The USB Microscope Lie

[@xnamkcor]

I used a Carson 250x pocket microscope and a "13MP" cell phone camera and ended up with about 850 pixels per pixel on a picture of a 95.5 DPI display. My Monitor is 24", but as you said, that doesn't change how much detail there is. Carson also makes an 80 dollar solution that is a self-contained USB device, but that's only listed as 457x. And only has a "2MP" sensor. I'm not great at math, but I don't think the overall detail of a 457x image at 2MP would even come close to a 250x image at 12MP.

[@micro_safari]

Yes! People hate on smartphone microscope adapters but fail to realize that the fact that smartphone cameras are so good makes up for lower quality optics in the pocket microscope itself.

[@xnamkcor]

@@micro_safari I just wish it wasn't so flimsy. And I wish my smartphone didn't try to decide to refocus for the picture after I already did that to my liking.

[@micro_safari]

@@xnamkcor I haven't tried the carson microflip but I've had pretty good luck with the other smartphone microscope adapters. You might need a 3rd party camera app if you are having camera autofocusing issues. I use an android and usually its not an issue for me

[@kadenashdown6060]

Super duper helpful! I'm looking for a portable field microscope for a bike trip of all things, looks like the hunt is still on and could be called off. A full on microscope is just too cumbersome to take on a long bike trip.

[@عبدالله-ر6م1ك]

Htere micro scope portable from celctron but I dont if it,s good or no

[@Astro_Rohan]

Did you end to finding anything? Cause I'm looking something for this exact need too

[@SakmarkLLC]

After all of your interesting analysis it would be great if you could please share with us all what the ACTUAL optical zoom is of that digital microscope.

[@Stormmover]

I agree.

[@yes5g311]

welp i still use this 15$ microscope for my project and work like charm except the to much lagging if you zoom to much

[@jamesf2697]

Zoom and magnificent are 2 different things! The digital microscope are just like cameras. It is not saying that the object is being magnified 1600x, it is talking about zoom range. If you had a camera that had a lens that went from 1mm to 100mm that is a 100x zoom. But if you had a 500mm prime lens it would be a 1x zoom even though everything is way larger on the sensor. So if you zoomed all the way out, see how many mm is shown on the sensor then all the way in and divided by how many mm shown on the sensor it would be the zoom range.

[@miku5840]

Hello sir. I'd like to purchase this because I deal with used leather shoes. Do you think it's suitable/capable to see the pores in animal skin(leather)? I need to identify if it's real leather or synthetic. Advanced thanks🙂

[@marsan7917]

Superb demonstration and explanation 👍

[@rabarebra]

I don't want to spend crazy amount of money. What do you think I need to film a turntable's needle while it's playing a record? To see it up close and maybe see some dust and debris clearly. I'd appreciate your reply.

[@cuppadan]

I just got a Tomlov DM602Pro and it's highest magnification lens shows the needle very well. Just not while it's playing. You need to remove the needle and place it under the scope to see it.

[@fishtropiccanada4747]

Put the new ketchup under the scope … Moon ketchup vs. Regular ketchup … make sure to stop and grab some packets from fast food restaurants !!! This will get mega views man

[@Buenanueva1]

I started rock tumbling and I wanted a microscope to be able to see their crystalline structures. This type of microscope was appealing because it doesn’t use slides to see things. What would you recommend for this purpose?

[@micro_safari]

Most USB/HDMI microscopes will work well for this. If possible look for one that has adjustable gooseneck lights. The rocks will be very shiny and if the light just comes from LEDs around the objective it may be too much direct reflected glare to get a good image. I'm a big fan of my ADSM302, but it is quite pricey.

[@dictionaryguy5521]

Im expecting it to be 200x and thats more thsn enough to see coepods

[@Doviruses.existbaileyonodysee]

Still a pretty cool little gadget. Would you say the quality of the product is worth it for the hobiest repairing/learning to repair boards etc?

