For fathers day I asked my wife to get me a digital microscope so I could take some better taxonomic photos for identification.
After about an hour of use, I'm pretty satisfied with this thing. It doesn't take the greatest photos, and I haven't been able to really test the video recording feature yet, but it definitely performs well enough for my needs.
Here's a few photos I quickly took. Don't mind the subjects, they're a bit stiff and curled up as they died quite a while ago.
Novomessor sp. with measurements
Pogonomyrmex rugosus
Pogonomyrmex rugosus stinger measurement
As you can see, it even has a rudimentary measuring feature. It needs to be re-calibrated after every adjustment, but it works well.
I'm pretty sure that with this microscope I was able to get a positive ID on that Novomessor worker. Novomessor cockerelli.
Hopefully I won't have to wait long for more subjects to shoot.
