Not sure if this is right place for this.

I'm in the prelim stages of building a manual pick-and-place machine and one of the things that I am looking for is a decent inexpensive USB Microscope. This will be used for a live view on a medium size LCD panel. So key wants:

• adjustable power. Probably will shoot for 10X but want a 2X-20X range.
• reasonable frame rate. I could live with 15 but 30 is kind of the minimum.
• low latency (lag). 10s of mS preferred, could probably live with 100 mS or worse.
• needs to focus in the range of 30-50 mm.
• 5 MPixel but may have to compromise on this.
• slim package as it will need to fit next to the vacuum pen assembly.

So, anyone have a recommendations? I'd like to keep the budget under $100. Things like autofocus and power zoom not needed. I will probably be feeding it through a RasPi Zero.

I've got a $30 2 Mpixel one coming but not confident it's going to work well enough. Spent a fair amount of time googling and looking at ebay/amazon ads. I'd really like a Dino-lite AM5218MZT - 60 FPS, 5 Mpix, super low latency, metal body - way sweet. But then, I don't want to spend more than a grand on the scope alone.

 

I got one of these for $34.95 & FREE Shipping.
So far it looks great!
https://plugable.com/products/usb2-micro-250x/https://www.amazon.com/Plugable-Microscope-Flexible-Observation-Magnification/dp/B00XNYXQHE
It has a fraction of a second delay. If you slide a soldering iron tip off an SMD pin, you feel it before you see it.

 

I've got a couple of these things (couple years now) but haven't had the time to try them out. Maybe on Monday along with the other tasks.

 

I got one of these for $34.95 & FREE Shipping.
So far it looks great!
https://plugable.com/products/usb2-micro-250x/https://www.amazon.com/Plugable-Microscope-Flexible-Observation-Magnification/dp/B00XNYXQHE
It has a fraction of a second delay. If you slide a soldering iron tip off an SMD pin, you feel it before you see it.

Thanks, I looked that one. So the delay is noticeable, probably several 100 mS? Cheap enough to give it a try.

What's the lowest magnification it goes to?

Also, what's the working distance - the height between the piece under observation and the lens (assuming a vertical, downward looking orientation)?

 

I've got a couple of these things (couple years now) but haven't had the time to try them out. Maybe on Monday along with the other tasks.

I've got too many of those (other tasks)!

 

There are a lot of Q & As at the bottom of these pages. https://plugable.com/products/usb2-micro-250x/

https://www.amazon.com/Plugable-Microscope-Flexible-Observation-Magnification/dp/B00XNYXQHE

Q: I can’t get my microscope to zoom past a very low magnification, how do i get to 250x?
A: At the closest distance with the clear shield touching the object, there are two possible magnifications. The first is at around 50x, but if you continue to rotate the focus wheel, the image will get blurry, then sharp again at a much higher magnification.

This picture is 3.5" from the board.

 

That's a decent working distance and a reasonable low power magnification. Depending on latency, that could be a winnah. I may just get one of those. Thanks.

 

I took another picture for a pick and place point of view.
This is the finest pitch chip that I could find easily at 6 inches above.
And you get it full screen.

 

Thanks again. It's no dino-light but pretty amazing for that little money.

 

To circle back on this one. I have now gone through 3 different Microscopes. The first two were USB scopes. Third is an HDMI+USB scope

First one. Worked but image quality was pretty mediocre. Latency was on the order of high hundreds of mS through my fast PC. Terrible through my RasPI. Definitely unacceptable image quality.

Second one "Plugable" Image Quality was OK and latency was a bit better - around 500 mS - on my fast PC. Terrible latency on my RasPi. I will wind up using this on my PC for general usage but the latency issue makes it borderline for general PCB assembly use.

Pretty quickly I realized that USB through the PC/RasPi wouldn't cut it. So I went upmarket a bit.

Andonstar HDMI Microscope Not super cheap but very nice and very low latency. With good light it has acceptable image quality and the mount and rack/pinion is decent. The gooseneck LEDs are reasonably good as well. Anyway, this is the one. The built in display is a bit small so I will use HDMI to a repurposed laptop LCD screen.