[@micro_safari]

The wobble of the stand makes it a pain to get set up but once it is set up after a few minutes of fiddling it would work ok for that

[@ElSmiley1000]

I think the real question is is that false advertising

[@harryvlogs7833]

Wow you don't even know that your main panasonic camera is not a dslr it's a mirrorless camera

[@junkmoon-]

So excited for my son to be old enough for me to teach him all this! Thank you for passing your knowledge along! ❤

[@micro_safari]

Hello. Didnt know you come around these parts. Hope you and the kiddo are doing well! ♥️ Thx for the sub

[@tunkunrunk]

can't you teach him something else ? like astronautics and aeronautics

[@Cyberoll]

If I have US$ 200 which Microscope, which one do you recommend?

[@llehsaderob]

Is not that they're unusable and they are a notch above a novelty toy, but yes the specs are a lie... Also someone decided to stick c-mount lenses on the "expensive" ones and decided to gouge you for 2-3x the actual price but I don't know if that's the "supply shortage" or an inclination as to where the digital microscope industry is heading. $100 dollars worth of electronics and lenses should net a very useable image for soldering etc...I use an "upgraded" version of the scam microscope (it claims 1440p and 1000x on what looks to be a 2mp sensor) but I get an ok video). The thing that tends to set these apart is not the zoom but zoom in conjunction with how much working space (space between object and magnifier) you get. There are supposed 48mp sensors being sold for like 300-500 dollars that all seem to be clones of a 12mp cube box thing, now certainly the more mega pixels you can fit on a sensor the better the image quality and in theory the if coupled with the right lens the better the magnification. I use the cheap thing I bought just fine though. These little bullet type microscopes do have very severe limits, but for the price of $15-30 are adequate and do offer more than your naked eye.

[@micro_safari]

To add to this, a 48 megapixel sensor is pointless if you are trying to push that signal through a USB 2.0 cable. I've only been able to get a 720p video through the USB 2.0 cables at a usable frame rate. To get 1080p30fps you need a digital microscope with USB 3.0 or better (the ones with blue inside the connector), or HDMI. Some really good ones that are wifi connected may also be able to stream 1080p30 without too much compression.

[@pupathyu.t.2058]

Dear Bro. You had done a great job and opened my eyes towards the magnification of the subjects under microscopes

[@MichaelMorana]

Big Q for ya! I ended up down the rabbit hole that led me here because after buying an Andonstar digital microscope, I realized that I should have invested in a trinoc optical compound. I'd been fooled by the claims of "4500x" magnification. Now I want to purchase an trinoc compound and get an adapter for my DSLR/mirrorless cameras. The strongest magnification I've come across is 2.5x for those adapters, which compared to a 10x eyepiece seems limiting. Do you find that with a 2.5x adapter and sayyy an 100x oil immersion objective, you can still get very good digital images of biological samples. Im hoping to look at fungal and mold spores. The andonstar digital doesnt come close. lol

[@micro_safari]

Sure, camera sensor pixels have a physically different size than the retinas in our eyes though, therefore the relative apparent magnifications will be quite different than what you'd expect if you are just doing optical magnification calculations. I have a microscope camera that has no additional magnification after the objective and is the same apparent magnification as if I am looking through a 25x eyepiece. I wish I could give you a firm answer on what you need, but it is very setup dependent on how small the spores are and the pixel size of your image sensor. I do really like the andonstar microscopes btw, they just aren't optically set up to observe high magnificaiton transmitted light samples like spores.

[@TruongVu-s7w]

At the present time, only Keyance's optical microscope has the best quality and the highest magnification is about 3000x, which is quite close to the limit of optical microscopes.

[@toG-i9i]

They should just sell it for what it is.its still a handy microscope to use for electronics.

[@majid5336]

I'm lost here so what's the optical magnification of the so claimed 1600x microscope

[@micro_safari]

I unfortunately don't know since they don't spec it. You could measure it if you broke it apart and measured the optical magnification of the lens manually. For digital microscopes the final magnification is also dependent on the physical size of the individual sensor pixels themselves. A way to think about this, is that theoretically, if you have an image sensor with pixels sized near the wavelength of visible light itself, you could achieve a magnification equivalent-ish to 1600x optical magnification, even if you are using a 1x objective - no optical magnification at all. The light just needs to be collimated. If there are any optical engineers reading this comment and I have said something incorrect please call me out.

