I bought one of those cheap chinese microscopes a year ago but difference was it was actually on a microphone boom arm. Helped a lot more since the microphone boom arm can actually tilt meaning I can view inside the chassis rather than having to grab out each board.
The polarizer function can be handy when trying to read the laser etched part numbers on certain chips, sot23's, dip8's etc as they are often hard to see unless they are lit from just the right angle.👍
to be honest, there is no substitute for an optical stereo microscope. I have the luxury of owning one. I'm sure this would be fine until the day you get spoiled with the former.
An important question for using this on live streams would be whether the HDMI Out is usable simultaneously to the inbuilt screen. On some Andonstar Models that’s an either-or unfortunately.
After watching your video I picked up one of these. Unfortunately it was dead but fortunately I was able tear it apart and replace the backlight flex that was torn with wires and now it works great (Dead backlight seems to be the main review complaint) . When you were demonstrating it, it appeared to only have 3 picture resolutions, peaking out at 5mp. If you scroll up past the 5mp you get the rest of the menu that tops out at 24mp.
i have a 7 inch version of this you will find that if you put a item on the floor you can even focus on it. you dont have to stay in the 2cm to 30 cm focal range. it will focus out to about 1.8meters
i put a weight on the base plate and rotate the camera 180 and then view stuff at much greater range or stuff in my hands. i have coins in a medicine bottle for counter weight.
When you tilt the rack and pinion, can you also tilt to camera back to vertical? Any tilt control on the camera/display bracket is hidden by the height adjustment knobs.
On Amazon it says this model can do 24MP, and it can output to hdmi and connect to Windows as a webcam. Were you able to confirm if these claims are accurate?
@IMSAI Guy Cool, thank you for confirming! I was skeptical. But it's good to hear the webcam function works. That could be helpful. Love your channel, thank you.
I have an optical question. I bought one of these type of microscopes a few years ago, it was an Andonstar brand. When rotating the lens barrel to adjust the focus, it had two different focus points, both equally sharp and same magnification, but quite a large distance (barrel rotation wise) apart. How is this possible?
Oh hell yes! Great spotting. Used to do this with some multilayer boards for our "bug fixes". Was the only way for a quick fix, when you had to rush into production and correct in the next major version upgrade of a design. We'd try and match the wire to the colour of the substrate where possible so as not to spoil the aesthetic as well. 👍
You keep cheering about the picture quality at moments where non of the ic markings are readable... 😐 That adjustable polarizer might have made a difference in those shots. 🙂
I wouldn''t get this microscope if it didnt also have digital zoom like the Andonstar brand. Too many times I need to be doing work on the piece and I can't physically move the microscope down closer to the board because that would keep me from getting a soldering iron into the area so I use digital zoom. During the entire video I was hoping for him to showcase the digital zoom feature which would have sold it for me, but didn't happen. It's a nice microscope but without digital zoom it may not be useful for people that need the microscope to be high, but still need it zoomed in (digitally) to see what they are doing.
You can't tell from the video exactly; but, I didn't think much of the build quality. It seems like a toy... something for kids. According to the review... it does the job? And I know... if they can save a dollar on packaging... they use the cheapest and lightest packaging. That doesn't mean that form impairs function (True: a lot of modern microscopes use plastic bodies, and hollow alloy castings, with lots of cast versus machined parts) ... but, is this what people use in Asia? ... or are they just selling it to us?
I agree it could be better, but they have a price point in mind. The weak part here is the stand. I ended up building a better stand out of spare parts I had, but it would add about $100 to the cost. (video in a couple days)
I bought one of those cheap chinese microscopes a year ago but difference was it was actually on a microphone boom arm. Helped a lot more since the microphone boom arm can actually tilt meaning I can view inside the chassis rather than having to grab out each board.
You can zoom on the remote even further, and notice the numbers can hardly be read until you use the polarizer it’s great
The polarizer function can be handy when trying to read the laser etched part numbers on certain chips, sot23's, dip8's etc as they are often hard to see unless they are lit from just the right angle.👍
Thanks, just ordered one.
I wish you had shown you doing some micro soldering work with it.
to be honest, there is no substitute for an optical stereo microscope. I have the luxury of owning one. I'm sure this would be fine until the day you get spoiled with the former.
How is the physical clearance and video lag for soldering etc.
Yes, good questions!
clearance is anything you make it. I did not see any lag
I'm using my old MiniDV camera on an articulated arm for a soldering microscope. Also no delay on the analog output 😃
An important question for using this on live streams would be whether the HDMI Out is usable simultaneously to the inbuilt screen. On some Andonstar Models that’s an either-or unfortunately.
