drop, respectively compressed and stretched the metal. I am pretty sure I would have lost patience trying to capture that with a cell phone.

author: KE5FX
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2024, 08:16:02 pm
content: But my point is, if you take shots like that 1% of the time, it's senseless to let that drive your choice of microscope. A separate USB microscope is fine for most applications that a cellphone camera won't handle, and will cost maybe, what, $50?

author: Conrad Hoffman
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2024, 10:08:15 pm
content: As for the trinocular camera port, most of them "shoot" through one path, left or right. Since each side of the microscope is at an angle, photos are never fully in focus unless you tilt the subject slightly. I do a ton of those shots at work.

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 01, 2025, 01:09:18 am
content: Quote from: KE5FX on December 31, 2024, 05:26:36 pmThis is a good point. A cheap microscope camera (<$300 USD for just the camera) won't be as good as just pointing your phone into the eyepiece. We do that at work if we're only taking 1 or 2 pics because it's faster than turning the camera on and loading an app. And pics from the phone look better than the microscope camera anyway. If we need lots of images or we need hands free then we use the camera+pc.The main downside of using a phone is you have to very precisely align the phone position and distance to the eyepiece for an image to show on the phone screen, it's easy with two hands, doable with 1 but annoying.So if you need hands free to manipulate the object under the microscope then a camera is still better sometimes. But you could 3D print something to hold the phone at the right position if you wanted to. So it's not an unsolvable problem.If you want super crisp microscopic images then you really need high end microscope optics and an expensive cameras.And something else to consider, looking into the eyepieces will always look "way" nicer than any image ever will.This is because your brain is combining both L and R images and producing a massive increase in clarity, the camera is not doing that. And obviously 3D vs 2D

author: jfiresto
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 01, 2025, 02:34:47 pm
content: In case you have not seen it,thisis the most helpful microscope-soldering survey article I have seen so far.Here, you can see the SMZ-U microscope that took the article's final image. It is a really nice microscope and I am not surprised they suggest it as an alternative to the low cost "stencil" microscopes people usually think about.The microscope that produced my earlier images is somewhere in between. The camera plus thread adapters costmuch lessthan $500.

author: Conrad Hoffman
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 01, 2025, 06:31:33 pm
content: That's a good write-up. We have a lot of Amscopes and single bar stands at work and the double bar looks way better. We also have a couple Meijis and a Nikon. The Nikon (not the one shown in the write-up) is quite good, but way too expensive for the hobbyist or even small shop. I like the Meijis because they're in the middle between junk and crazy expensive. What I don't like about them is their selection of stands for the inexpensive ones isn't that good. We also use Vision Engineering Lynx microscopes but those can be crazy expensive and not everybody likes that type of view. They tend to require a huge amount of light on the subject, way more than the typical ring light.

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 02, 2025, 11:21:52 am
content: Quote from: jfiresto on January 01, 2025, 02:34:47 pmOps, i probably should have mentioned it was $500 NZD or converted it. Its around $300 USDhave edited

author: shabaz
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 02, 2025, 11:56:03 am
content: It could be worth looking out on gumtree/craigslist types of websites:Quote from: Conrad Hoffman on January 01, 2025, 06:31:33 pmI'm really happy with mine too. My Meiji microscope (binocular) I got for next to nothing, it was even delivered to me by hand, free, and it was extremely dusty but managed to clean it up well. I don't solder with it (prefer the simpler head-mount OptiVISOR for that) but it's great for the occasional inspection (I now use my normal photo camera more for that nowadays though).