[@adambrandon1]

Okay, leo, I'm not feeling it. I really need to believe that you're holding An imaginary doody meter

[@waynecummings5021]

That was interesting, thanks. I have bought one of those 1600x scopes for £8 and that to me was wort it for testing, but also to see the odd thing bigger. I knew it would not be amazing, this video highlights this and I'm glad you made it. It does show that as usual corporations use ignorance to promote items using 'sales puff'. It's all about relativity.

[@jb678901]

I believe that LUMIX camera of yours is NOT a DLSR but a MIRRORLESS camera. Looks like a G9 Micro 4/3rds camera?

[@micro_safari]

You are correct, it is mirrorless. I said DSLR because more people know what that is and in this context it doesn't matter if it's DSLR or mirrorless :)

[@karuki5791]

Could you maybe make videos using the Amscope b120, you could maybe look at water samples or something using it.

[@micro_safari]

Noted! Thank you for your suggestion.

[@karuki5791]

@@micro_safari Also you could maybe review it, obviously if you want to!

[@saurabhbhawsar4624]

Very information video as always, is there any portable handheld microscope is available in market that can be use with haemocytometer...

[@codyhahn2359]

Sounds to me like you need to do some consulting for these a digital microscope companies man make you that extra bread because you definitely know what you're talkin about and with your help perhaps they can make a much better product and then you can get extra income none the less very good video

[@Laucron]

I was going to buy a palliparner digital telescope that supposedly has a x1200 zoom limit. Would that be bs as well?

[@micro_safari]

It is certainly not equivalent to 1200x true optical magnification. I will let you determine if that is bs or not.

[@izoyt]

it could be same as for macro lenses (with proper factor of equivalence against 35mm format). done and done

[@lucasribeiro8475]

As biology student, this is perfect. Anyway I think it worth the price. Thanks a lot

[@edajpaps5060]

that USB microscope is more convinience and space saver to my shop. and it works fine for 5years

[@mr.iforgot3062]

im a scientist doctor of radiology and my expert opinion, your all wrong. bioflourecent light beams on the molecular level produce ionic pulses that contemplate the outside theory of resolution ×π√19 so without biometric molicules interfering with the biospere what you have is π ÷ 56. SO THATS WHY

[@Mizai]

you even see the colors its made on

[@shokdj1]

They ain’t perfect but they do the job enough for most things

[@christophertadeo6120]

All usb microscope uses the pc for resolution... 😀👍. It's the interpretation of pigments as pixels of the pc as the culprit...we can improve that... 😀.

[@vageesh]

That Community reference!!! 😭🤣🤣

[@popegez4484]

10X2,5=250? Jupiter maths?. Here in earth it s 25.

[@msgucci6634]

Thats the giant microscope i seen

[@gibbethoskins8621]

In saying all that you gotta admit it's pretty good for a $20 kids toy

[@jesuisbenjamin]

I wished i had seen this video before giving my credit card number... What a bummer.

[@somdov]

I don't know anything about this stuff but this was my first video and it was 10/10

[@SevenDeMagnus]

Yup, I see these microscopes, there's even US$54 that magnifies 3000x There should be a new term for microscopes and telescopes and not just magnification, like with speakers, it's not really the wattage that determines loudness but it's the impedance or I think the ohms. God bless.

[@stevenjohnson8166]

The collimated beam of P.

[@NwinDii]

Thank you for the informative video.

[@somiwitl665]

It is a lot better to buy 20 usd cheap 1600x microscope rather than your 400x highly expensive microscope that probably cost 4000 usd up. I am 50 y.o man and i use 1600x cheap microscope with some small hacks to repair SMD CIRCUIT BOARDS and other things and it works perfectly.

[@ariegt]

still pretty darn good for 19,95

[@yin_xing]

Hi Sir. Would you be bothered whether I politely ask for you to give me this super zeiss MO? 🥺 It is so powerful, I wanna one in my lab😅

[@elius.m4141]

Vídeo muito bom! eu já desconfiava dessa ampliação, mas como não tinha referencia achava que poderia ser verdade, mas de qualquer forma esses microscópios USBs São bons, principalmente para crianças..

