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Old 06-06-2007, 09:13 PM
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sheeny (Al)
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New Toy - Digital Microscope

I lashed out on a handheld digital microscope which I just received today. For less than $160 I thought there couldn't be too much risk in it. I plan to use it for failure analysis inspections where maybe a macro photo just doesn't cut it. I've attached my first 2 images through it - single frames, unprocessed apart from being saved for the web.

Should be a fun little toy to play with in it's own right.

Al.
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Old 06-06-2007, 09:17 PM
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Hey Al, that looks pretty cool, cant go wrong for that price and it could be quite a fun thing.

Cheers leon
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Old 06-06-2007, 09:21 PM
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erick (Eric)
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Yes, that sure is something! You can hit us with a lot of "Guess what this is" pics!
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Old 06-06-2007, 09:25 PM
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What fun!
Gadgets are good.
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  #5  
Old 07-06-2007, 07:14 AM
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sheeny (Al)
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I think it's got potential for a bit of fun! Something (else) to do on cloudy nights...

Al.
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Old 07-06-2007, 08:47 AM
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Ok. I give in. Where are these available?
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Old 07-06-2007, 09:04 AM
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Great bad weather investment, I was only looking at one on Andrews website on Monday. But couldnt convince myself to spend the $299 especially as I just ordered an electric moonlite for my C11.

Hmmmmm $160

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http://www.andrewscom.com.au/site-section-15.htm
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  #8  
Old 07-06-2007, 10:50 AM
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sheeny (Al)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by asterisk View Post
Ok. I give in. Where are these available?
Here's what I bought. I went for the hand held version which is more useful to me out in the field or workshop... A more conventional microscope is not so convenient for a lot of what I'd use it for.

http://www.expansys.com.au/p.aspx?i=138105

Al.

Last edited by sheeny; 07-06-2007 at 10:51 AM. Reason: fix typo
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Old 07-06-2007, 12:04 PM
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asterisk (Geoff)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sheeny View Post
Here's what I bought. I went for the hand held version which is more useful to me out in the field or workshop... A more conventional microscope is not so convenient for a lot of what I'd use it for.

http://www.expansys.com.au/p.aspx?i=138105

Al.
Thanks Al. To borrow an earlier quote, gadgets are good - now I have to convince my less-understanding other half. I have many uses for this - I have been making do with an old stereo optical microscope which my wife is convinced I can continue to use.
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  #10  
Old 07-06-2007, 02:30 PM
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ballaratdragons (Ken)
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I've never seen a 5c piece that close up before!!! Wow, shows nice detail
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  #11  
Old 07-06-2007, 03:53 PM
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I've just been having a play with it at work.

I took a couple of calibration frames. The lens mechanism achieves focus at two points in the focal range. The manufacturer's suggest this is roughly 50x and 200x based on the image being viewed on a 15" monitor. Turns out the two scales are about 108 pixels per mm and 365 pixels per mm by my measurements. (I imaged the graduations on a steel rule).

It doesn't do too bad really. It reveals slag inclusions in welds that are not visible to the naked eye - that's for sure!

Al.
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  #12  
Old 07-06-2007, 03:55 PM
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looks like 50cents to me
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  #13  
Old 08-06-2007, 07:25 PM
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Try to image Moon or Jupiter with this in focal plane of your telescope (inserted instead of eyepiece of course, it will be equivalent of eyepiece projection, using its own lens as an eyepiece)
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Old 08-06-2007, 10:10 PM
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sheeny (Al)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bojan View Post
Try to image Moon or Jupiter with this in focal plane of your telescope (inserted instead of eyepiece of course, it will be equivalent of eyepiece projection, using its own lens as an eyepiece)
Theoretically very simple to do... the biggest challenge will be a stable/square mount, but hey, the seed is sewn! Hmmm, I better have a closer look at the capture software though - I haven't yet explored enough to see if it has manual exposure control. ... and it has 4 very bright white LEDs for illumination which are decidedly astro unfriendly!

Al.
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  #15  
Old 08-06-2007, 10:13 PM
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sheeny (Al)
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looks like 50cents to me
Hmmm... if it's 200x bigger does that make it a $10.00 coin?

Al.
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  #16  
Old 09-06-2007, 02:51 PM
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200x bigger probably means 200x bigger on the TV or computer screen....
Focal image of the moon is 10mm diameter for 1000mm focal length scope..
So you should be OK.
Maybe those LED's can be switched off somehow (without using drastic measures of course...)
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  #17  
Old 16-06-2007, 09:06 PM
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A few more sample micrographs

Just for those who are interested, here's a few more sample shots. High and low magnification shots of a match head, burned and unburned, "screen shots" of my laptop and LCD monitor, and velcro loops and velcro hooks. Some of the images have been adjusted for levels in PS CS3 (all saved for the web). Each is a single frame capture.
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Click for full-size image (Laptop-LCDweb.jpg)
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Click for full-size image (LCD-Monitorweb.jpg)
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Click for full-size image (Velcro-hooks-web.jpg)
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Click for full-size image (Velcro-loops-web.jpg)
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Click for full-size image (Match-head-50x.jpg)
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Click for full-size image (Match-head-200x.jpg)
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