Your Total USB Microscope Buying Guide
ABSTRACT: If you need to buy USB microscopes, you need to first know more about the salient features of these devices. Doing so is important so that you can effectively choose the right one that fits your special requirements.
With today’s technology, almost everything can be connected to a personal computer or a laptop using the ever expansive USB port. You can connect webcams, digital cameras, external hard disks, printers, mouse, and a whole lot of other gadgets to a computer’s USB port. Now, comes another functional device that can be attached to it – and that would be the full power microscope.
If you are looking to buy USB microscopes, don’t simply buy what was being sold to you by a passionate salesman at a gadget store. A USB microscope have a number of specifications that you should first check before you make a purchase.
Below is the total USB microscope buying guide you’ll ever need:
1. Check the USB microscope’s resolution.
Some webcams have a maximum resolution of 640 x 480 pixels. But digital cameras are manufactured to support resolutions way higher than that. The 640 x 480 pixels resolution should be the lowest one that the USB microscope you are to buy should provide. If it can produce images at 1 mega pixels or higher, then you are faced with a good buy. A 640 x 480 pixels resolution is good for CRT monitors. But even so, they would not produce as much a good image as possible. If you are using TFT screens like laptops have, the image produced is going to be much worse.
2. Magnification Power
Even if these are digital devices and the presence of multiple objective lenses are not really expected, a lot of USB microscopes can provide for multiple levels of magnification modes using its built-in software. This makes them compound microscopes as well. When choosing, look for the USB microscope that can work on a 20 x, 50 x, 200 x, or even higher magnification capabilities.
3. Illumination System
Microscopes, and even digital cameras for that matter, rely on lights either natural and artificial, to produce quality images. And so when buying USB microscope, make sure that the illumination system it has is built-in to it. This means that it has the ability to light its own sample. This feature makes the microscopes a real plug and play device. And that is because you do not need to setup any external lighting system before you can use it. The moment you plug the device on the USB port, the light is activated and the sample is illuminated. You need not do anything special.
The most common lighting system a USB microscope uses are LED’s. Moreover, the amount of light your sample gets determines the quality of image produced. Therefore, it is a must that you should be able to control the intensity of the lighting system as well. For USB microscopes, these are software controlled. This means that there won’t be any knobs on the microscope to adjust the lights. If you want to make the light dimmer or brighter, you have to use the software that the device comes with.
4. Software Compatibility
Most USB microscope works with the most current operating systems. But even so, you should double check if it really does work with yours. If you use the newer Window Vista platform, make sure that the USB microscope have patches that can be downloaded so that it can work flawlessly with it. The same is true if you are using Mac OS.
5. USB Interface Compatibility
There are two USB ports right now. The USB 1.1 and the faster USB 2.0 version. More often than not, a USB 2.0 device works with a USB 1.1 port. But a USB 1.1 device may not exactly work well with a USB 2.0 port. However, this is a minor compatibility issue. If you are not so sure what you computer uses, at least know what the USB microscope is equipped with. If it uses the newer USB 2.0 interface, then you should be fine. Keep in mind that the USB 2.0 works faster than the USB 1.1 device.
6. Frame Rate
If you are going to use the USB microscope for recording videos of your specimen, then you should check what its frame rate is. The frame rate is the ability of the camera to record the movements of a certain object. For USB microscope, this should be of minimal importance though. Because most of the time, the images viewed are inert. Or even if they move, they won’t move at a very high speed. Although of course, if you use the microscope at a high magnification power, the smallest of movement means a big difference.
These are the different points to consider when buying USB microscopes. Follow them all and you should be able to give yourself the best buy on the market.