[@blakecardenas2973]

Bullcrap meter 😆

[@InvadersDie]

fucksake, how hard can it be to develop a standard for this? Like of the top of my head the process would be just calculating sensor pixels per square mm and comparing it to the zoom capabilities of an optical telescope to make a neat comparison chart. Shit ain't hard

[@micro_safari]

To add some complications to this - you also have to factor in noisiness of the sensor and firmware that does software corrections to image quality. One image sensor might produce sharp images that work well for certain samples and a different image sensor might have better color sensitivity. The problem is that apparent magnification is inherently subjective. So one image sensor might have more pixels per mm but those pixels being so small introduce complications compared to another sensor with larger individual pixels that actually makes a higher apparent magnification image because you can resolve finer details. We are working on the next version of our website which will have comparable images from different digital microscopes so that you can make a 1 to 1 comparison with a standardized sample.

[@InvadersDie]

@@micro_safari man, I'm just happy I watched this video before finishing my check-out and paying over 60 dollars just in shipping for one of these. As I understand it they could have used 1x actual zoom and still advertised it as 1600x by connecting it to an awesome projector! xD

[@suntzuthesecond]

@@micro_safari Maybe a way around this is to test it against a standardised test pattern to measure how much fine detail can be resolved in each case. Sort of an eye exam for microscopes; such things are already a feature for some online reviews of photographic equipment. You can have can some insane magnification numbers depending on the eyepiece/sensor/screen/digital zoom you use, but it's all "empty magnification" unless the objective lens can deliver the goods. It's been frustrating for me trying to shop for a digital microscope because I've used a light microscope up to 1000x (with oil immersion) before. Whatever those digital microscopes are claiming, it does not look anything close to 1000x at all. PS: I'm shopping for a digital microscope to check on some knives I'm sharpening and maybe take some pictures of it, and I have a rough idea of how many microns I want to be able to see. A loupe did not appeal to me for reasons far outside the scope of this video's topic so I won't get into that. I look forward to your comparison site.

[@silvanorocha1]

crazy man

[@he214abc]

Thx

[@DA_WULF]

my mom: why is your ipad screen broken me: well i demolished it my mom: what do you mean me: i demolished the like button🤣

[@kevinim300]

beam of 'P' - LMAO 😂 Thanks for sharing the truth. and yet humans mislead humans to achieve what exactly?

[@RobinRastle]

1 min enough life is short

[@djamelboudissa8396]

خلاص علبانا عندك ميكروسكوب جاي تقارن 15دولار معا 1000000دولار

[@patrickthenomad]

Beampee

[@harryvlogs7833]

Wow your ziess microscope is terrible the microscope we have in college and school could do 2000x

[@Alejandroverges]

Te has gastado más de que, 2000€ 3000€ nose no idea, pero al final te has dado cuenta que con uno de 20€ haces exactamente lo mismo... Continúa con tus vídeos de KZbin 😀😀😀

[@dornelli1]

all these bla bla bla ammounted to no info at all

[@jessicawinslet684]

What's a good digital bit so expensive to seeing viruses or things that small? I will use to teach my kids why they should wash their hands ahhahaha

[@micro_safari]

You unfortunately can't see viruses with a regular optical microscope. I've been meaning to post a video talking about how much zoom you need for things but life has gotten in the way. Check out this product: www.amazon.com/dp/B08JHGH5TP?pd_rd_i=B08JHGH5TP&pd_rd_w=rqUxT&pf_rd_p=0766f286-f72d-49df-b4dc-e0afb9dccb94&pd_rd_wg=2s6dZ&pf_rd_r=9CAKYZCWRTDJ8TSHBMDN&pd_rd_r=26198ef5-ec46-4472-9c63-95f9e234d4a9 It may help for what you want to teach your kiddos. Otherwise you can look at compost with an ADSM302 or pluggable usb microscope and there will be plenty of stuff in there to gross out (or fascinate) your kids.

[@pharaohsmagician8329]

@@micro_safari you're a hero! The ADSM302 you recommended, is it good enough to see things like animal life in samples of river water etc? Tardigrades?

