Microscope Advice

[John Hamilton]

I am looking for advice/guidance on a microscope purchase to improve my micro fossiling experience. I currently use a Veho discovery VMS004 deluxe USB scope. I do have a limited budget to work with so please keep that in mind when responding.

[jkfoam]

John,

What is it about the Veho VMS-004 you want to improve upon or that you dislike. I just looked at the makers video for the VMS-004 and what struck me was that it needed a better focusing stand.

Jim

[John Hamilton]

John,

What is it about the Veho VMS-004 you want to improve upon or that you dislike. I just looked at the makers video for the VMS-004 and what struck me was that it needed a better focusing stand.

Jim

Jim,

The stand is the biggest issue I have with the VMS-004. It takes forever to get an object into focus long enough to snap a picture due to the amount of play in the stand. It seems like all you have to do is breath on it and you have to adjust it again. I'd also like something with a wider field of view becuase it is impossible to see the complete specimen of anything over .5 mm using the 400x magnification.

[Bullsnake]

Jim,

The stand is the biggest issue I have with the VMS-004. It takes forever to get an object into focus long enough to snap a picture due to the amount of play in the stand. It seems like all you have to do is breath on it and you have to adjust it again. I'd also like something with a wider field of view becuase it is impossible to see the complete specimen of anything over .5 mm using the 400x magnification.

Maybe this will spark an idea for the focus issue.

I bought a microscope pretty cheap on ebay, removed the objective (turret?), and rigged the USB scope to the frame.

I can rough focus with the USB wheel, then get a finer focus with the rail focus wheel. It's alot more stable than the USB stand, despite being a hideous looking contraption. The other parts are robbed from one of those helping hand soldering stations. This allows for articulating the USB scope at different angles if needed.

As far as the field of view, no help here!

Edited July 28, 2013 by Bullsnake

[John Hamilton]

Maybe this will spark an idea for the focus issue.

I bought a microscope pretty cheap on ebay, removed the objective (turret?), and rigged the USB scope to the frame.

I can rough focus with the USB wheel, then get a finer focus with the rail focus wheel. It's alot more stable than the USB stand, despite being a hideous looking contraption. The other parts are robbed from one of those helping hand soldering stations. This allows for articulating the USB scope at different angles if needed.

As far as the field of view, no help here!

022.JPG

I considered doing something like that but I'd hate to spend more money on a stand than I paid for the scope to begin with.

[mikecable]

I love my vintage Bausch and Lomb Stereozoom 4s. The 7x to 30x magnification levels are perfect for most micros. I can double that with a 2x barlow lens. Careful shopping on Ebay can get you one for $100-$150. These are industrial workhorses built to withstand nuclear Armageddon. The American Optical stereo zoom scopes also are highly rated, and tend to sell for a bit less than the Bausch and Lombs.

[gturner333]

I bought my scope from Amscope, but it was pricy. I learned two things from owning my first scope: you don't usually need much power and i prefer a boom mounted scope. I almost never need more than 45x and usually stay below 15x. The boom mount allows me to look at larger and irregular shapes. But the boom is heavy if you like to take it with you.

[John Hamilton]

Last night I finally got tired of fighting with the Veho VMS-004 and placed an order for a new microscope (AMSCOPE SM-2TZ-MT). I probably spent more money than I should have but it appears to have all of the features I was looking for. Here's the link http://store.amscope.com/sm-2tz-mt.html for this model.

[Ridgehiker]

Think of all the great hours you'll have 'playing' with it. Sometimes things like this cost a bit but you aren't out spending money doing other things.

One of my concerns is always software compatibility. It seems to be a glitch in some scope/camera packages. Please keep us up to date how easy or not the software works.

Eager to see your first photos.

[Auspex]

I do not remember ever ruing money spent on good tools, and have accumulated zero satisfaction over the years by going cheap. 'Nuf said.

[John Hamilton]

I do not remember ever ruing money spent on good tools, and have accumulated zero satisfaction over the years by going cheap. 'Nuf said.

Auspex,

You are absolutely right! I'm not going to worry about anymore!

[John Hamilton]

Think of all the great hours you'll have 'playing' with it. Sometimes things like this cost a bit but you aren't out spending money doing other things.

One of my concerns is always software compatibility. It seems to be a glitch in some scope/camera packages. Please keep us up to date how easy or not the software works.

Eager to see your first photos.

Software compatibility is always a concern for me too because I refuse to upgrade the OS on my older computers when they are much more user friendly than Windows 7 & 8 devices. I use a computer running windows XP Professional for my fossil research/documentation and have absolutely no issues with it.

[mikecable]

Last night I finally got tired of fighting with the Veho VMS-004 and placed an order for a new microscope (AMSCOPE SM-2TZ-MT). I probably spent more money than I should have but it appears to have all of the features I was looking for. Here's the link http://store.amscope.com/sm-2tz-mt.html for this model.

