Turning mini camera into microscope

[jaimegmr]

Hi everyone,

I am trying to turn a small 1/3" CMOS camera (like a webcam but it has a composite connection instead of USB). I want to build something similar to a microscope that I can use to solder small surface mount components and view them at the same time.

I can view very small things by turning the focus ring until it focuses on items very close to the lens. This works somewhat like a microscope, but I want the camera to be farther away from the object being viewed.

What do I need to do this?

I was thinking of hacking some toy binoculars and attaching the camera to the eyepiece. Would this work? I went to the 99cent store but did not find any toy binoculars.

I saw some CCTV camera lens on eBay but I would rather not spend some $20-30 dollars on it.

Any ideas?

[bicostp]

A magnifying glass.