Digital Miscroscopes

October 12, 2009

By system

Many of us will remember the optical microscope from our school biology classes. I remember carefully preparing a specimen, often of an insect leg or slice from a leaf or plant stem, and squashing this into a fragile glass slide. You then spent the next several minutes peering into the eyepiece and fiddling with knobs and tiny mirrors trying to get everything in focus. Sound familiar? As often as not, you ended up breaking the glass as you tried to get everything in focus. Even if you managed to not break the glass, you then had to alternately peer into the eyepiece and to your desk to try and remember enough to create a passable drawing of your specimen.

With the advent of the digital age things have improved a lot.

You can now buy a handheld digital microscope for less than $100 which plugs directly into the USB port of almost any computer and displays and records the image in real-time. Any number of students can now see the image on the screen, or print it diretly to an inkjet printer, all from a single specimen. A digital miscroscope still uses optics much the same way as a traditional microscope but also has a built-in digital camera, which works just like a webcam but with magnification. The program that comes with these digital microscopes will let you take still or video images while magnifying the image by 200 times or more. You can then use your regular image software to manipulate and use the picture in many ways.

These started appearing on the market just a few short years ago but the inition models were fairly expensive and, to be honest, were not that good. It is only in the last year or two that the price and performance make these worth considering over a traditional optical microscope. It is now possible to buy a digital version that will cost less, and give better performance, than the old optical microscopes. Many schools are now replacing their equipment with these more modern versions.

Although these microscopes are obviously great in a science classroom environment, where a teacher can present and discuss a rapid sequence of images, don’t neglect their home use. They offer a fascinating insight into the world around us from a rarely seen perspective. You will be amazed at the complexity and detail of everything you can find in nature. My children have spent many hours with theirs just pulling in speciments from the back yard. Some suggestions: Leaves, plant stems, a drop of pond water and insect wings, Even plain earth itself becomes amazingly complex when viewed under a microscope. If you do view anything that might be abrasive, make sure that you don’t scratch the plastic lens. They are easily scratched and can’t be repaired. Make sure that younger children are properly supervised.

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