Magnifying device or method???

[GYirga]

Happy 2007 to all. I was wondering what type of magnifying device everyone here uses to identify their finds. I have to admit that my eyes are not as good as they once were and my 10 year old is not always with me to read the items for me. Date and mint marks on coins are tough to read on coins and forget the marks on jewelry.

What kind and power of magnifying glass is best? Have any of you tried any of the magnifying cameras that you hook to your computer? I think the camera idea is cool but would love to talk to someone that has used one. I was able to find one for about $100 searching the web last night. Another idea would be a photo program that would let me zoom in and manipulate my photos better than the Kodak software I have.

Any ideas, thoughts or experience would be helpful. Not that I find a lot that is worth much but I am a detail freak and want to know what I have so I can catalog it.
Thanks

 

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[Sandman]

The least expensive is a 10 power loop.

A camera does not need to be fancy to take close-ups of coins and finds. It should be able to take nice macro's though. I like Adobe Photoshop Elements for playing with the photos. The program has more than I need.

I used to detail and log everything, now it just gets tossed in a pile.

Sandman

 

[warsawdaddy]

I'm ordering one of these.Some of the gold prospectors have it.After this page comes up,you can scroll on the left to 'Geeks Toys and Gadgets' and another box comes up with 'microscopes'.Goodluck

http://www.x-tremegeek.com/templates/searchdetail.asp?productID=12574

I think it has 10-60-200 power.

 

[Farmercal]

Someone was talking about how nice that QX5 was to use with their computer. It has 10, 60 or 200 times magnification power. I think that might the way I go as my eyes are terrible without glasses these days. I have to use a magnifying glass to just read the dates anymore.

 

[warsawdaddy]

There are several new ones on ebay right now that give full info.

http://cgi.ebay.com/BRAND-NEW-QX5-C...oryZ2568QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

and
http://search.ebay.com/search/searc...d=0&satitle=Qx5+microscope&sacat=-1&catref=C6

 

[GYirga]

This is an interesting magnifying camera that I found. Supposed to magnify to 100x. Cost about $100. Anyone know anything about them or do you think it will work?

http://www.defensedevices.com/portable-magnifying-microscope-camera.html

Greg

 

[drver]

I just use a pair of 4X reading glasses I got at the local drug store, these are the same ones I use to do detail work on models.