Color separating loupes/microscopes

[kyle]

Has anyone used any of Beta's color viewers, or some other similar product? I'm considering getting one, and would appreciate any feedback anyone might have, especially if they've had experience with more than one model.

This is something that I would use in prepress, but it would probably be kept at the press and used mostly by the press operators, so I figure I should defer to what works best for them.

It looks like "Model II" uses a white light with colored filters, and "Model III" uses different LED lights activated by buttons. Pressing buttons sounds a lot more convenient than switching filters, but I assume isolating yellow ink could be done more effectively with filters than colored LEDs. I'm also on the fence between 12x and 20x magnification.

Another product in consideration is the "Micro Dottie 2," which is a USB microscope, and apparently comes with software to view the camera image live and capture images. It appears to use a single white illuminant, and isolation of inks is done with image processing algorithms.

We have the "Betamag 12x W/Light," and it's definitely the best loupe I've ever used.


Here are the product pages:

Color Viewer Model II

Color Viewer Model III

Micro Dottie 2

Betamag 12x W/Light

[gordo]

I have the Color Viewer II and find that the value of the filters is over rated. Even for the ability to better see the yellow. Personally I don't think it's that much use at press. Since you have the Betamag 12x W/Light (mine is without light) then I'd spring for a loupe that has more magnification for use at press. Maybe 20x

I don't think that the Micro Dottie 2 is that useful at press. If you want to experiment then get a standard USB microscope - it's much cheaper - less than $75 and provides excellent quality from 20x-200x which is all you need (plus it can capture the image or shoot video). You can buy them on eBay. Every shop should have one of these.

More info here:

The Print Guide: The right loupe for the job

best, gordo

[color_matters]

I agree on the use of a standard USB Microscope, it's much cheaper and does the job.

[chevalier]

Has anyone seen any smartphone attachements, gadgets, or useful apps related to this area? All of our production supervisors and managers have been equipped with them. It's really enabled easy communication and I'd like to take it to the next step.

[gordo]

Has anyone seen any smartphone attachements, gadgets, or useful apps related to this area? All of our production supervisors and managers have been equipped with them. It's really enabled easy communication and I'd like to take it to the next step.

Google iPhone microscope and a few will pop up. Cheap enough to try out.

Best, gordo

[chevalier]

Yeah I've googled around but I was looking for input from somebody who has actually kicked the tires.

[Stephen Marsh]

We have a USB microscope for taking photos or videos, these can be easily shared and emailed.

We also have a "digital loupe", similar to these:

::::MicroLinks Tech.-Product::::

With our model (the 324, not listed on this page) I have found the following:

Pros: image filter such as the greyscale and and invert filter are helpful. It also has a freeze frame and split magnification screen.
Cons: no usb or SID card output or internal memory to store images. Would be more helpful to have individual R, G, B channels over grey.


Hope this helps,

Stephen Marsh

[arkay_desai]

I have Lab-type microscope. it if nice and Cheap.