Now that I bought a stereo microscope. After limping along with magnifying visors, I bought a stereo microscope on an articulating arm with an LED ring light. I could not really justify the cost for our at-home hair zapping but I needed the scope for another consulting project. The difference is like night and day, truly amazing. here is what I bought:
http://store.amscope.com/sm-6tx.html
The zoom range is 3.5x to 45x and the working distance is 8 inches which is more than enough to get your hands in the working zone. One of the best aspects is that you can adjust the focus for each eye separately which the visors don’t do.
The image seems very clear so I wonder how a name brand like Zeiss differs other than price.
That’s a nice scope at a very reasonable price. Congratulations!!
Congratulations, you are now seeing better than more than half the professional hair removal practitioners in the world.
The difference the Zeiss would make is a working distance of 12 to 24 inches, and a brighter halogen or incandescent light mounted in a heat box, with the light delivered via fiber optic line for client comfort.
Despite what some humanoids say, a Zeiss halogen set up is very comfortable to the subject of its attention. It focuses the light on the work area only, and has none of the glare that bare halogen lights burden its subjects to, and the client needs no eye-shades, or blinders for comfort. The dimmer also allows one to adjust the brightness for maximum contrast and clarity of image.
One last feature of the Zeiss, it stands on its own, and does not need to be secured on a table or desk. Just my rolling stand weighs over 100 pounds.
The LED ring I bought with the scope works very well. It cost about $85 and is dimmable. The light field is very uniform. With respect to Zeiss, I was mostly wondering if the optical quality is markedly different. Working distance can be traded for magnification by changing the Barlow lens.Out of the box, my scope is 7x-90x with a working distance of 4". When I attach the .5x Barlow, the zoom range is cut in half and the WD is doubled. 3.5x at 8 inches work well and I can still zoom in if I want. I have seen a .3x Barlow is available which would triple the WD to 12" and cut the zoom range by 3.