Lighting on a microscope

[JeanK]

Hi LCRers,

Finally, I have narrowed my new microscope search down to two or three models. My question to you is about lighting.
Some of these scopes have the traditional top and bottom lights, but some offer a ring light. If you have experience with both the direct light or the ring light please let me know which one you like best.
I know direct light can be a problem, so it might mean an separate source of light will be required.
The ring light claims it will eliminate the shadows to allow a better overall picture, but is that a good thing?

Please share your ideas.
Thanks bunches,
Jean

[Fido_Finder]

I only have XP with direct light - but I can tell you it is a pain in the butt sometimes!

I have shaded the coins to get better pics - not easy when you are shading with one hand... holding the coin with the other... and puching the "capture" key with a pencil held in your mouth!



BUT... I am getting better at it!

[Scott99]

I'm interested to see the opinions on the ring-light as well.

However, all the setups for coin photography i've seen (professional and non) have used some sort of diffused or bounced light rather than direct light.

[thecentcollector]

Ring lights (in my personal experience) are horrid. Unnatural color, plus it blasts the coin with too much light. I personally use two LED desk lamps I got at target, and deflect the light with water bottle caps. I slit a banana-shaped hole in the bottom of the cap, and secured it to the LED light. After that, I have two free-floating lights which I can point in any direction, and the light output is perfect.

[tstone]

I have been playing with a zpix 200 mm 740 microscope today.

It has a ring of 6 or 8 LEDS.

I can't get a decent shot to save my life. Too much light, poor focus.

[Roller]

You can always compensate for too much light with aperture and time exposure on your camera. I have been using a ring light for more than two years and would not be without one. The light that comes with the microscopes is entirely inadequate both for searching and for photography. I first used the flourescent ring light and recently moved up to a 148 bulb LED ring light that has a dimmer and on which you can shut down any or all of four quadrants around the ring. It does illuminate quite a bit on the highest setting but that can be manipulated by the dimmer. A constant light (even my flourescent ring light) is not good for all situations. On darker or brown coins you need more light than you do on bright red coins. The only place where it comes up short is detecting light trails but if you flash the coin at the optimum angle you can spot trails as well as with any other light. My vote is for ring light, hands down.

[JeanK]

Thanks very much LCRers! I will keep looking at options and figure out which one is best. But don't let that stop you from sharing your experiences/experiments with lighting.
Jean

[JeanK]

I hear you fido_finder! We need more arms to do some of these tasks!
Jean

[papascoins]

I only use a Dino-Lite handheld USB camara, and it has ring lights that I can turn on or off. It is also horrid on a bright shiny coin when trying to capture those light trails and most of the varieties. But it's true, it has a lot of light for those brown coins! So when I have to look for varieties and trails on a bright new coin, I have to forget about that ring light and go to a single light source, (usually a filtered light.) Wish I could turn quadrants on and off, and dim them as needed, but haven't got into that expense yet.
It seems that if you had a broad range of lighting to pick from, (like Roller), it would be ideal. And I know that there are many methods used by all of us LCR'ers, from some of the best in phtography equipment, to 'homemade gizmos'! (Which some have had some great success with, even though troubling to use.)
Speaking of filtered, looking back at Andrew's post, I have used filtering AND deflecting as a means of keeping 'direct' light off of a bright coin.
Geez! I don't know if I'm helping at all! I am NO expert here, but just giving my opinions about my own experience.

[JeanK]

Thanks all of you! I still need to save up to get something worth buying. I tried the handheld and expensive digital camera but all it gave is gray-scale photographs... not at all a desired option. Even with the stand it was difficult to get a good picture. I sure do miss my old QX5...
Jean

[Roller]

Mark, I don't have money to burn, just like most of us. I, finally, spent the $120 for the light that I thought I aught to have. I spent more than that searching (buying stuff I've discarded) before then. It's a learning process and I continue to go through it at my expense. What I'm trying to say is don't make the same mistakes that I've made. Better to spend more to start with then to wind up spending a lot more by the time you get there. (Not hat I think I'm "there" LOL.) You need to take into account the time you spend searching and then ask yourself if you are wasting your time because of mediocre equipment. Time is the most valuable commodity that we put into this hobby. To use it at optimum, it is worth having good equipment.

[Rollem]

Jean (ray_parkhurst's) suggested a light which Rock and others bought for less than 20 bucks and have raving review.

I would PM either Rock or Ray for the exact light.

James

[Roller]

Jean (ray_parkhurst's) suggested a light which Rock and others bought for less than 20 bucks and have raving review.

I would PM either Rock or Ray for the exact light.

James

I bought 2 of those for the copy stand/bellows photos but I do not use them for a microscope light. I don't think they are practical for that purpose.

[trails]

Hi Jean- Having taken over 13,000 pictures in the 5 years or so, I am going to jump in here. A cheap swing arm desk lamp ($12 to $15) a very good day light bulb and an opaque piece of white plastic to defuse the light is all that is needed. The most important part is having a very good Photoshop program and they can be somewhat expensive.

BJ Neff

[JeanK]

Thanks everyone. I have Paint Shop Pro 7 which I use extensively for closeups and editing. I even have Paint Shop Pro X3, but for the few things I do with the program, the Pro 7 is just fine. I am still looking for the right microscope with digital camera to replace my QX5. I will let you know what happens.

Thanks BJ, I will see if I can find the opaque white plastic for diffusing light... I think it would need to be heat resistant. I did try to make something like that from pieces of a large milk carton, but in the end it wasn't quite good enough.

The search is on!!!
Jean