An Aid to Failing Eyesight

[Musicmanager]

And a couple more .. ..

This one shows some written warning just to the right of the big cap. viewed roughly as I would see it with my glasses on .. .. what does it say ?? erm .. ..

Ah yes, it's a warning printed with some rather grainy paint stuff !!


I rest my case !!

S

 

[throbscottle]

Looks a bit blurry. Can you do a shot to show you can read the writing on SMD transistors and IC's? Then I'll be convinced. Even one of that opto-isolator from the first photo, though it's through hole.

 

[Musicmanager]

Hi

I think the blurry bit is more to do with my ability to keep my hands still than anything else, either way the attached should convince you !
Shots taken from my computer HDD . The components in Throb 4 measure 1 mm x 3 mm

Convinced ?

S

 

[Musicmanager]

And as you can see .. ..

On these there is no writing at all ..

But then, there wouldn't be as they are the three little tiny specs in the middle of Throb 6

S

 

[throbscottle]

Yeah ok you sold it to me

 

[Musicmanager]

Hi

Joking apart, I think that for £10-20 the access and image it gives me is a vast improvement on anything I'd be able to achieve without it. I have found a couple of problems but they are related to the control box for the LED's and the button to take a snapshot is inline about 12 inches from the camera. I've found it quite difficult to operate that whilst holding the camera still but then either an IR, NG,JB or even a KISS will tell me that's what the tripod is for !!
I remain very impressed with it .. ..

Hope all the tills are ringing

S

 

[gary350]

About 15 years ago my arms became too short to read a book so I had to buy reading glasses. That solved the problem for a while.

Next problem I could no longer read traffic signs so I got bifocal glasses. This was the wrong thing to do. I could see to drive and I could see to read close up, I could see the key board, monitor and work bench but everything between 3 feet and 20 feet was a total blur. I could no longer go grocery shopping I could not see the things on the shelf. I could no longer watch TV.

Next I talked to the eye doctor and got a short education on how glasses work. If you get tri or bi focals the lower lens can be set to any location you want. Each lens is good for about 18". So I used a yard stick, took measurements and made notes. It is 15" to the key board, 20" to the monitor, 16" to the work bench, 15 feet to the TV, 4 ft to the grocery store shelves, 30" to speed-o-meter. With the focal center of the 1st bottom lens of my glasses set at 16" I can see 9" both sides of center so I can see the key board, monitor and work bench. With the 2nd lens set with center line at 3 ft I can see 9" both sides of center so this is good for seeing food on grocery store shelves, speed o meter on dash of vehicle, and stuff on the shelfs in garage and house, food in cabnets and refrigrator. The top lens of my glasses is great for driving, seeing people, no problem with traffic signs and not much trouble watching TV.

You can buy glasses online 95% cheaper than local eye doctor. Be sure to check online before you get your eyes tested one thing you need to know eye doctors never write down is the distance between your eyes and the location of the bridge of your nose compaired to the center of your eyes and distance to your ear. Once you get your prescription type in the prescription information and your glasses will arrive in the mail. I wanted light weight titanium wire rim glasses $760 but only $34 online. They have been good glasses I have had them 3 years and it is time to get retested.

 

[MikeMl]

Coming from a research lab environment, we always had high-quality binocular zoom microscopes around. To equip my own home lab, I went on E-Bay and found a nice Olympus Stereo Zoom microscope, two sets of eyepieces, stand, and illuminator for ~$150. It has a long working distance, so I can put a whole radio, etc under the scope objective lens, because the stand has sufficient travel.

Never looked back. I use it almost every day...

Only thing that would be better would be able to take pictures through it...

 

[Musicmanager]

Coming from a poor home, I had to walk 47 miles, there and back, to my violin lesson where 6 of us shared a violin, and it only had one string, but we didn't complain.. ..

Sorry Mike - my warped sense of humour

That sounds like an impressive set up. I was really only looking for a solution to the problem of perpetually changing glasses to get to see something and even more perpetually getting it wrong - you wouldn't believe how frustrating that becomes ! I bought this little camera not expecting much but the result is really quite amazing and offers an immediate solution to my problem.

