A $20 microscope lens allows for some amazing shots ... You can either paint the interior of the tube or use ABS which is not very shiny. Of course, you could always just build a microscope.

Here’s an oldie but a goodie. [RunnerPack] stumbled upon an article from 2001 about building a stereo microscope from a pair of binoculars and a camera lens. With a ring light attached to the ...

While much cheaper than standard equipment, there was a caveat: a microscope’s specially crafted glass lenses often cost hundreds of dollars, putting the tools out of many people’s price range.