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usb digital microscopes

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Nick Thompson

usb digital microscopes

H’lo everybody,

Does anybody have any hands-on experience with purchasing a digital usb microscope for a child?

EVERYBODY seems to be making these things now and the prices range from 50 to a thousand dollars. It seems like a REALLY great opportunity to get ripped off. No clear standards, no basis of comparison.

My goal is to get one good enough so that my grandson can see single celled creatures moving around in pond scum. Is 150x enough, or do we need 200x?

Issues:

Magnification. Are the magnification ratios comparable between manufacturers. It seems that some manufacturers are getting high ratings by digital, rather than optical means. Is that fair? Or even by telling you to move the microscope away from the subject. Is there any way to get a handle on the quality of the optics? Will I care? If there is no change in OPTICAL magnification, then magnification boils down to lighting and resolution, right?

Resolution: is megapixels the proper measure of resolution in these systems?

Lighting. The microscope itself has led lights on it. Some 4, some 8. For higher magnfications, more light is needed. How much? More led’s can raise the price substantially.

Image capture: Some seem to contain a camera, some perhaps just to pass the image through to a computer. Not clear how this makes a difference, given that the “end user” is a computer, in any case.

Stand: Stands are extra and range from 14 to 100 bucks. Does it make a difference

Operating System: Many of these things seem to top out at Vista or XP.

Seller: Lord, I would pay a little extra to deal with somebody who knew what they were doing!

Anybody have any thoughts? Please assume that I haven’t a clue what I am up to, here.

Nick

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology

Clark University

http://home.earthlink.net/nthompson

http://www.cusf.org

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

Stephen Guerin

Re: usb digital microscopes

Hi Nick,

We have the $30 Bionic Eye with our kids. It was basically a 200x CMOS camera that put out an NTSC signal to the TV. I strongly recommend it. Though I played with it more than they :-)

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=eyeclops&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=15384889591559532059&ei=WrnpTLarHZTWtQO3kuCwCw&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CFEQ8wIwBg#

The newer version has an LCD screen, 400x zoom, multiple lenses, usb memory, battery power which would make it a lot more portable and useful. If it were me, I would splurge for this and I bet it won't get discarded as quickly due to having to be hooked to a TV.

http://www.amazon.com/Eyeclops-61081-EyeClops-BioniCam/dp/B00153C5KY

It's nice that you use it to magnify all sorts of things without having to use microphone slides. Of course, it's not as traditional and may not feel as "science-y" but who cares about that... :-)

Your free to long-term borrow our cyclops.

-S

_____________________________________________________________

[hidden email]

(m) 505-216-6226 (o) 505-995-0206

sfcomplex.org | simtable.com | ambientpixel.com | redfish.com

On Nov 21, 2010, at 12:26 PM, Nicholas Thompson wrote:

H’lo everybody,

Does anybody have any hands-on experience with purchasing a digital usb microscope for a child?

EVERYBODY seems to be making these things now and the prices range from 50 to a thousand dollars. It seems like a REALLY great opportunity to get ripped off. No clear standards, no basis of comparison.

My goal is to get one good enough so that my grandson can see single celled creatures moving around in pond scum. Is 150x enough, or do we need 200x?

Issues:

Magnification. Are the magnification ratios comparable between manufacturers. It seems that some manufacturers are getting high ratings by digital, rather than optical means. Is that fair? Or even by telling you to move the microscope away from the subject. Is there any way to get a handle on the quality of the optics? Will I care? If there is no change in OPTICAL magnification, then magnification boils down to lighting and resolution, right?

Resolution: is megapixels the proper measure of resolution in these systems?

Lighting. The microscope itself has led lights on it. Some 4, some 8. For higher magnfications, more light is needed. How much? More led’s can raise the price substantially.

Image capture: Some seem to contain a camera, some perhaps just to pass the image through to a computer. Not clear how this makes a difference, given that the “end user” is a computer, in any case.

Stand: Stands are extra and range from 14 to 100 bucks. Does it make a difference

Operating System: Many of these things seem to top out at Vista or XP.

Seller: Lord, I would pay a little extra to deal with somebody who knew what they were doing!

Anybody have any thoughts? Please assume that I haven’t a clue what I am up to, here.

