Great review. I would just add that a polarisation setup would be beneficial for anyone documenting minerals, crystals and metals. So look for a scope that has this ability.

Excellent overview of stereo microscope options. Bonus: I now understand why I cannot stack photos from one eyepiece of my low cost stereo microscope... thought I was doing something wrong! Thanks!

This episode comes one week too late for me. I just bought a Bresser stereo microscope, last week. Thks for sharing this contents with us!

Agree with comment about lighting, also ability to use UV light for fluorescence, ability to apply lens filters. With this many specimens workflow will be an issue including platform stability and specimen mounting. Workflow efficiency may justify higher equipment cost. Software to manage catalogue, link specimen information in a standardized way, collect metadata, include details of lighting setup, measurement of scale, are probably important. I think you will want a highly reproducible set up. You’ll need of course measurement scales and color standards. Maybe research mineral and gemnologic organizations for standards first. There are probably guidelines for reference photography. Sounds like a big project. Good luck.

I use one for Microsoldering The C-Mount for those cameras is not bad. Definitely use a LED Light which is usually included. At least for mine. I don't need a really magnification but a certain work space. Magnification is between 0.7 to 4.5

All good advice. I'd like to add a comment about a related issue that could come up. If your friend (or customer) has thousands of specimens to document, I have to assume that the most practical work site will be his home or wherever he has the specimens stored. Try to estimate roughly how long the job will take. Most likely it will be longer than one day. Keep in mind that for practical purposes, you're going to leave your equipment there. I'm assuming you have some kind of business insurance to cover lost or stolen equipment. If your client agrees on a standard / common background, lighting technique, style ( for example, does he want a ruler in every picture for documentation or scientific purposes or does he really want display quality art work.) If he accepts a common recording style for each piece, you should be able to knock out the job quickly. If you have to rearrange everything to capture the best look for each specimen you might get to feeling that you will be moving in for a long stay. I think that as long as you manage expectations, everything should work out satisfactorily. Good luck with your project.

Hi Oliver. I got a rock given to me by a friend's neighbor who claims the rock is unique mineral with a bunch of tiny shiny materials. I'm going to try my stereo microscope at low power (

The cheapest option… an option that will give great results if you are handy and willing to do a few hours work. make an extension tube for your dslr (edit or buy one, wow they have gotten cheap on eBay since I last looked…in 2009). Buy a body cap for the camera and a lens back cap in black. Get a piece of plastic pipe, maybe abs black pipe, black shop vac fittings, or just paint the inside of pvc matte black (you do not want the inside of the tube to be reflective). Glue the caps to the ends of the pipe and open holes. Put a 50mm lens on it and mount it on your camera. I have a Nikon and of course this disconnects the electronics so purchased a nice old manual camera lens for a few dollars. Put your camera in manual (since the lens electronics won’t work) and use a shutter release so you don’t shake. I made a few from 1” to 2” and stack them together to get higher zooms. Longer the tube the higher the magnification. I even messed around with a foot of pipe for fun which basically made it into a hard to use microscope. The key is to eliminate stray light. No light through the tube. No light bouncing off the insides. It’s otherwise a projector lens going onto your sensor. I have one of the 2/3 size sensor and with about 3” of extension tube with a 50mm lens can take a nice picture of Abe Lincoln on the back of a penny to give a rough idea.

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Nice 👍

if you have a 7 year old, get a Canson hand microscope Even if you have a nice stereo, my kids carry them around everywhere and look at every thing from bugs to cat hairs.

stereo microscopes

With the greatest respect for Oliver's recommendations, may I suggest you also look at mounting a 10x objective directly on a mirrorless camera (to eliminate DSLR mirror induced vibrations) as an alternative to investing in a stereo microscope for your particular needs. I've seen several inexpensive objective mounting plates on AliExpress that are designed for this purpose, typically utilising a T2 adapter. In terms of what is achievable, check out Neil Buckland's work here: www.dpreview.com/interviews/4355145584/cosmic-microscopy-neil-buckland-interview Note also Neil's observations when using the pixel shift capability of a Pentax K3iii to photograph a meteorite. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/pJxoncV70Jy3hIU.html