Low magnification is actually a good thing for microscopes like this one, which are designed to give you a good overview of your sample. You can always blow the image up after taking the picture (to a certain extent).
Resolution is more important (in this context, resolution is the ability to distinguish between two points which are close to each other. This is not necessarily enhanced by having a high megapixel sensor if your optics are bad).
High magnification is good if you need it but will reduce your field of view (you won’t know what you’re looking at).
I usually use the lowest magnification I can get away with and am a great fan of having a couple of low magnification microscopes around.
(We also have a regular dissecting microscope which serves a similar purpose).
“Magnification” is controlled by distance and focus with this microscope. You can get a little closer to your sample by putting it inside the LED housing, but the closer you get the harder it will be to focus.
Usage with VLC:
Ctrl + C to open a capture device
Change the video device name to USB smth
Specify a video size. I think 1280x1024 800x600 640x480 are all valid, not 100% sure though.
To save an image: Video > Take snapshot
You might want to assign a hotkey to the snapshot command if you use it often.
Is there someone that ‘knows’ all about how to use this USB microscope and can schedule about an hour of time to meet with me and show me the functions with example stuff to view and answer some brief questions about Microscopy?
Preferably someone not prone to long drawn out, highly technical explanations… so that someone like me could understand and not get bored.
I plan to film this as an on-location interview style. The actual video may only be 2-5 minutes long, but getting setup and everything… plan to be there an hour.
I’d have a bit of time to show you how to use the scope, but my knowledge of microscopy is not near as extensive as some of the others at the space. What if we gathered all the information and you presented it?