Nick

Nicholas S. Thompson
Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology
Clark University
http://home.earthlink.net/nthompson
http://www.cusf.org

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

James Steiner

Re: usb digital microscopes

Here is a page of Rob Cockerham's* experience with the Eyeclops:

http://www.cockeyed.com/science/eyeclops/eyeclops.shtml

* Of "How Much is Inside", etc.

~~James

www.turtlezero.com

On Sun, Nov 21, 2010 at 7:36 PM, Stephen Guerin <[hidden email]> wrote:

Hi Nick,

We have the $30 Bionic Eye with our kids. It was basically a 200x CMOS camera that put out an NTSC signal to the TV. I strongly recommend it. Though I played with it more than they :-)

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=eyeclops&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=15384889591559532059&ei=WrnpTLarHZTWtQO3kuCwCw&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CFEQ8wIwBg#

The newer version has an LCD screen, 400x zoom, multiple lenses, usb memory, battery power which would make it a lot more portable and useful. If it were me, I would splurge for this and I bet it won't get discarded as quickly due to having to be hooked to a TV.

http://www.amazon.com/Eyeclops-61081-EyeClops-BioniCam/dp/B00153C5KY

It's nice that you use it to magnify all sorts of things without having to use microphone slides. Of course, it's not as traditional and may not feel as "science-y" but who cares about that... :-)

Your free to long-term borrow our cyclops.

-S

_____________________________________________________________

[hidden email]

(m) 505-216-6226 (o) 505-995-0206
sfcomplex.org | simtable.com | ambientpixel.com | redfish.com

On Nov 21, 2010, at 12:26 PM, Nicholas Thompson wrote:

H’lo everybody,

Does anybody have any hands-on experience with purchasing a digital usb microscope for a child?

EVERYBODY seems to be making these things now and the prices range from 50 to a thousand dollars. It seems like a REALLY great opportunity to get ripped off. No clear standards, no basis of comparison.

My goal is to get one good enough so that my grandson can see single celled creatures moving around in pond scum. Is 150x enough, or do we need 200x?

Issues:

Magnification. Are the magnification ratios comparable between manufacturers. It seems that some manufacturers are getting high ratings by digital, rather than optical means. Is that fair? Or even by telling you to move the microscope away from the subject. Is there any way to get a handle on the quality of the optics? Will I care? If there is no change in OPTICAL magnification, then magnification boils down to lighting and resolution, right?

Resolution: is megapixels the proper measure of resolution in these systems?

Lighting. The microscope itself has led lights on it. Some 4, some 8. For higher magnfications, more light is needed. How much? More led’s can raise the price substantially.

Image capture: Some seem to contain a camera, some perhaps just to pass the image through to a computer. Not clear how this makes a difference, given that the “end user” is a computer, in any case.

Stand: Stands are extra and range from 14 to 100 bucks. Does it make a difference

Operating System: Many of these things seem to top out at Vista or XP.

Seller: Lord, I would pay a little extra to deal with somebody who knew what they were doing!

Anybody have any thoughts? Please assume that I haven’t a clue what I am up to, here.

Nick

Nicholas S. Thompson
Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology
Clark University
http://home.earthlink.net/nthompson

http://www.cusf.org

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

Nick Thompson

Re: usb digital microscopes

In reply to this post by Stephen Guerin

Thanks for your thoughts on this, Steve. You have opened up a whole new front, here. I assume you can’t see paramecium in pond water with these things. I think I may have to get off that. What about yeast growing?

Nick

From: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Stephen Guerin
Sent: Sunday, November 21, 2010 5:36 PM
To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
Cc: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] usb digital microscopes

Hi Nick,

We have the $30 Bionic Eye with our kids. It was basically a 200x CMOS camera that put out an NTSC signal to the TV. I strongly recommend it. Though I played with it more than they :-)

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=eyeclops&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=15384889591559532059&ei=WrnpTLarHZTWtQO3kuCwCw&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CFEQ8wIwBg#

http://www.amazon.com/Eyeclops-61081-EyeClops-BioniCam/dp/B00153C5KY

It's nice that you use it to magnify all sorts of things without having to use microphone slides. Of course, it's not as traditional and may not feel as "science-y" but who cares about that... :-)

Your free to long-term borrow our cyclops.

