Are "digital microscopes" any good for home soldering?

[emece67]

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[phil from seattle]

There are two issues to be concerned about: working height and latency.  Without a fair amount of working height, it will be clumsy to get your iron/hot air wand and tweezers in.   Latency on a lot of those inexpensive scopes is really bad.  Anything above a few hundred mS is going to be very distracting.  I have 3 digital microscopes and none of them are that good.  The best was about $60 a few years ago, iirc.  And I don't use it for assembly but rather inspection, latency is just on the edge of usable and working distance is just ok. 

I have also built a RasPi based system with the HQ camera module.  It is quite good - fairly low latency and you can select the right lens for your application.  All in cost is about $80 for the camera and a RasPi 4.  Lens is extra and you can pay $10 to several hundred. Good macro lenses run $50 to >$100. You would need to create an adjustable stand for it. The advantage is you can shoot high quality photos with it as well. The cheap chinese units take mediocre to terrible photos.

But, for assembly, I just use a big magnifier on an adjustable swing arm. I don't need more than 2X magnification. Great working height and 0 latency. Easy to get out of the way when I don't need it (which is about 95% of the time).

I also have an Olympus optical stereo microscope - really good but too much hassle to use.

[wraper]

Lack of stereoscopic vision (depth perception) an latency makes it a subpar experience using it for soldering. Even if you buy an expensive one with low latency, lack of depth perception will be painful as you cannot feel how far above PCB soldering iron tip is located.

[JohnnyMalaria]

Or I better stick with time proven solutions.

Yes

[NorthGuy]

I have Andonstar. Mine was around $200 (US). There's no noticeable latency, and the working distance is huge. You can also take pictures on SD card. The lack of stereoscopic vision is not a big deal for me. You would need to modify the stand if you want to work with bigger boards.

You can do more with it than with a loupe. Say, yesterday, I unsoldered and lifted a single pin in the middle of a SSOP IC, so that I could solder a different wire to it later. I don't think I would be able to do this with a loupe.

[emece67]

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[mon2]

We are in a similar boat. The optics of a standard digital microscope are better than a trinocular one. But then you lose the depth perception. Can share some good youtube links on this topic if of interest and if it is permitted to do so.

The video states that you will just need to get used to using it and then will not get a neck ache from use.

The videos on AliExpress are mind blowing clear for some of these microscopes.

[jfiresto]

We are in a similar boat. The optics of a standard digital microscope are better than a trinocular one....

The videos on AliExpress are mind blowing clear for some of these microscopes.

Can you share some links? Of the half dozen I looked at on youtube, only one from Dino-Lite promised clear images, an HDMI monocular that costs over $1000 without a stand.

[mon2]

This is the vendor that has us thinking about the clarity. They say that the trinocular unit will not have the same results. Will share a link to a pcb repair guy on youtube who said this style is the best for microsoldering without neck pains. Still on the fence. The sample pix from a few manufacturers of scope in Asia do not come close the following clarity:

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mthZsQx

They have other models which are also very impressive on the quality of the video.

Do you plan to do measurements, etc? I think that is one of the extras you get as you pay more. Some will do the processing onboard the camera module.

Louis Rossman also talks about Amscope a lot but from what we can tell, they are remarking offshore products with a high resale value. You can do better if you buy direct but have to do your homework. For example the region of view in our opinion should ALL be in focus.

Trinocular style sounds good but we have yet to find this quality of the results. Will share the youtube link next after digging. It is from Alex of Northwest Repair I think.

[mon2]

Ok, found the video. He is very talented.

Watch this video. Please share your research if you proceed. After the CNY holidays, we will be purchasing a setup. My eyes are barely cutting it in repairing 0201 parts placement and new macbook repairs.

https://youtu.be/NfkXitg5R4I

[Mechatrommer]

I have Andonstar. Mine was around $200 (US). There's no noticeable latency, and the working distance is huge. You can also take pictures on SD card. The lack of stereoscopic vision is not a big deal for me. You would need to modify the stand if you want to work with bigger boards.

sounds much like my Amszoom (China) camera scope... except i bought it for $100+ only (no autofocus), i doubt i can get 30cm of headroom with stereo microscope... the tip of the lens is at my head's level while working, and i dont have to "replace" head to pick another component to put on the pcb, but i need to keep nodding (look front and then look down ymmv.

[mon2]

Some others we are considering for spares:

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mNOep59

[mon2]

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mrZFyLV

[jfiresto]

This is the vendor that has us thinking about the clarity. They say that the trinocular unit will not have the same results. Will share a link to a pcb repair guy on youtube who said this style is the best for microsoldering without neck pains. Still on the fence. The sample pix from a few manufacturers of scope in Asia do not come close the following clarity:

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mthZsQx

Thank you for that. That one looks pretty good. One of the product images suggests a 30–35mm diameter objective which might gather four times as much light as a typical Amscope-stye Greenough microscope that you might be comparing it to? The 1/1.7" sensor could be bigger, but it also could be smaller. The sensor looking straight down makes for agreeably flat images.

If you are interested, I can try to find a PCB with similar sized components and post images from a CMO microscope. They have an objective that also points straight down, yet provides a stereo view.

[mon2]

Adding more for your review:

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mOdb7P1

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mrPIxNl

I think it is important to have the proper elbow room under the lens of the camera to allow for your soldering tools. Respectively do ask for the proper gear to permit this feature (soldering microscope vs inspection microscope).

[emece67]

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[emece67]

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[jfiresto]

This is the vendor that has us thinking about the clarity. They say that the trinocular unit will not have the same results. Will share a link to a pcb repair guy on youtube who said this style is the best for microsoldering without neck pains. Still on the fence. The sample pix from a few manufacturers of scope in Asia do not come close the following clarity:

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mthZsQx

I had a closer look at the above video from which I captured the following cropped frame:



Was the camera out of focus? I really hope it can do much better.

[NorthGuy]

Mine has only 35 mm diameter lens, and the quality of the pictures is excellent - I wouldn't need any better for either soldering or inspection.

[1276-2449-1-ND]

I have the Andonstar ADSM302 for inspection and sometimes soldering of very fine pitch ICs. It was around $300.

I wouldn't say there's no delay, but it's very low. You don't notice it when soldering.

Good working height and magnification.

There's lots of examples of this and others on YouTube.