USB magnifier/microscope

[Facetnator]

Greetings all,

Has anyone used one of these to photograph gemstones?

http://www.amazon.com/Plugable-Handheld ... microscope

[Stephen Challener]

Yes.

Rutile in quartz

Chlorite in quartz


Two tourmalines
Obviously not something I've spent much time with yet. Regardless the results are not amazing.
And don't pay that much for one, they're very cheap on eBay.

[Barbara O. Ellis]

I have a very similar one and have never been able to make it work right for me .

[G_Madison]

Im with Barbara on this, i could never get mine to work ether. I gave it to my nieces to play with.

[Stephen Challener]

I had no trouble on the software side of things. But the hardware is a bit clunky, and it's hard to adjust the focus without moving it, and given the very shallow depth of field that's a real problem.

[Facetnator]

Greetings,

Thank you for all the replies. The limited depth of field does concern me. The primary purpose is to photograph gemstones for "off the dop" and the marketplace. The cameras I currently have just does not do the job even with a tripod (you have seen my pictures).

[Stephen Challener]

This is definitely not suited for that purpose, then. The magnification is essentially non-negotiable and image quality is pretty darn low. Depth of field is also pretty darned important for faceted stones, since you have to negotiate making both the crown and pavilion look reasonably good at the same time. You'd probably do better to just invest in a real camera--even if you get an older or used model at this point you can get pretty good quality for a reasonable price.