I am using an classing magnifying lens mounted to arm on my desk. It does fair, except I must get it SO CLOSE to my jigs and work, it actually interferes and I must move it always out of the way. I prefer not to wear lens on my face and head for many reasons.
I was wondering if anyone can tell me what they use that works good? Possible camera / screen options?
I use bright lighting and no magnifier. Only thing I have trouble with with that setup is orienting SOT-23-6 parts.
I have something similar from maplins.
It is spring balanced and seldom stays where i want it.
3X mag at the right distance.
Had better before with mass balanced magnifiers at work but they cost loads.
Interference with wok piece i have learned to work with.
The inability to stay in the right place is the biggest problem though.
DrAzzy:
I use bright lighting and no magnifier. Only thing I have trouble with with that setup is orienting SOT-23-6 parts.
Bright light certainly helps but eyesight these days requires magnification.
Nice thing that's available these days is hand held magnifying glass with LED lighting built in. We've got a couple.
I use a pair of 3X reading glasses that I got at Pearl Vision, nice & crisp view.
1.5X reading glasses don't make the small SMD stuff big enough. Sucks getting old!
The flourescent bulb broke in my 3" lens, so I replaced the ring with LED strip. Its still not bright enough, I must add more and brighter bulbs....
The lens will float down and have trouble balancing with the springs, I just re-adjust is not an issue. I just can't clear more than about 4" of space between the lens and my work, so I can't spin the circuit board on the holding jig, and bumping with soldering iron all the time..... It's almost less work to not use the lens.
Using a bent tip on the iron helps greatly i find.
When younger I could focus down to 4 inches or so, but now I need magnification and
nothing beats a loupe or magnifying glasses (with LEDs) - large magnifiers are weak and
necessitate the object being further away which reduces the effective magnification
before you start. Useful for soldering though.
Professional large magnifiers are basically closer to microscopes and work much better,
but they are large and expensive and don't fit in your pocket. My swiss-army knife has
a lens (amongst many thing!) so I always have magnification to hand.
I know you said you prefer not to wear something on your head, but you may change your mind -- this is so convenient and works so well...
As an old guy now, I really need help for reading resistor color codes, soldering small things, etc. I use a headband magnifier kind of like this one. I wear it most of the time I'm working and it's very convenient to just raise it up over my eyes (I always have to wear my normal glasses). With it flipped up, I walk around looking pretty silly -- or impressive, depending on your viewpoint 
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So I add it here:
Mine does not have the lights in it, which I really would like, so I would recommend getting one with lights in it.
I have THIS ONE that I have been very happy with (well until I melted the adjustment part of the headband against my soldering iron 
) Not just sure what the description on Amazon is talking about when it says "battery powered" - no lights on it and certainly no place for batteries !! You can get different power lenses for it as well as a loupe (which I have) that swings down over one lens for really close work. Electronics is a tough hobby - when the eyes were new, I was working with vacuum tubes with big letters on them, now, with old eyes, one sneeze and the entire project is gone !! :o
I have many different types. I use what Mikey uses the most, but mine have an additional fold down lens.
Oddly enough, I've seem to have gotten them too close to an iron too, but only melted the outer corner.
I have one just like DocStein99 has as well, but it sits in the corner. I find that the optics are horrid if you don't look straight through and not move your head. It just made me burn my fingers and gave me headaches.
I just made an unplanned visit to MicroCenter and picked up a pair of loupe glasses with interchangeable lenses from 2.5x-25x. It might turn out to be not worth a hoot for smd's, but it will be awesome for finding and removing the multitude of splinters I always get.
I'm sure I will end up getting something like what LarryD has. It will take some getting used to, as I really like being able to move my head around without losing sight of what I'm doing
Tinman13kup: Microcenter? If you can buy that kind of stuff, I want to check the place out. I'm going to see if there's one near Philadelphia.
DocStein99:
Tinman13kup: Microcenter? If you can buy that kind of stuff, I want to check the place out. I'm going to see if there's one near Philadelphia.
Strange enough, I just looked at their locations and Philadelphia/St Davids is the only location in PA. You're going to like the store.....
Thats a little road trip around 30 miles, from where I am in Nj - just outside of Philadelphia.
Edmund Scientific had a little retail store filled with great surplus lab supplies, tools, and gizmo's. Is a shame it closed up, after the storefront was sold to private owner who couldn't keep it running.
I use a stereo microscope these days for 0402's - my eyesight isn't as good as it used to be!
you can get decent ones from about £200...
regards
Allan
Before I got a microscope, I used these head magnifiers.
I picked up a few dental head lamps and glued them on several.
The light is adjustable and very bright.
Had to go the next step as one eye is getting bad.
Did a fair amount of research and got this microscope.
Best thing I have purchased for a long time.
~$475
I also have several sets of these:
http://www.princessauto.com/en/detail/5-pc-magnifying-eye-loupe-set/A-p8259707e
2,3,5,7,and 10X
~$5