-S

_____________________________________________________________

[hidden email]

(m) 505-216-6226 (o) 505-995-0206

sfcomplex.org | simtable.com | ambientpixel.com | redfish.com

On Nov 21, 2010, at 12:26 PM, Nicholas Thompson wrote:

H’lo everybody,

Does anybody have any hands-on experience with purchasing a digital usb microscope for a child?

My goal is to get one good enough so that my grandson can see single celled creatures moving around in pond scum. Is 150x enough, or do we need 200x?

Issues:

Resolution: is megapixels the proper measure of resolution in these systems?

Lighting. The microscope itself has led lights on it. Some 4, some 8. For higher magnfications, more light is needed. How much? More led’s can raise the price substantially.

Stand: Stands are extra and range from 14 to 100 bucks. Does it make a difference

Operating System: Many of these things seem to top out at Vista or XP.

Seller: Lord, I would pay a little extra to deal with somebody who knew what they were doing!

Anybody have any thoughts? Please assume that I haven’t a clue what I am up to, here.

Nick

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology

Clark University

http://home.earthlink.net/nthompson

http://www.cusf.org

James Steiner

Re: usb digital microscopes

I understand that a 50x to 200x microscope is sufficient for paramecium (and other things) in pond/gutter watter.

The eyeclops claims up to 200x.. but handheld, it wouldn't be much good. Anything in a stand, with up to 200x, would be sufficient.

I remember as a kid I had a simple 3 lens 'scope--I think it was 50/100/200 or something--we saw all kinds of things in the gutter water, etc.

~~J

On Mon, Nov 22, 2010 at 12:47 AM, Nicholas Thompson <[hidden email]> wrote:

Thanks for your thoughts on this, Steve. You have opened up a whole new front, here. I assume you can’t see paramecium in pond water with these things. I think I may have to get off that. What about yeast growing?

michael barron

Re: usb digital microscopes

Nick:

Celestron(good telescope maker) make both a microscope +USB camera or
a plan Jane USB microscope camera with stand.

Enclosed is a link to look at some of there products as well as price. Amazon
has some specials on price and shipping

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=Celestron+44320+Microscope+Digital+Kit+MDK

regards
michael barron

On Mon, Nov 22, 2010 at 8:46 AM, James Steiner <[hidden email]> wrote:

> I understand that a 50x to 200x microscope is sufficient for paramecium (and
> other things) in pond/gutter watter.
> The eyeclops claims up to 200x.. but handheld, it wouldn't be much good.
> Anything in a stand, with up to 200x, would be sufficient.
> I remember as a kid I had a simple 3 lens 'scope--I think it was 50/100/200
> or something--we saw all kinds of things in the gutter water, etc.
> ~~J
>
> On Mon, Nov 22, 2010 at 12:47 AM, Nicholas Thompson
> <[hidden email]> wrote:
>>
>> Thanks for your thoughts on this, Steve. You have opened up a whole new
>> front, here. I assume you can’t see paramecium in pond water with these
>> things. I think I may have to get off that. What about yeast growing?
>
> ============================================================
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
>

Roger Critchlow-2

Re: usb digital microscopes

I wish I had personal experience to share on the subject, but it's all vicarious.

My own recommendation is to go see what Edmund Scientifics has to offer, http://www.scientificsonline.com/, because I have always coveted one of their Astroscan telescopes, and because I've been always impressed with the variety and quality of their catalog, and because they've been supplying this stuff since someone might have bought me one.

-- rec --

lrudolph

pond scum update

In reply to this post by Nick Thompson

Here is a report from someone on another list to
which I forwarded Nick's original usb microscope
question; the list had been kicking it around for
a while, and this guy took action.

===begin===
>>><http://www.celestron.com/c3/product.php?ProdID=516>
>>
>>These are pretty good photos! How easy is it to follow moving
things
>>with that stage?
>>
>I don't know yet. I'll file a report when I'm up and running.

My report:

I e-ordered some well slides and coverslips from:
<http://www.microscopeworld.com/>

I inserted a 4GB SDHC card into the LCD/Camera head
of the scope. That worked, and I'm using that mechanism
for file transfer. The stills are JPEGs, the videos
are 3gp (whatever that is, but miraculously both my linux
boxes could display it, so kudos to Celestron for choosing
that format).

