From: jl@glen--canyon.com   
      
   On Thu, 1 Jan 2026 14:10:48 -0700, Don Y    
   wrote:   
      
   >On 1/1/2026 4:04 AM, Martin Brown wrote:   
   >> Nothing beats a good loupe for close inspection.   
   >> Although a pair of strong reading glasses on top of your prescription   
   glasses   
   >> can be very handy as a quick way to see finer detail.   
   >> (old watchmakers trick)   
   >   
   >I started carrying a cell phone just as a timepiece (cuz   
   >every time I asked someone "what time is it?" they looked   
   >at their cell phone -- hey, I can do that!).   
   >   
   >The *second* application I found for it was as a camera...   
   >so I could snap a photo of some tiny thing and then enlarge   
   >it (zoom) to see the fine detail.  This is especially handy   
   >for reading the microprint that is now common on devices (does   
   >that say "12V @ 0.2A" or "15V @ 0.2A"?).  The flash/illuminator   
   >makes this particularly useful in low light situations (like   
   >when you are trying to examine a device at the bottom of a   
   >pallet of other devices and don't want to have to unload the   
   >pallet just to gain access to it!)   
   >   
   >[You can, of course, also use it as a "variable gain magnifier"   
   >if you can maintain a sight line to it while viewing the   
   >object in question]   
      
   My Samsung phone makes an excellent magnifier, about 4x.   
      
      
   John Larkin   
   Highland Tech Glen Canyon Design Center   
   Lunatic Fringe Electronics   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)