That looks like a sweet scope. Congratulations.

[John Hamilton]

That looks like a sweet scope. Congratulations.

Thanks!

Edited August 5, 2013 by John Hamilton

[MarcoSr]

John

I really look forward to pictures of some micros from the new microscope.

Marco Sr.

[John Hamilton]

John

I really look forward to pictures of some micros from the new microscope.

Marco Sr.

Marco,

I hope to posting micro pictures from the new scope by next Wednesday. Now I just need to purchase an ultra sonic cleaner to clean the micros up a little more.

[gturner333]

I've owned two Amscope scopes and have been quite satisfied with the company. Even if it isn't what you expected, they have a good money back policy or you can change your mind and select a different scope. Hopefully, you'll be as pleased as i am.

[John Hamilton]

Well my new microscope arrived today and I thought I'd post some comparison pics between the new scope and the VMS-004.

These were taken with the new scope:

These were taken with the old scope:

Definitely an improvement in the photo quality!

[Auspex]

We have a winner!

[Coco]

Whaaaa ! Otolith !

Coco

[mikecable]

Winner, winner--chicken dinner. Again, a nice scope.

[Jimi]

Nice Pics!

I have an Amscope also and am very pleased with it. Well worth the money.

[snolly50]

I think your photos are great! The new 'scope is obviously superior to your previous rig. As you perfect your photo craft with it you may wish to consider some lighting changes. Dialing back the illumination would help those "hot spots" and a reflective effort at the bottom might help that shadow line. I hope you have a great time with it. Finding minuscule fossils is a thrill for me; but producing a quality photo, as you have, adds another dimension.

[MarcoSr]

John

Really nice pictures. I'm not sure if you are using any applications to enhance your pictures. A simple application like Paint.NET lets you crop your pictures, rotate your images etc. I always crop my pictures because it cuts the JPEG KB/MB file size which lets me load a lot more pictures per post. Your file sizes were really low which means you probably are cropping your pictures already. But for example you could remove the corner shadow by cropping your picture. You can change file sizes by changing resolution but the resolution on your pictures looks real good. I don't like using clay on delicate micros (I have damaged a few) so I typically just put the micro on a white paper plate and take the picture. If I don't like the positioning I use Paint.NET to rotate the image 90 or 180 degrees. Sometimes I switch to Black and White which gives me more detail on the specimen.

I purchased two really nice lights to illuminate my specimens but rarely use them. My microscope has a lot of choices in the application that gives me choices for indoor or outdoor lighting, low lighting, backlighting etc. This allows me to remove shadows and hot spots with my microscope without having to use my extra lighting. Also I can adjust my exposure which also helps remove shadows. I've also found the time of day that I take the pictures (My photo table is by a French Door on one side and a window on another) radically effects the shadows. The more natural light the fewer shadows and hot spots that I have to adjust out with application settings.

Just some ideas.

Marco Sr.

[John Hamilton]

I think your photos are great! The new 'scope is obviously superior to your previous rig. As you perfect your photo craft with it you may wish to consider some lighting changes. Dialing back the illumination would help those "hot spots" and a reflective effort at the bottom might help that shadow line. I hope you have a great time with it. Finding minuscule fossils is a thrill for me; but producing a quality photo, as you have, adds another dimension.

John

Really nice pictures. I'm not sure if you are using any applications to enhance your pictures. A simple application like Paint.NET lets you crop your pictures, rotate your images etc. I always crop my pictures because it cuts the JPEG KB/MB file size which lets me load a lot more pictures per post. Your file sizes were really low which means you probably are cropping your pictures already. But for example you could remove the corner shadow by cropping your picture. You can change file sizes by changing resolution but the resolution on your pictures looks real good. I don't like using clay on delicate micros (I have damaged a few) so I typically just put the micro on a white paper plate and take the picture. If I don't like the positioning I use Paint.NET to rotate the image 90 or 180 degrees. Sometimes I switch to Black and White which gives me more detail on the specimen.

I purchased two really nice lights to illuminate my specimens but rarely use them. My microscope has a lot of choices in the application that gives me choices for indoor or outdoor lighting, low lighting, backlighting etc. This allows me to remove shadows and hot spots with my microscope without having to use my extra lighting. Also I can adjust my exposure which also helps remove shadows. I've also found the time of day that I take the pictures (My photo table is by a French Door on one side and a window on another) radically effects the shadows. The more natural light the fewer shadows and hot spots that I have to adjust out with application settings.

Just some ideas.

Marco Sr.

Snolly and Marco,

Thanks for the feed back on the photos from the new scope. The pictures were taken using only the camera software and light that came with the scope. I will definitely look into a better lighting set up and photo editing software. Hopefully my next post will have better results.