If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Opinions needed: Anybody every used a QX5 Microscope for coins
Saw a QX5 Microsope advertised and wondered how good it might be for
photographing coins (primarily for sale on eBay). Has anybody used this microscope for this purpose. If so, is it easily used with a coin in a slab? |
Ads |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
"Son of the Beach" wrote in message ups.com... Saw a QX5 Microsope advertised and wondered how good it might be for photographing coins (primarily for sale on eBay). Has anybody used this microscope for this purpose. If so, is it easily used with a coin in a slab? It won't work for eBay or slabbed coins. In fact, it is good for close up images of just parts of the coin and not much else (best used to image doubling or similar). I think that a dime can be entirely imaged on the lowest setting ( 10X ) and anything bigger than a dime can not be imaged in entirety with the scope attached to the stand. Bill |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
On 31 Jul 2005 13:02:40 -0700, "Son of the Beach"
wrote: Saw a QX5 Microsope advertised and wondered how good it might be for photographing coins (primarily for sale on eBay). Has anybody used this microscope for this purpose. If so, is it easily used with a coin in a slab? In a word, no. It's great for taking pictures of some small portion of a coin but it can not image an entire coin, let alone one in a slab. If you are selling an overdate or something like that, use a regular digital camera for the overall photo and the microscope for the overdate or whatever. That works pretty well. Cliff |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
If you have a raw coin and you can work with the onboard light ok, it
can be helpful. It is almost useless on a slab. The hood jams into the plastic before it reaches focus. Still for raw coins, it is fine for checking details for attributions and checking for alterations. It distorts the colors, rendering them inappropriate for serious presentations. Not sure of my model (QX3?), but 200x isn't terribly useful in terms of quality. It's still a neat toy but of limited serious utility. My preference is a good optical 2400dpi scanner. Digital cameras are better but often not convenient. You can get fairly decent results from a good scanner. You do need to keep in mind how the scanner works though. There are situations where it makes sense to scan a coin at 90 or 180 degrees and use software to rectify the rotation, if you are trying to show a particular feature. The way the lighting element traverses the scan can obscure things at times depending on the orientation. I scan at very high resolution and take crops of feature from there usually. Like with cameras, you might also need to worry about white balance and correct for it with a background. Also the scanning software needs to be configured correctly. (Don't scan a dime as line art for instance.) |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
"Son of the Beach" wrote in message ups.com... Saw a QX5 Microsope advertised and wondered how good it might be for photographing coins (primarily for sale on eBay). Has anybody used this microscope for this purpose. If so, is it easily used with a coin in a slab? I remember a very lengthy thread a few months ago regarding this instrument. Maybe Larry Louks is about. He has one and has posted some pix he took with it. Larry? James |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
"Cliff" wrote in message ... On 31 Jul 2005 13:02:40 -0700, "Son of the Beach" wrote: Saw a QX5 Microsope advertised and wondered how good it might be for photographing coins (primarily for sale on eBay). Has anybody used this microscope for this purpose. If so, is it easily used with a coin in a slab? In a word, no. It's great for taking pictures of some small portion of a coin but it can not image an entire coin, let alone one in a slab. If you are selling an overdate or something like that, use a regular digital camera for the overall photo and the microscope for the overdate or whatever. That works pretty well. Cliff I would agree with Cliff. I bought one a year or so ago with a gift certificate. Only three mag options. The objective lens is so close to the coin that it's hard to fully illuminate the coin. Impossible to capture a coin's true surface color. It's a neat toy and I've made a few decent high-mag images with it, but I haven't used it for quite a while. For Ebay purposes, a digital camera or scanner will do much better, IMO. Bruce |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
Bruce Remick wrote:
I would agree with Cliff. I bought one a year or so ago with a gift certificate. Only three mag options. The objective lens is so close to the coin that it's hard to fully illuminate the coin. Impossible to capture a coin's true surface color. It's a neat toy and I've made a few decent high-mag images with it, but I haven't used it for quite a while. For Ebay purposes, a digital camera or scanner will do much better, IMO. Bruce Agreed. However, there is an alternative for someone who needs the type of images that the QX5 can produce, but needs better quality and has a bigger budget. In the most recent ANA MoneyMarket catalog you will find the FlexCam Video Camera. This is a quality USB video camera that couples to either of the stereo microscopes that the ANA sells. It comes with two different sized couplers and imaging software. The ANA doesn't currently have it at their website but here is another site: http://www.venturaes.com/index_new.a....com/clearone/ The ANA sells it for $350 alone or for $325 with an oreder for one of their microscopes. |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
I also have one, and it does work fine for close-ups of doubling, etc., but
it is not very good for imaging an entire coin. I posted an image of my 1958 D/D Lincoln over at alt.binaries.pictures.numismatic that I took with my microscope. On a technical note, the discussion by Intel of how they developed the microscope is pretty cool -- a lot of technical hurdles to make something work with power only from the USB port. -- Chris "James Higby" heezerbumfrool[at]hotmail[dot]com wrote in message ... "Son of the Beach" wrote in message ups.com... Saw a QX5 Microsope advertised and wondered how good it might be for photographing coins (primarily for sale on eBay). Has anybody used this microscope for this purpose. If so, is it easily used with a coin in a slab? I remember a very lengthy thread a few months ago regarding this instrument. Maybe Larry Louks is about. He has one and has posted some pix he took with it. Larry? James |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
* PART 1 - ACTION PACKED to PACIFIC - MAKE ME AN OFFER!! * | MIke Bird | Football (US) | 0 | March 14th 04 01:17 AM |
* PART 1 - ACTION PACKED to PACIFIC - MAKE ME AN OFFER!! * | MIke Bird | Football (US) | 0 | March 7th 04 03:48 AM |
Ancients opinions needed | Keith Fletcher | Coins | 40 | March 2nd 04 03:30 AM |
Opinions needed on buying someone's coins | Ken Knapp | Coins | 8 | February 28th 04 07:09 PM |
* PART 1 - ACTION PACKED to PACIFIC - MAKE ME AN OFFER!! * | MIke Bird | Football (US) | 0 | February 21st 04 03:40 AM |