Review: Brando's 200x USB Microscope
The Brando 8 USB Digital Microscope (PN: ULIFE022500) features a 1.3MP image sensor, 10 to 200x magnification and a maximum video resolution 1280x1024.
Compact USB microscopes are excellent for looking at coins, stamps and other exonumia. I've seen them selling for upwards of $200 at coin shows, but you can get one from Brando for only $75.
It is ideal for various applications such as science and engineering work and study, dematology (skin/scalp) exam, detailed repair, assembly and quality control (i.e. eletronics, mechanical, etc.), hobbies and collecting (coin, stamp, watch, jewelry, etc.), law enforcement (counterfeit ID, crime lab, etc.), entertainment or simply as a reading aid.
The Brando scope only comes with Windows software but I found a Mac driver from BigC (DinoScope v4.0, released 4/10/2008) that works well with 10.5.6. The Mac driver allows you to capture video (and sound) and has a funny option to "Regord Without Hogging Machine." The DinoScope 4 driver doesn't provide a way to capture stills but you can always use the Mac's built-in screenshot utility (Cmd-Shift-4).
A decent flexible stand for the microscope can be can be found for around $39 but I prefer the GorillaPod original ($20, pictured) from Joby.
Lots of sample pictures are on the Brando Web site and I've posted a shot of the new 2009 Lincoln Log Cabin cent after the jump.
