Trinocular scope recommendations?

[mitch]

I am considering doing some engraving instruction for a couple local guys and told them one condition would be that they acquire a trinocular scope & video setup. Looking back to my own learning experience, it would have been a huge advantage to be able to clearly see what was being demonstrated.
I thought GRS might have a trinoc setup in their catalog, but it seems they don’t. Any suggestions for scope, camera, & peripherals? Especially on a budget?

 

[AllenClapp]

Mitch, Tira Mitchell has one on her engraver.com website. No price shown. It requires a call to discuss configuration. She also shows a camera to mate with it. GRS only has a separate camera mount for their scopes. Depending upon what you want to do, using a side mount for a cell phone or GoPro camera can be a good choice. It will be looking at a slight side angle instead of straight down, but it will be a better picture than looking through a microscope. Ask Ray Cover about his setup. Some of his recently posted flare-cutting videos appear to be from a side-mount camera instead of a trinocular scope camera, but it could just be related to the tilt on his block. They are clear and it is easy to see what he is doing.

 

[mitch]

Thanks, Allen. My next question was going to be what about just a suitable video camera that can be mounted on a gooseneck (and I have NO idea why it’s suddenly in bold face- the “B” is not clicked on) as a workable substitute?

 

[sam]

At trade shows, GRS uses inexpensive camcorders and attaches screw mount close-up lenses to them. If the camcorder’s front lens isn’t threaded, you can epoxy the appropriate adapter ring (eBay) to the camera to attach the lenses to. Personally I don’t like this setup compared to a trinocular scope, but we make do with it.

in the classrooms it’s Leica trinoculars which cost two arms and a leg.

 

[DMM]

Seconding the inexpensive camcorder. Get one that has an optical zoom, hdmi output and a powerplug that allows it to be on while plugged in. The hdmi plug means you can plug it straight into a screen to show what you're doing or see what a student is doing to help teach them, and the optical zoom means you can zoom in on the piece while keeping the camera out of the way and don't loose quality like you would with digital zoom. You don't really need anything more than about 5x optical zoom. For the most part I used about 3x and it meant I could get the camera about 7 inches clear of the engraving. having said that, my camera had a 10x zoom and having that little bit extra meant I could get unnecessarily close for nice clips of chips curling up. Not particularly practical, but people really love seeing the chips curl.

 

[mitch]

Thx guys! Any specific makes & models you would recommend? And do you mount them on the microscope carriage, stand arm, or on their own base with a gooseneck or??

 

[AllenClapp]

Mitch, the reason that I mentioned using a GoPro camera is several fold. It has an extra screw-on closeup lens if desired. You can record in full view and select the format later or you can select first and record the final format that you want to fit the intended screen size. It has great sound that includes being able to switch between hearing everything and being set to emphasize the sound of your voice over extraneous sounds so, if set that way, it would hear the hammer or handpiece/graver sounds well if you were not speaking but would put them in the background if you were speaking. It includes capability to record at 4K or higher. It is great with motion shots. It can work with a standard 1/4-20 camera screw mount. Compared to some cameras linked to trinocular microscopes, it is both more powerful and less costly. I understand that it can be mounted to some trinocular scope mounts, but I do not know which ones. If it mounts to a trinocular scope that you may be interested in down the line, it would be perfect to start with using a side-mount adapter with a binocular scope and later mounting on your desired trinocular scope.

 

[Dani Girl]

some camcorders have threads on the front for lenses. may be important

 

[Dani Girl]

there's a few good vids on YouTube by a chap who goes by Setting the Standard. one is how to choose a microscope for diamond setting or engraving which has useful information and another in which he gives some vague specifics to the holder and camcorder he has stuck to the front of the scope. that one is called I GET ASKED PRETTY OFTEN ABOUT TRINOCULAR MICROSCOPES. I think he would reply. his name is Barnard. Ian I think. he's on ig too