S

 

[JonSea]

One thing my old eyes have noticed...abundant illumination makes a big difference in my ability to see the small stuff!

I got some strips like the one shown here on eBay, and installed 1 watt LED beads at about one inch centers and mounted them 2' above my bench. Makes things much more visible.

 

[dr pepper]

That looks good, 18 1w leds, that'll be quite bright.

 

[JonSea]

I have 3 of those strips across my bench, using white (rather than warm white) LEDs. It's extremely bright, but not glarey. It's very pleasant to work under.

I used a piece of aluminum angle as a heat sink – the strip alone is not enough.

 

[gary350]

One thing my old eyes have noticed...abundant illumination makes a big difference in my ability to see the small stuff!

I got some strips like the one shown here on eBay, and installed 1 watt LED beads at about one inch centers and mounted them 2' above my bench. Makes things much more visible.

View attachment 91720

Is that white light?
What is that called? I looked up LED strip on ebay and found 177,100. auctions most are 300, 600, 1200 led strips is rolls.
What voltage are your strips?
What do you power those strips with?

 

[NorthGuy]

Doesn't look like a high quality picture. Here's a picture of test-soldered 0402 resistor taken with hand-held Nikon D700. It looks like it reveals more details.

 

[JonSea]

The strip I purchased is out of stock, but **broken link removed**

These strips are powered by constant current supplies. They're rated by wattage of the LED bead and range of LED beads in series.

 

[Musicmanager]

Morning Guys

Yes, I would agree that light is very influential on aging eyesight. I have an 18 watt flourescent tube suspended approx 2 ft above my worktop behind a flat plate and a diffuser so that I cannot look directly into the light. Seems to work well at the moment.

Northguy - thanks for the comparison shot, I would agree your pic does show much more detail although I wasn't trying to get anymore than read the writing on a component which is what Throb asked me to do. I do have a comparison for you though .. ..

NIKON D700 @ £623.00

USB Microscope @ £10.00

Much more detail there too

Thanks

S

 

[ericgibbs]

hi MM,
I use angle poise bench light, fitted a 60W internally silvered lamp, also angle poise 8 inch dia magnifier.
Works just fine for me.
E

 

[Musicmanager]

Hi E
Hope you're well .. .. .

I don't have too much problem with light - I have a flourescent tube diffused over my bench, but constantly changing spectacles for focus is a pain in the *****

I started this thread to extol the virtues of a little USB pen microscope I found at Banggood that solves most of my sight problems and it's gradually evolved into a debate about light and the effect on vision.

All part of the aging process I guess !

S

 

[NorthGuy]

My sight started going about 6 years ago. It's pretty bad now. I cannot see much without glasses. For soldering, I use +6 glasses combined with magnifying glass on my table, and lots of light, but I still cannot see it well.

I'm always looking for some gadget to give me relatively easy 20x magnification, but no such thing within my budget.

D700 is certainly more expensive, but it is a general purpose thing which I already have. The same as if your car battery dies, it's cheaper to jump-start it with another car than buying a designated charger, even though the car might be 100 times more expensive than the charger.

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

Gary350

Yep, right on in terms of focal length. I have "normal bifocals" and "computer bifocals". The normal ones are set at what the optican normally sets them at. The "computer bifocals" are a high bifocal. So, straight ahead is looking through the bifocal lens, but looking "up" goes through the normal lens. The calcs aren't hard.

PD (pupil distance) is parameter that's measured by the optician. I got good results using a camera and a ruler. There is a near PD and Far PD, but they are normally the same.

A have a "vertical astigmatism" that's hard to compensate for. It also makes lower case character recognition hard.

I also like "real glass". Polycarbonate scratches too easy and the index of refraction definitely makes the real glass clearer. Glass is heavier.
One of my "normal" pairs is a Trivex lens. It's not too bad.

I do use an anti-relection coating and UV coating on the lenses. It's not the greatest, but it depends on how applied. I don't think these were RF sputtered. (I operated and fixed that technology equipment for a while). Plastic (Trivex) doesn't require UV protection. They do the protections on different sides. The outer could be UV and the inner anti-reflection or vice versa.