I am another user and fan of the inexpensive Plugable 2.0 USB scope from Amazon. I’ve bought and used probably 8 or 10 different scopes over the years and it’s still my favorite one to use. Quick and simple for my hand-held method for edge inspections.
Using a scope for inspecting your sharpening progress and using a scope for other duties are two very different things. If your wanting to see how your stone work is sharpening your knife edge, this scope is perfect. If your looking to make microscopic metallurgical studies and micro-photographs then you may want a better scope.
I bought all the better scopes thinking that a better scope was better for my needs. Came to pass that I’m sharpening knives. I’m not making microscopic knife edge studies and photography. To pick up a scope, inspect my progress, (maybe snap a couple photos), and get back to sharpening, this is perfect!
I’ve got a couple of the very inexpensive 'scope and have not been happy with them. The first wouldn’t hold focus and the software for the second wouldn’t work on my older laptop - or I’m too dumb to make it work. The third was a Carson and wouldn’t let me rest it on the edge without a clunky adapter. My first 'scope was a 5MP Celestron which worked very well for a few years, but I somehow got dust into the lens chamber and attempts to clear it made it worse. So I bought another Celestron and am still happy with it. The major benefit is simple - it holds focus perfectly. Any error in focus is easily compensated by slightly tipping the camera to one side or the other. Like most of these 'scopes, they’ll focus on the plane of the camera shroud at two different magnifications. With my 21" monitor, that’s about 55X and about 158X or so. The higher magnification is too sensitive and the depth of field is too small for most sharpening use. The lower magnification displays an area about 8mm wide by whatever the height of the screen image is for that power. All of my 'scope use is handheld. If the knife is important to me, I’ll check the length of the blade with each grit change, checking for damage, burrs and scratch patterns.
Some of us are using this scope holder accessory with the Pluggable Scope. It takes all the focusing issues/problems away. Now, where I set it, it stays until I choose to re-adjust the focus ring. This scope accessory was devised for hand-held scope use.
Here’s a couple edge photos taken hand-held. They are of the bevel and tip at high power before sharpening. They show me everything I need to see to do what I want to do.
These pics are down-sized for posting. When using the camera with my laptop, the image completely fills the 13" screen. The photos are taken hand-held with the bezel of the 'scope in contact with the subject.
I’ll take a stab at the actual screen image width being actually about 5.25 mm wide. If your laptop screen is 13" (330mm) wide, then the magnification is about 63X (330/5.25).
First thing , i would like to thank you all for the replies/ info
I thought I would start with one of the $40 Pluggable scopes from Amazon , just to see what things looked like with it .
If I decide I want to upgrade later I can always set this one up for my 7 year old granddaughter who is fascinated looking at bugs ,and other creepy crawly things , (as opposed to her 5 year old sister who is scared to death of bugs , go figure !!! ) .
The first time I started up my first USB 'scope, I looked around for stuff to look at. The videos and ads show coins and insects, so I picked up a fly I’d swatted earlier in the day. I quickly called my wife to show her that the fly was actually still alive. His (or her?) abdomen was pulsing as though it were breathing or its heart was beating. There was a shimmering reflection from the segments on its abdomen which gave the impression of wet blood. I thought it was incredibly cool, but my usually-stalwart life partner was creeped out to no end. I don’t show her weird stuff anymore.