I went down to a pond in Tilden Park and collected
some samples. Here are my first attempts at capturing images:
<http://www.panix.com/~bks/Pix/Micro/>

The two minute video is pretty cool for a first go. I am
definitely a microscope tyro. Some of the little guys are
zipping around too fast to follow, and most are too small
to make out much detail. If you stick with it till the
end you'll see another large critter go zooming by.

The still pictures of pond scum thingees are not great but
for larger objects, like the prepared section of a stem of
a plant, they're pretty good.

The verniers on the stage are pretty good for such an
inexpensive instrument. It sure beats using your fingers
to move the slide around.

More in the future. Mostly this makes me want a better
setup. But as that would be between 10x and 100x more
expensive, I'll wait.
===end===

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

Vladimyr Burachynsky

Re: pond scum update

Try placing the slide on a cold plate to slow things down. We used to use
that trick for insect macrophotography.

Shssh don't tell anyone how we cheated all those years. Sometimes a little
spray can of volatiles works to cool and slow things.

Vladimyr Ivan Burachynsky
Ph.D.(Civil Eng.), M.Sc.(Mech.Eng.), M.Sc.(Biology)

120-1053 Beaverhill Blvd.
Winnipeg, Manitoba
CANADA R2J 3R2
(204) 2548321 Phone/Fax
[hidden email]

-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf
Of [hidden email]
Sent: December 4, 2010 6:25 PM
To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
Subject: [FRIAM] pond scum update

Here is a report from someone on another list to
which I forwarded Nick's original usb microscope
question; the list had been kicking it around for
a while, and this guy took action.

===begin===
>>><http://www.celestron.com/c3/product.php?ProdID=516>
>>
>>These are pretty good photos! How easy is it to follow moving
things
>>with that stage?
>>
>I don't know yet. I'll file a report when I'm up and running.

My report:

I e-ordered some well slides and coverslips from:
<http://www.microscopeworld.com/>

I inserted a 4GB SDHC card into the LCD/Camera head
of the scope. That worked, and I'm using that mechanism
for file transfer. The stills are JPEGs, the videos
are 3gp (whatever that is, but miraculously both my linux
boxes could display it, so kudos to Celestron for choosing
that format).

I went down to a pond in Tilden Park and collected
some samples. Here are my first attempts at capturing images:
<http://www.panix.com/~bks/Pix/Micro/>

The two minute video is pretty cool for a first go. I am
definitely a microscope tyro. Some of the little guys are
zipping around too fast to follow, and most are too small
to make out much detail. If you stick with it till the
end you'll see another large critter go zooming by.

The still pictures of pond scum thingees are not great but
for larger objects, like the prepared section of a stem of
a plant, they're pretty good.

The verniers on the stage are pretty good for such an
inexpensive instrument. It sure beats using your fingers
to move the slide around.

More in the future. Mostly this makes me want a better
setup. But as that would be between 10x and 100x more
expensive, I'll wait.
===end===

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

Russell Standish

Re: pond scum update

In reply to this post by lrudolph

On Sat, Dec 04, 2010 at 07:24:43PM -0500, [hidden email] wrote:
The stills are JPEGs, the videos
> are 3gp (whatever that is, but miraculously both my linux
> boxes could display it, so kudos to Celestron for choosing
> that format).
>

3gp is a low-res MPEG4 format used by 3G phones for sending videos
between each (eg via MMS). MPlayer (used by most Linux media players)
has no problems figuring out how to play it - its a little more tricky
to generate the format from say a regular AVI or MP4 file, though.

--

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prof Russell Standish Phone 0425 253119 (mobile)
Mathematics
UNSW SYDNEY 2052 [hidden email]
Australia http://www.hpcoders.com.au
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

Steve Smith

Re: pond scum update

In reply to this post by Vladimyr Burachynsky

Sure you weren't huffing them?

I hear that slows things down as well...

