I Tested Every Smartphone Microscope so You Don't Have to

I spent way too much money on smartphone microscopes. There are a couple great ones and a bunch of terrible ones.
| microsafari.org |
Links to my favorite smartphone microscopes:
1. Generic smartphone microscope
We still buy these in bulk to include with our Micro Safari Terra kits.
microsafari.org/products/mobi...
If you'd prefer to buy these from Bezos instead you can find similar models on Amazon for a bit cheaper. There's quite a bit of variability on assembly quality of these smartphone microscopes depending on where you source them though. I've found some in the wild that shipped new with low charge batteries and fingerprints on the lenses. We work with a manufacturer that charges a bit more but has a much better quality standard. We also inspect each unit that we sell.
2. Apexel smartphone microscope
amzn.to/3IcmTMt
3. Tinyscope
amzn.to/431GVS9
4. Apexel smartphone macro lens
amzn.to/3WcH4Qs
These are Amazon Affiliate links. Also, I noticed that they all have pretty mediocre product reviews, it seems like the negative reviews are mostly from people using the smartphone microscopes incorrectly or not understanding what they are and what they are not good at doing. But to be fair - these products do not come with particularly good instructions or recommendations for getting the most out of the product. Hopefully this video can help bridge that gap though.
Chapters:
00:00 Why Smartphone Microscopes
01:20 My Favorite Smartphone Microscope
02:24 Attaching and Centering
02:42 "Universal" Smartphone Microscopes
03:16 Q&A
06:01 Live Demo: Best Generic Smartphone Microscope
07:36 Live Demo: Apexel Microscope
09:20 Live Demo: Tinyscope
11:25 Live Demo: Apexel Macro Lens
13:09 Live Demo: Meh Options
15:12 Live Demo: Weird Options

[@The900428]

this is a sales pitch, not a review, not an overvierw

[@benayers8622]

lots of missing data.. Id like to have known more about some of the ones missed out too

[@Based_transition_Clocker]

Thanks. Saved me a lot of time.

[@akierum]

So what is the chunky one named? Looking for it cant find, any help?

[@ericpatterson8354]

Another awesome vid! thanks for demonstrating these scopes

[@_oriTech_]

hey, nice video, im searching for something like this with a higher distance. just want fix little tech stuff on smartphones and processors. so i need a few cm distance in between the camera and the object to can do some work. maybe u have an idea i can use :)

[@FlyingLampshade]

I'm looking for something I could attach to my phone to be able to zoom in to see stomata and things at the cellular level. I'm wondering if that long one had some kind of like stabilisation for the whole phone so it wasent hanging off the edge would be almost like good enough for a botany student yea? Is there any places that sell something like that. A frame that would just make the phone a non issue. Mabie it folds up. Even if it takes a min to set up. Would be like bringing samples to the set up but being able to leverage the power of my phone. The macro I can get already with my pixel 6 a is amazing. Any suggestions? Something between the 50-200 cad price point but under 100 would be ideal.

[@micro_safari]

At that price range you could totally afford a monocular compound biological microscope with a smartphone microscope adapter, that's the direction I would go in at least. At that high of a magnification, holding the setup still enough becomes the biggest challenge.

[@scampbell8136]

The 2nd one at 5:04 will fit on almost every phone as its adjustable, not at all difficult to attach once you try it. I just ordered a replacement for one I lost E20 AliEx.

[@WolfBenjamite]

Your content deserves an award mate ❤🎉

[@dazdeluxe6672]

Hi, i have a really thick phone with power bank built in, is there a microscope that will fit thick phones? tia

[@CrimsonMedusa]

I saw a commercial of this kind of product only for iphone, price about 130€. I'm glad I found that commercial because I wanted to know if there's similar products for other smartphones and I found this video! I need this first lens

[@ghaithalom6941]

you had to zoom in using your preferred microscope. However, there are others that you complained about their low mag but at 1x in your camera phone. You should have zoomed in to make the comparison fair or gave them the credit that they covered the full image circle.

[@micro_safari]

Hi, you are correct, this is an error in the video, and I forgot to pinch to zoom because the FOV of some of the smartphone microscopes covers all of the FOV that your camera usually has. The biggest issue is that I didn't pinch to zoom with the Apexel macro lens. Once you pinch to zoom with that one it brings the magnification to slightly less than, but effectively equivalent to the black mobile microscope that I recommend.

[@Weroleytor]

I bought the one you recommend a few weeks ago thanks to your other video, I love it, the LED is really useful :) Can't wait to get a "real" microscope tho, I'd love to see water and stuff, sadly I'm not from the US so it's hard to find any good microscope that isn't super expensive :(

[@micro_safari]

Glad you are enjoying your mobile microscope! I never realized how expensive international shipping is and how high tariffs are in some countries until I started selling products internationally. We are stocking full sized microscopes in a couple weeks, hopefully we will be able to find you one that has reasonable costs and shipping to your country. Fingers crossed!

[@NoferTrunions]

Any way to do focus stacking?

[@micro_safari]

Not with a handheld phone microscope adapter. The problem is that the XY axis needs to be held extremely rigidly for focus stacking to work, far more rigidly than your hands can hold it.

[@LISTEDGames]

What if I use the microscope attachment to my microscope on my phone ??!?!?!?!?

