usb microscope

[cavgtdad]

does anyone have experience with the cheap usb microscopes on ebay? tempte to buy one. i dont have any scope yet and cant really shell out $200 at the moment for a decent one and would prefer it to be processed by my pc anyhow for pictures.

thanks

my skype is cavgtdad

[huperetes]

Just bought one.

Will let you know the results.

Originally Posted by cavgtdad

does anyone have experience with the cheap usb microscopes on ebay? tempte to buy one. i dont have any scope yet and cant really shell out $200 at the moment for a decent one and would prefer it to be processed by my pc anyhow for pictures.

thanks

my skype is cavgtdad

[huperetes]

I bought one, and ... on a scale of 7 to 92, I give it a blue.

The specs are supposed to be "USB Digital Microscope Endoscope 100X 200X Magnifier 2.0MP 5.0MP Camera TE01".

I do not think it is a 5 megapixel camera.

I watched the video where this lady is waving it around, and the video is showing on the screen behind her. I do not know what she was using, but the refresh rate of this camera is very slow. I figure maybe 15fps at best.

She must have also been just 3 foot tall, as the camera looks about a foot long in her hand. The device is barely 4.5" tall. It is a size of a ballpoint pen.

I also purchased the 90 degree stand separately, instead of the tripod because I wanted to be able to use it with phones while working on them . . . It is also just barely makes 4". So at best the travel between bottom plate to top is about 4". This is presuming that you can get a good image from 4".

Software - Microsoft Vista and 7 recognized it as a Video device, and required no special attention. I was able to pull up the video stream from various video stream players.

The software "SuperEyes 3.3" comes on a small CD with several PDF, and a setup program. The documentation talks about a .rar file, but there is no such file. It is just an .exe. After install, it took me a minute or two to figure out how to switch the software from Chinese to English. After install, it defaults to Chinese.

The software interface is cumbersome, and responds very slowly. It does come with "virtual rulers" for straight, arc and angle measurements. Although it asks where to put video and image captures, it does not place them there... I had to search and find them in the VirtualStore. That means the software was trying to put them in a place the OS did not want to grant rights to.

The image contains no EXIF information and although the software says 640x480, it is actually 2560x1920 at 96dpi, 24 bit color depth.

All in all, for the price of $23, it is not a complete loss. I cannot see myself working under it, and watching my movements on the screen, but it can definitely help with some documentation pictures and such.

The attached picture shows a MicroSD card serial number. The height of the two lines, serial number and "BE MADE IN CHINA" is approximately 1.5mm. The circles are one of the "features" of the software.