Useful equipment

[Mike Connor]

I was obliged to buy a new one of these, as I dropped my previous model in the river when the lanyard came apart;



I found the one shown on offer at LIDL which is a large supermarket chain here.

This is very useful indeed for looking at and photographing insects at the waterside, transferring them to your PC etc later, and there are a few other "tricks" one can do with it with the right setup. One major advantage is that the magnification starts at X 3.5 This is more useful than many more powerful magnifications, and easier to use. Doubtless not everybody will want to do this, but if you do this is a very good piece of equipment.

TL
MC

[Old Hat]

That is a slick piece of equipment Mike.

[Mike Connor]

That is a slick piece of equipment Mike.

It is very useful indeed for a number of things. This one is better than the one I had and was quite a bit cheaper. I find it easier to use than a camera ( although of course it is basically a camera with a magnifying capability). Quite a few people have shown interest in it. I am now trying to modify it so I can use backlighting, different angles of incidence etc.

It is quite small, light, and handy. As it is not obvious from the picture, here it is in my hand with a small partridge and orange spider under the objective;




and here is the picture from the microscope itself;



You can do quite a lot of things with it. Since a few people asked about suppliers;


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bresser-USB-LCD ... 96&sr=8-33

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bresser-Junior- ... m_sbs_ce_5

Pays to look around, prices for stuff like this can vary a lot.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listin ... dition=new

It really is useful.

TL
MC

[hankaye]

Mike Connor, Howdy;

Makes one heck-of-a macro photo as well. The depth of field is total in your example.
Nicely done.

hank

[Mike Connor]

This is a mature large dark olive nymph from a small stream nearby ( Took me a while to catch it! );

I have cropped the picture;



I am hoping to get a series of stuff under various conditions, backlit, angle lit, etc. At the moment ( and as delivered) the microscope uses 4 high power white LED's with a light diffuser below the objective, which come on when you switch the device on. I will have to take it apart to modify it and make the LED's switchable etc.

Once I get some reasonable stuff I will post it.

TL
MC

[wayneb]

That is really cool!

I gotta get me one of those!


Wayneb

[gingerdun]

First time I've seen one of these. Very cool, and useful. Thanks for telling us about them.

[DNicolson]

I looked this up on Amazon yesterday when I first read Mikes info.
I was in two minds, but now that I see the results of its use, the picture of that fly is better than
the ones I've been taking with all my much more expensive Camera equipment. Fantastic.

By-the-way, that is a very nice Orange & Partridge spider Mike.

[DNicolson]

I have just been on Amazon (UK) and saw some other items, listed under hobby tools.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/bestsellers/ ... d_i=468294

I have beeen a keen hobby fanatic in various fields in my life, I was keen on building amateur radio test gear, I was a keen amateur silver smith, made a few rings, bangles, baubles etc and I would have loved to have some of those items at such relatively cheap prices. I was born and grew up in the "good old days" and they (the good old days) have to be considered with quite a few grains of salt