Except that we're on HN so it shouldn't really surprise anyone that I'm using these "expensive" tools to solder and correct 0402 and sometimes 0201 parts.
Effectively impossible without a stereo microscope.
I understand that you're trying to flex a bit to prove your point, but a 2-lead rectangular discrete and dead-bugging a QFN-24/28 are in entirely different spectrums of difficulty.
Edit: Apologies, in my head I was replying to a different thread. I would still say that if you're working at that scale you should deploy appropriate tools to make the job simple, fast and repeatable.
Doing work on extremely small parts without a stereo microscope offers extremely small returns once you've finished proving your point to nobody watching.
I'm not trying to proof you wrong but sometimes good enough will do. However, good tools are worth the money most of the time.
1: https://www.computerbase.de/forum/threads/t480s-backlight-si...