USB pen microscopes

Douglas H Sanders <dohsande [at] indiana__edu> writes

>I'm writing to ask if anyone has experience and would care to share
>opinions about using the relatively inexpensive (US$100-150) USB
>accessible pen microscopes now on the market. ...

I have been using a Dino-lite hand-held digital microscope (which
may be not what you are referring to in describing 'pen'
microscope)for teaching purposes for about 18 months. This works
fairly well not only for recording but even better for scanning by
hand across a painting, and projecting the 'live' image via
powerpoint to a large class. It is excellent for demonstrating the
condition of paintings for instance, or the character of
brushstrokes, and means one can respond to questions by the students
by examining other parts of the work.

There are disadvantages: I have used it on works of little value,
when teaching, since it is difficult to keep a steady hand, and the
goose neck stand does not reach very far into the painting.I have
LED lights on mine but the colour is not at all accurate, and
although highly portable it only serves as a record of the
topography of the paint and location of areas of interest, if I am
using it for my analytical work. Perhaps someone knows of a make
with better colour control. It also needs only a light touch when
holding the microscope to register a photograph inadvertently on the
laptop (though that is not a great fault).

I would think that it would be an excellent tool for looking at
small items where accurate colour is perhaps less important: and
they are not as cheap as pen microscopes but  (around UKP140 GBP).

Libby Sheldon
Lecturer History of Art and Material Studies
History of Art Department
UCL
+44 20 7383 2090


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 24:37
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