[@micro_safari]

@@pharaohsmagician8329 It has enough magnification to see stuff like that, but because the ADSM302 uses reflected light illumination, those organisms will appear as basically invisible. You will want a transmitted light compound microscope to see river water samples effectively.

[@coytimotoworks2440]

Made in china

[@gennavandella]

This video is a lie. This microscope is perfect for some things. Like smd repairs on circuit boards. If you want to look at anything on a smaller scale. This microscope will do the trick. The only downside is the video quality but it's good enough to see clearly not fuzzy. You won't be able to get a real microscope for that price but this is definitely worth it.

I don't agree with you. First of all, I would like to mention that I deal with electronics and photography as a hobby. So I fully understand what digital vs optical zoom is. Now to the point. If you don't care image quality (resolution in this case) but you want to inspect details on your PCB - instead using digital zoom of microscope, just buy chipper monitor and chipper microscope 😁You need bigger pixels instead of more pixels per inch. Large "old school" full HD monitors will be much better in this case than eg. 4k camera and 4k monitor with the same size. There is no reason using high resolution monitor and translate each pixel of low resolution microscope matrix to eg. 4 pixels of monitor, what digital zoom does. Higher resolution of camera and higher resolution of monitor gives you ability to see more details. In this case you should use big enough monitor, to see adjacent pixels. You don't need this if your aim is to read IC mark or determine if PCB route has a gap. Higher optical resolution of camera and higher resolution of monitor together with its bigger physical screen size, gives you ability to see much smaller gaps.

[@leoleo1035]

You're full of shit.

[@jb678901]

This USB microscope is perfect for my needs...hobbyist watch repair...with the PC screen as a visual aid.

[@calabrais]

I started out by saying this doesn't need to be a 10 minute video, and by the end I said this absolutely needed to be a 10 minute video. Great job, thanks!

[@CAPRICORNE15]

Impossible comparisons, both for the price and for the quality of the materials, but above all for the purpose for which certain microscopes are purchased!

[@08krizkruz]

Exactly. It´s like comparing a Ferrari with a Hiundai. Both are cars, but Ferrari is more expensive and faster than Hiundai.

[@MrRavipart]

Can I buy a Zeiss AX10 Microscope for $20 or even $200? This vid is just clickbait. 🤣🤣🤣

[@neithanm]

10x * 2.5x is not 250x. Did I miss something?

[@sirtainlee8725]

You did not. Well done.

[@blackhawkdownzx]

10 times 2.5 is 25

[@mikeross4081]

I noticed that too. While the video is interesting I'm disappointed that the poster did not address his mistake. I get the feeling that he fully realized the error but couldn't be bothered to address it. He's loses marks for that.

[@dmegahtech3597]

I have just tried. The real magnification is only 30x. 1600x is fake.😡

[@josefgal8282]

Thanks'! Super!

[@badrinathrs]

How is 10x multiplied by 2.5x = 250x? 1:47

[@sirtainlee8725]

Thought I'd search the comments before I posted my question. Yes, while he may be a scientist, he might not be a mathematician. As of now, nobody seems to have spotted it besides us.

[@syberphish]

I'm legally blind and use a 52" tv connected to my computer as a monitor. Trying to find a digital microscope for mycology. Any idea what direction I might want to go with a digital microscope around $300-$500? It'd be nice to find something that isn't junk and has a crisp image.

[@extremezoom2024]

Ive seen carson talking about the gaining more magnification by having a larger monitor. I was like what???

[@impshyco]

So if it's crap, what do you recommend as a USB Microscope or via a reliable app for $125 to observe Wafers (semiconductor)?

[@behathehorrible1643]

oh my god, what a stupid comparison - why didn't you write how much you paid for the Zeiss microscope and how much for the others. With the fact that this one can fit in a pocket and this one ... not everywhere. Of course, optics are one Zeiss and digital zoom is dramatically different, but considering what it is intended for, it works great, who doesn't need to count blood cells but to see connection on the smd board is ok.

[@abitgeekie]

for whoever bought this type of product and later found the black plastics became sticky, wipe it with 75%+ or 95% alcohol.

[@907-q7u]

What microscope would you recommend with high magnification with a wide field of view? I'm wanting to look through pans of dirt and see all the small granular specs in detail.