> Try placing the slide on a cold plate to slow things down. We used to use
> that trick for insect macrophotography.
>
> Shssh don't tell anyone how we cheated all those years. Sometimes a little
> spray can of volatiles works to cool and slow things.
>
>
>
> Vladimyr Ivan Burachynsky
> Ph.D.(Civil Eng.), M.Sc.(Mech.Eng.), M.Sc.(Biology)
>
> 120-1053 Beaverhill Blvd.
> Winnipeg, Manitoba
> CANADA R2J 3R2
> (204) 2548321 Phone/Fax
> [hidden email]
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf
> Of [hidden email]
> Sent: December 4, 2010 6:25 PM
> To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
> Subject: [FRIAM] pond scum update
>
> Here is a report from someone on another list to
> which I forwarded Nick's original usb microscope
> question; the list had been kicking it around for
> a while, and this guy took action.
>
> ===begin===
>>>> <http://www.celestron.com/c3/product.php?ProdID=516>
>>> These are pretty good photos! How easy is it to follow moving
> things
>>> with that stage?
>>>
>> I don't know yet. I'll file a report when I'm up and running.
> My report:
>
> I e-ordered some well slides and coverslips from:
> <http://www.microscopeworld.com/>
>
> I inserted a 4GB SDHC card into the LCD/Camera head
> of the scope. That worked, and I'm using that mechanism
> for file transfer. The stills are JPEGs, the videos
> are 3gp (whatever that is, but miraculously both my linux
> boxes could display it, so kudos to Celestron for choosing
> that format).
>
> I went down to a pond in Tilden Park and collected
> some samples. Here are my first attempts at capturing images:
> <http://www.panix.com/~bks/Pix/Micro/>
>
> The two minute video is pretty cool for a first go. I am
> definitely a microscope tyro. Some of the little guys are
> zipping around too fast to follow, and most are too small
> to make out much detail. If you stick with it till the
> end you'll see another large critter go zooming by.
>
> The still pictures of pond scum thingees are not great but
> for larger objects, like the prepared section of a stem of
> a plant, they're pretty good.
>
> The verniers on the stage are pretty good for such an
> inexpensive instrument. It sure beats using your fingers
> to move the slide around.
>
> More in the future. Mostly this makes me want a better
> setup. But as that would be between 10x and 100x more
> expensive, I'll wait.
> ===end===
>
> ============================================================
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
>
>
> ============================================================
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

Douglas Roberts-2

Re: pond scum update

In reply to this post by Russell Standish

VLC (Video For Linux) is actually the preferred multimedia Linux player. I don't think you can huff it, though.

On Sat, Dec 4, 2010 at 7:24 PM, Russell Standish <[hidden email]> wrote:

On Sat, Dec 04, 2010 at 07:24:43PM -0500, [hidden email] wrote:
The stills are JPEGs, the videos
> are 3gp (whatever that is, but miraculously both my linux
> boxes could display it, so kudos to Celestron for choosing
> that format).
>

3gp is a low-res MPEG4 format used by 3G phones for sending videos
between each (eg via MMS). MPlayer (used by most Linux media players)
has no problems figuring out how to play it - its a little more tricky
to generate the format from say a regular AVI or MP4 file, though.

--

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prof Russell Standish Phone 0425 253119 (mobile)
Mathematics
UNSW SYDNEY 2052 [hidden email]
Australia http://www.hpcoders.com.au
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

--
Doug Roberts
[hidden email]
[hidden email]
505-455-7333 - Office
505-670-8195 - Cell

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

glen ep ropella

Re: pond scum update

In reply to this post by Russell Standish

Russell Standish wrote circa 10-12-04 06:24 PM:
> 3gp is a low-res MPEG4 format used by 3G phones for sending videos
> between each (eg via MMS). MPlayer (used by most Linux media players)
> has no problems figuring out how to play it - its a little more tricky
> to generate the format from say a regular AVI or MP4 file, though.

This may be obsolete now and FFMPEG may do this without the tweak now;
but I'll link it here for the heck of it:

Converting Android 1.5 “Camcorder” videos with SAMR audio codec on
Ubuntu Jaunty with ffmpeg

http://blog.tempusdictum.com/index.php/gepr/uncategorized/converting-android-15-camcorder-videos-with-samr-audio-codec-on-ubuntu-jaunty-with-ffmpeg

--
glen e. p. ropella, 971-222-9095, http://tempusdictum.com

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org