Prefer Coin Magnifier

Hey folks,

I'm lookin  purchase a coin magnifier. What do you use use for a magnifier to look at details? 

If your asking what to use I use a digital microscope and it’s pretty good but a Decent loupe would probably work

Thanks for the input.  Can you  give some recommendations?

I use Lighthouse, it's good, but expensive!

https://www.lighthouse.us/optical-accessories/microscopes/

https://en.numista.com/forum/topic31452.html#p265795 

Krumpola

Hey folks,

 

I'm lookin  purchase a coin magnifier. What do you use use for a magnifier to look at details? 

There are hundreds of digital microscopes on Amazon. Many of which are clones of eachother with different names. I would recommend watching some youtube videos that review them. see if the price, quality, size, features work for you. I normally use a a 10x loupe and for under $15 it works well enough for me, though you cant really use it to take pictures. 

Sjoelund

I use Lighthouse, it's good, but expensive!

 

https://www.lighthouse.us/optical-accessories/microscopes/

Leuchtturm sells microscopes of the brand Toolcraft, which can be found elsewhere on the interweb at different prices.

I've got the Toolcraft DigiMicro Lab 5.0 USB, that's the one with 10x to 500x magnification. Worthwhile, not only for coins but for anything that squeezes into the tight spot - banknotes, postage stamps, postal stationery, bonds etc. The only issue I have with it is that there is no Linux driver available - well, at least not to my knowledge.

pennyless

Sjoelund

I use Lighthouse, it's good, but expensive!

 

https://www.lighthouse.us/optical-accessories/microscopes/

Leuchtturm sells microscopes of the brand Toolcraft, which can be found elsewhere on the interweb at different prices.

 

I've got the Toolcraft DigiMicro Lab 5.0 USB, that's the one with 10x to 500x magnification. Worthwhile, not only for coins but for anything that squeezes into the tight spot - banknotes, postage stamps, postal stationery, bonds etc. The only issue I have with it is that there is no Linux driver available - well, at least not to my knowledge.

Have you tried running it via wine or with a proton compatibility layer on Linux? Windows driver support has gotten shockingly good on Linux in the last 2-3 years. My laptop runs ZorinOS and about half the applications I run daily are windows native applications.

MaxTheSpy

pennyless

Sjoelund

I use Lighthouse, it's good, but expensive!

 

https://www.lighthouse.us/optical-accessories/microscopes/

Leuchtturm sells microscopes of the brand Toolcraft, which can be found elsewhere on the interweb at different prices.

 

I've got the Toolcraft DigiMicro Lab 5.0 USB, that's the one with 10x to 500x magnification. Worthwhile, not only for coins but for anything that squeezes into the tight spot - banknotes, postage stamps, postal stationery, bonds etc. The only issue I have with it is that there is no Linux driver available - well, at least not to my knowledge.

Have you tried running it via wine or with a proton compatibility layer on Linux? Windows driver support has gotten shockingly good on Linux in the last 2-3 years. My laptop runs ZorinOS and about half the applications I run daily are windows native applications.

It was only 5-6 months ago, when I by coincident connected a scanner to the linux pc, that I realised Canon now supports Linux with drivers. So yes, support has increased, but I haven't tried with the microscope yet, perhaps because it's a while ago that I've used it. But thanks for the heads-up.

pennyless

MaxTheSpy

pennyless

Sjoelund

I use Lighthouse, it's good, but expensive!

 

https://www.lighthouse.us/optical-accessories/microscopes/

Leuchtturm sells microscopes of the brand Toolcraft, which can be found elsewhere on the interweb at different prices.

 

I've got the Toolcraft DigiMicro Lab 5.0 USB, that's the one with 10x to 500x magnification. Worthwhile, not only for coins but for anything that squeezes into the tight spot - banknotes, postage stamps, postal stationery, bonds etc. The only issue I have with it is that there is no Linux driver available - well, at least not to my knowledge.

Have you tried running it via wine or with a proton compatibility layer on Linux? Windows driver support has gotten shockingly good on Linux in the last 2-3 years. My laptop runs ZorinOS and about half the applications I run daily are windows native applications.

It was only 5-6 months ago, when I by coincident connected a scanner to the linux pc, that I realised Canon now supports Linux with drivers. So yes, support has increased, but I haven't tried with the microscope yet, perhaps because it's a while ago that I've used it. But thanks for the heads-up.

No problem! With windows getting so bloated and the cost of computers fluctuating so heavily, a lot of larger companies are pushing Linux development pretty heavily. Valve/Steam has been contributing heavily on the Linux/Windows compatibility layer system for a good while for use with SteamOS. Only a matter of time before its introduced to Ubuntu/Arch/Etc.

My most used item is a simple few bucks 20-times jeweller’s loupe but I also like reflected light microscopes with digital eyepiece or good digital microscopes were you can look at tiny details in high resolution.

This picture was taken with a work microscope. It was not calibrated for this use case and was total overkill of course (it could magnify waaay more if needed and properly calibrated it would yield less noisy higher quality images … in many different spectra). But there is no chance in hell I would spend much more then 100 bucks let alone good car money 😅 for a nice to have. I'd rather spend extra money in a nice photo rig to take nice pictures of my collection in the future.