[@genevaconventionsviolator3994]

Anyone have a link to that video he was talking about at the end? It doesn't pop up on my screen for some reason

[@wavescomplete5085]

YOUR INFORMATION CAN MAKE A STUPID BECOME WISE. CAUSE MANY ADVERTISEMENTS IN THE MARKET SAY IT'S A 1600X USB MICROSCOPE.. SO THOSE WHO HAVE NEVER USED A REAL ORIGINAL MICROSCOPE WILL LOOK NEGATIVELY ON THE REAL MICROSCOPE...

[@FXCobra]

is really stupid compare a Professional Microscope with a chinese usb cheap microscope...

[@dovydaskelpsa2824]

I have similar device, and its magnification is a lot better than you showed, i placed on piece of fabric ant i saw individual strings with it (fabric was sythetic).

[@nerdstrangler4804]

I mean it doesn't take a lot of magnification to see individual strings in fabric, probably only like 10x. Frankly unless you are a scientist trying to study something specific anything over 50x is basically pointless, as at that point everything just starts looking like a crappy kaleidoscope. Sellers just list these ridiculous number because they realize people with no frame of reference don't realize just how massive 50x, or even 20x magnification is.

[@offcy3318]

How not even 600 subcribers, but good quality. Does nobody like microscopes?

[@micro_safari]

Thanks Max! We're a newer account working our way up on subscribers. Let us know what other microscope content you'd like to see.

[@baperacks-com6801]

This aged well

[@alialali1654]

Finally a new video

[@earljohnson2696]

Thanks now i know before purchasing this but its an ok item

[@christophertadeo6120]

It's for a pcb not for microscopic enema... 😀

[@Connor6times]

Long live Mirco Safari

[@christopherstaples6758]

was that a 12mp camera ? 125x * ~12 ?

[@themike2738]

Yes it is a "lie" a lie that is 1000 x cheaper thet the zeiss

[@stevemayer1814]

10x2.5= 25 🙄

[@MagraeMagraed]

Hello friend, I have barely seen 2 videos of yours and they are magnificent, just do not despair, keep it up, and the content is interesting, in addition to the naturalness with which you express them, it is very good. Greetings from Mexico

[@BackToFE_OnlyTruth]

This P is huge. I have the same x1600 digital microscope and mine goes way deeper. Maybe something is wrong with yours🌸

[@Jped277]

It's actually not press fit. All you need to do is desolder the two pins on the light ring and it all comes apart easily.

[@micro_safari]

Interesting! I'll have to try this next time I'm using that scope for a video

[@Jped277]

@@micro_safari awesome. glad i could help. i actually just dissasembled mine this morning to clean the sensor. it was much easier than i had anticipated.

[@miku5840]

@@micro_safari Hello sir. I'd like to purchase this because I deal with used leather shoes. Do you think it's suitable/capable to see the pores in animal skin(leather)? I need to identify if it's real leather or synthetic. Advanced thanks🙂

[@yashjadyal8637]

Best usb microscope is dinolite. Its just awsome and can be used in any field or application. And they are providing all country do go for dinolite

[@EveryoneHarmonyPeace]

So it is better to get a conventional microscope and attach a camera to it?

[@micro_safari]

It depends on what you are trying to look at. Digital microscopes definitely work well for reflected light samples in the 200um to 2mm range. Otherwise, yes, if you want to resolve stuff smaller than 200um I definitely recommend a compound microscopes. Whether it is a transmitted or reflected illumination depends on your sample

[@gnarmarmilla]

Thank you very much for calling them out on that. On the other hand…that’s pretty sweet for 20 bucks…

[@calholli]

3:10 .. also, that lens flips the image-- You can see on your white paper that the image is upside down and backwards without the lens cap.

[@legoworks-cg5hk]

Mine is exaggerated 20 time and is only 6-50x

[@dsigner]

that cheap usb microscope is good enough for me. to get that level of detail on the print is amazing

[@ambatistam]

Yes it is a lie, I would have liked to see the video before using it, now I have a garbage microscope

[@BeardStax]

Now for a cheap microscope to look at coins easier than a loupe... Is it worth the 16.99.