[@melp824]

I work with developmentally disabled adults and am looking for a really reasonable way for them to look at microorganisms and such. What suggestion do you have?

[@hedgeclipper418]

but what is the magnification factor?? I just need a 10x microscope for looking at my crystals you should state the magnification factor

[@tvbox6955]

🤔Does the recommended microscope work with pixel 6 phones?

[@micro_safari]

Sure does!

[@JamesRavencroft]

i couldn't stand the vocal fry for more than 1 minute, adios

[@FiXANoNada]

My phone is Xiaomi K20pro, which is in incompatible list for your recommended scope. Oh man. I love the phone and I love the scope too. Is there anyway these two devices can co-op? A complete redesign of the scope maybe? There must be a smarter, more convenient and more compatible way for these scopes to attach to ANY phone. FIND it gentlemen at Micro Safari! PLEASE! your design has so limited compatibility ! and I AM NOT YELLING!

[@FingerTightRacing8]

ahhhhh. new vid!!!

[@jordanc9168]

Would this be good for an iPhone 15 pro max, do you know!

[@micro_safari]

Yes, works great on iPhones! We recommend downloading the Yammer App for iphone which gives you more control over your camera and putting the smartphone microscope over the telephoto lens. This advice should apply to any smartphone microscope.

[@samrichardson9827]

can't find any camera app called yammer.. @@micro_safari

[@hedgeclipper418]

phone microscope would be really useful for looking at crystals I normally use a Jeweler's loupe

[@siriusoct3912]

Is there any microscope android tool that can be used to see bacteria?

[@micro_safari]

The challenge is that bacteria require one of the highest magnifications of any sample, and also need either low NA transmitted illumination or to be stained, which makes it impractical to observe bacteria with a simple smartphone microscope. The simplest and cheapest way to do this would be an inexpensive compound biological scope and pair it with a 'universal' smartphone adapter. Out of our lineup, the MS-205T would be the cheapest microscope that will accomplish this.

[@ParamjitSingh-tl9ym]

Coin check microscope

[@bluemoongaming4423]

That's so expensive for me Edit:cringe

[@feraudyh]

What would be nice would be the possibility of detecting food infection bacteria. But that might be just asking too much.

[@georgemacdonald3087]

His favourite, £5.34 Aliexpress.

[@micro_safari]

Keep looking, you can find some for $3!

[@hindifoxmovies]

I need it can you offer me this gadgets... Love ❤ from india

[@yannisgk]

TRY THE "CARSON" ONES!!!

[@micro_safari]

Do you have a link to the specific model that you are talking about? I think I may have tested a Carson one a couple years ago but it didn't make it into the video. I either gave it away or it is sitting in one of my equipment boxes.

[@yannisgk]

@@micro_safari mm-250/350/380 are suitable for smartphones...i had the zorb one, but it didn't function on my mac, and i was thinking of buying one of those!!! (maybe micromini!!!)

[@yannisgk]

@@micro_safari carson it's an optical products company, and i'm quite happy with it!!!

[@micro_safari]

​@@yannisgk We've done quite a bit of exploring the wholesale purchasing of microscopes in the last couple months since we are going to carry our own inventory of microscopes, and I recognize most of their microscope selection as being white-labeled chinese wholesale microscopes. That's not to say that they are bad quality products, and they might manufacture some of their own products, but for the most part they are just reselling chinese microscopes with their brand name on it and not making that part obvious.

[@yannisgk]

@@micro_safari i don't believe that their microscopes are china's origin....i haven't found a chinese microscope (at least), EXACTLY as theirs...resembling them, yes, but i am sure they are not rebranded....in opposite, they are very good products for their price!!! i understand you must market your own products, but don't put "mud" on carson!!! thanks!!!

[@LouisaHamachek]

Can they be used by spirulina algae farmer s to see if their culture is pure ?

[@petersieck7986]

I am looking for high magnification so your dissing and glossing over those made this disappointing -(

[@micro_safari]

I'm deep enough into microscopy at this point that things that are obvious to me I forget are not obvious to most people. Due to the physics of how light works, high magnification phone microscopes that you hold with your hand are practically useless. The depth of field is so shallow that you can never get an in-focus image, you need a high NA illumination source to resolve any detail at that magnification, and it is impossible to hold your hand still enough that the field of view isn't constantly moving around. The majority of the body of a standard microscope that can practically image high magnifications is devoted to holding your sample incredibly still, allows you to move it microscopic distances, and illuminates the sample in a very particular way such that you can resolve details near the wavelength scale of the light. Hope this helps!

[@reza2kn]

What kind of a "review" is this? I get it that you want to pitch your product, but at least introduce names of each model, especially the last one, AKA "the chunker". The chapters are all out of whack too.

[@micro_safari]

I gave the brand names of all the microscopes that had names. Most of the models were purchased directly on Alibaba. This review was more intended to go over the physical designs of different smartphone microscopes rather than specific brands since 90% of companies are just white labeling anyway. If you'd prefer to purchase our recommended smartphone microscope not through us, just look for mobile microscopes that have the same physical design. You should be able to find it elsewhere for cheaper, but we can't verify the final product quality since we are working with a specific supplier that charges more but also has a history of better product quality. We are also QA'ing each mobile microscope individually. Cheers