NEW PRODUCT – USB Microscope – 2.0 Megapixel / 200x magnification / 8 LEDs. As electronics get smaller and smaller, you’ll need a hand examining PCBs and this little USB microscope is the perfect tool. Its smaller and lighter than a large optical microscope but packs quite a bit of power in its little body. There’s a 2.0 megapixel sensor inside and an optical magnifier that can adjust from 20x (for basic PCB inspection) to 200x (for detailed inspection). Eight white LEDs are angled right onto whatever you’re examining so you get enough lighting to see, and are smoothly adjustable via a dial on the side.
If you plug this into any computer, it just shows up as a standard USB camera (we used this for our weekly Ask an Engineer show) and the Windows/Mac software lets you take snapshots using the button on the side of the microscope or direct from the software (so you don’t move the camera).
We tried a bunch of different USB microscopes and found this one to be the best combination of optical clarity, usability, and price. It’s perfect for electronics hacking, rework, SMT (de)soldering, inspection, and soon you’ll find yourself pulling it out to look and photograph all sort of cool small stuff around your lab and home.
We took some snaps of this ‘scope while looking at a tiny 0201-populated GPS board at 20x magnification and then at a raw die at 200x .
Package comes with a USB microscope with 4.5ft/140cm long cord, an adjustable metal stand, and CDROM with drivers/software.
- Image Sensor: 2.0 megapixel w/high-speed DSP
- 20x/200x axis micro-lens
- Adjustable focal length, from 5mm-500mm
- Snapshots via software or pressing the button
- Image capture: 2560×2048 (5M Pixel), 2304×1738 (4M Pixel), 1600×1200 (2MPixel), 1280×1024 (1.3MPixel), 1280×960, 1024×768, 800×600, 640×480, 352×288, 320×240, 160×120.
- Video rate of 30f/s at a brightness of 600 lux
- Flicker control for 50Hz/60Hz
- Video format: AVI
- Photo format: JPG or BMP
- 8 white LED light, 40000mLux
- 20x/200x magnification
- USB port powered
- TWAIN compatible
- Software available for Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP/Vista/Win7 & Mac OSX
- Size: 112mm long x 33mm diameter
Comes with driver/software on CDROM. Color may vary. Ladyada personally tested these (and uses these) – so you know it’s good!
I’ve been looking at microscopes for surface mount work lately, this might do the trick. What’s the working distance (how far can it be from the workpiece and stay in focus)?
How do they get a 5 Mpixel image capture with a 2 Mpixel sensor? Are they doing some kind of interpolation?
I did a review of a similar unit in my website a few months ago. For the price, this unit is a great tool to review PCBs and small electronic designs. The base is not strong enough but the unit is very good. I have been using mine for the last 8 months.
Sorry – forgot the link to the review – here it is.
http://omarfrancisco.com/using-the-veho-discovery-digital-microscope-to-inspect-pcb/
LooKs intriguing! But I’m wondering – how do you focus on the object?
Two…no three questions:
1: Does it work on Linux? (v4l or somesuch?)
2: Is the delay small enough to solder with?
3: Is the focal length dependant on the magnification?
Cheers!
It goes from 20x to 200x or just have two options 20x and 200x?
It works in linux out of the box? Thanks
hey folks, keep the questions coming – we’ll pop back here and get to them all later today – great questions!
@Nick – Adjustable focal length, from 5mm-500mm
@Eric – Interpolation
@Dave – There is a dial on the side
@Adam – Yes, Possibly, Yes
@Jose – only 20 or 200 (this is how all USB microscopes work)
You don’t list a specific model number, but your zip file in the downloads area contains a manual for the Veha VMS-004 which is a 400x model.
Which model is this? and is that software download correct?
hiya! the software is the same, they all use the same DSP this scope is 200x