YES ! I think that IMSAI already did prove this functionality by recording this video though...
@@joeteejoetee not quite sure about that, because he triggers the to-SD-Card recording feature of the scope in the video.
After watching your video I picked up one of these. Unfortunately it was dead but fortunately I was able tear it apart and replace the backlight flex that was torn with wires and now it works great (Dead backlight seems to be the main review complaint) . When you were demonstrating it, it appeared to only have 3 picture resolutions, peaking out at 5mp. If you scroll up past the 5mp you get the rest of the menu that tops out at 24mp.
is it really 24mp? or just up sampled. can you tell
@@IMSAIGuy It's hard to tell whether the artifacts are from compression or up sampling.
i have a 7 inch version of this you will find that if you put a item on the floor you can even focus on it.
you dont have to stay in the 2cm to 30 cm focal range. it will focus out to about 1.8meters
i put a weight on the base plate and rotate the camera 180 and then view stuff at much greater range or stuff in my hands.
i have coins in a medicine bottle for counter weight.
When you tilt the rack and pinion, can you also tilt to camera back to vertical? Any tilt control on the camera/display bracket is hidden by the height adjustment knobs.
the only tilt is between the base and the focus rail. it requires the use of a wrench
On Amazon it says this model can do 24MP, and it can output to hdmi and connect to Windows as a webcam. Were you able to confirm if these claims are accurate?
I have no idea how they claim 24MP. 5MP still, 1080p video
I did web cam via usb. I did not try the HDMI
@IMSAI Guy Cool, thank you for confirming! I was skeptical. But it's good to hear the webcam function works. That could be helpful. Love your channel, thank you.
I have an optical question. I bought one of these type of microscopes a few years ago, it was an Andonstar brand. When rotating the lens barrel to adjust the focus, it had two different focus points, both equally sharp and same magnification, but quite a large distance (barrel rotation wise) apart.
How is this possible?
probably a repeating thread
Soldering under a microscope can be challenging; soldering iron tip looks like a phone pole and cutters look like hedge trimmers
Good focus and quality (in the center).
Which image sensor is used?
Is the 5 Megapixels the native resolution or interpolation?
interpolation.
thru-hole vias considered useful for bodging. Never saw that before but it's obvious in retrospect.
Oh hell yes! Great spotting. Used to do this with some multilayer boards for our "bug fixes". Was the only way for a quick fix, when you had to rush into production and correct in the next major version upgrade of a design. We'd try and match the wire to the colour of the substrate where possible so as not to spoil the aesthetic as well. 👍
With incandescent side lights, why is battery power a good thing?
Led side lights
Do you get a commission from Amazon if someone buys using the link you provided?
no
@@IMSAIGuy You should, but it's based that you don't.
You keep cheering about the picture quality at moments where non of the ic markings are readable... 😐
That adjustable polarizer might have made a difference in those shots. 🙂
I found using the side lights at an angle allowed the markings to be visible
Ah, good to know.
@@IMSAIGuy Try the polarizer, it can help with IC identification especially if you have just got your goose necks all set up nicely !.....cheers.
I wouldn''t get this microscope if it didnt also have digital zoom like the Andonstar brand. Too many times I need to be doing work on the piece and I can't physically move the microscope down closer to the board because that would keep me from getting a soldering iron into the area so I use digital zoom. During the entire video I was hoping for him to showcase the digital zoom feature which would have sold it for me, but didn't happen. It's a nice microscope but without digital zoom it may not be useful for people that need the microscope to be high, but still need it zoomed in (digitally) to see what they are doing.
it has digital zoom to 2.9x
@@IMSAIGuy oh ok, that changes things then 😂😂
£283 in UK on Amazon!
Great 👍
Very nice! Great for tired 'ol eyes 😂
You can't tell from the video exactly; but, I didn't think much of the build quality. It seems like a toy... something for kids. According to the review... it does the job? And I know... if they can save a dollar on packaging... they use the cheapest and lightest packaging. That doesn't mean that form impairs function (True: a lot of modern microscopes use plastic bodies, and hollow alloy castings, with lots of cast versus machined parts) ... but, is this what people use in Asia? ... or are they just selling it to us?
I agree it could be better, but they have a price point in mind. The weak part here is the stand. I ended up building a better stand out of spare parts I had, but it would add about $100 to the cost. (video in a couple days)
@@IMSAIGuy Awesome as usual !